WTLX (100.5 FM "100.5 FM ESPN") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed to Monona, Wisconsin, and serving the Madison metropolitan area. The station is owned by Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC, and runs a

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

as a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

. It shares most programming with

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

-based

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WKTI-FM, identifying jointly on air as ESPN Wisconsin. WTLX is a Class A FM station, with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 6,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off Tower Road, using an antenna on the water tower at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison. The studios are in the SPARK Building on East Washington Avenue in downtown Madison.

Programming

WTLX's schedule includes programming from ESPN Radio as well as Wisconsin-based shows also airing on

-area

WKTI WKTI (94.5 FM broadcasting, FM) – branded 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee – is a commercial Sports radio, sports radio station licensed to Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKTI is a ...

94.5 FM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 94.5 MHz: Argentina * CNN Radio Santiago del Estero, in Santiago del Estero * Radio María in Chascomús, Buenos Aires * Radio María in Caleta Olivia, S ...

. Local programming includes ''KBN'' with Kyle Wallace, Ben Brust, and Brad Nortman. ''Rutledge and Hamilton'' with Jim Rutledge and Olympic Gold medalist Matt Hamilton, and ''Wilde & Tausch'', hosted by three-time Wisconsin sportswriter of the year Jason Wilde and former Wisconsin Badger and Green Bay Packer

Mark Tauscher Mark Tauscher (; born June 17, 1977) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 11-year career as an offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for t ...

. Weekday ESPN Radio programming on the station includes "Unsportsmanlike" with Evan Cohen, Michelle Smallmon, and Chris Canty and Greeny with

Mike Greenberg Michael Darrow Greenberg (born August 6, 1967) is an American television anchor, television show host, radio show host for ESPN and ABC, and novelist. At ESPN, he hosted the weekday evening, most often Monday, ''SportsCenter'' and previously ES ...

. Local weekday and speciality programming includes ''Wisconsin College GameDay'', Mr. Irrelevant with Alex Strouf, and Prep Mania. Live sports programming on WTLX features

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. The station airs select local high school sports play-by-play. The station also carries national sports play-by-play from ESPN Radio, including NBA basketball,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

games.

History

The station first

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air on . The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was WWAM and its city of license was

Columbus, Wisconsin Columbus is a city in Columbia and Dodge counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,540 at the 2020 census, all of which resided in Columbia County. Columbus is located about northeast of Madison on the Crawfish River. Th ...

. In 1990 it changed call letters to WYKY, airing an

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

format as "Key 100.5." Then in 1998, it changed to WTLX with a "hot talk" format as "100X." The 100X schedule included ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

'' and '' The Don and Mike Show'', along with sports programming from Sporting News Radio and later

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

. By the mid-2000s, the station eliminated the hot talk and concentrated on an all-sports format, with both national and Wisconsin-based programming. On January 1, 2009, WTLX became a

, whose programming had been airing in Madison on rival station 1070 WTSO. Along with that affiliation change, WTLX's

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

moved from Columbus, northeast of Madison, to the Madison suburb of Monona. According to Jason Wilde on an episode of "Wilde & Tausch" from December 21, 2021, the radio studio when he joined ESPN Madison was located on Regent Street under the Regent Apartments. The address was 1402 Regent Street in Madison, a block east of

Camp Randall Stadium Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895 ...

. The same episode of "Wilde & Tausch" also mentions that previous to Pinckney Street the radio studio had been located at the WISC-TV studios at 7025 Raymond Road on the southwest side of Madison. Since January 2022, the station has operated out of the

American Family Insurance American Family Mutual Insurance Company, also abbreviated as AmFam, is an American private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty, and auto insurance, and also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage ...

SPARK Building located on E. Washington Ave in downtown Madison. In December 2024, Good Karma announced that

broadcasts would move from rival sports station WOZN

1670 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1670 kHz: 1670 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * Basilio in Buenos Aires Canada * CJEU (AM) in Gatineau, Quebec - 1 kW, transmitter located at Mexico * XEANAH-AM in ...

to WTLX. The move would take effect with the 2025

season. WTLX's

, WTMJ

620 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 620 kHz: 620 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. In Antigua and Barbuda * V2C-AM in Saint John's In Argentina * LRA Radio Nacional, LRA18 in E ...

, is the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

station on the Milwaukee Brewers Radio Network.Inside Radio.com "Brewers Switch Affiliates in Madison" Dec. 27, 2024.
/ref>

References

External links

WTLX official website
* {{coord, 43.134, N, 89.399, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title ESPN Radio stations TLX Radio stations established in 2001