WAUK
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| WAUK | |
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| City of license | Jackson, Wisconsin |
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| Broadcast area | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Branding | 540 ESPN |
| Frequency | 540 (kHz) |
| Format | ESPN Radio & local sports talk |
| Power | 400 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | WAUKesha (city of license for the 1510 frequency) |
| Owner | Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC |
| Website | 540ESPN.com |
- See also WRRD
WAUK (540 AM) is a radio station licensed and transmitting from Jackson, a community south of West Bend, Wisconsin in Washington County, serving the Milwaukee area with a blend of ESPN Radio and local sports programming, along with the national play-by-play of the properties ESPN Radio has rights to, with studios based in Milwaukee. The station is currently run by Beaver Dam-based Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC, and owned by Craig Karmazin, son of legendary radio executive and current Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin. 540 ESPN is the local rival of Entercom's all-sports station WSSP (1250).
The call letters were originally WYLO, which stood for "Way Low" (the station's position on the AM dial). from 1995 to 2001, the WZER call sign was used, prior to briefly returning to WYLO and finally, WRRD. Prior to the sale to current owner Good Karma Broadcasting, Salem Communications owned the property and programmed a Christian-oriented religious format for many years.
Craig Karmazin, owner of Good Karma Broadcasting, took over operation of the signal on February 7, 2008, moving the format of the former WAUK (1510) from that daytime-limited signal to the full-time 24/7 signal of WRRD. Formerly, ESPN Radio was heard on WAUK during the day, and WMCS (1290) from 6pm-6am under the branding Milwaukee's ESPN Radio - 1510 Days/1290 Nights. On February 12, 2008, WAUK's call letters were switched to the 540 frequency, with the WRRD calls moving to 1510.
The new "540 ESPN" simulcasts with the current day/night combo that included WRRD and WMCS pending the switch to a new format on 1510 AM.[1] WRRD will break away from the simulcast on May 5, 2008, programming a Spanish language sports format with ESPN Deportes Radio.[2]
[edit] Programming
Most of the station's schedule consists of ESPN Radio's national schedule, including Mike and Mike in the Morning, The Mike Tirico Show and The Stephen A. Smith Show, along with the network's evening, overnight, and weekend programming. ESPN Radio play-by-play coverage of Major League Baseball, the NBA, college basketball, and the Bowl Championship Series is aired on WAUK, while locally the station is the flagship of Marquette Golden Eagles college basketball and carries Wisconsin Badgers college hockey. The station is also the Milwaukee home of NASCAR radio coverage from all three NASCAR radio networks. On March 26, 2008, Matt Salmon on the Steve True radio show reported that WAUK had acquired all University of Wisconsin spill over games from WTMJ starting March 28, 2008 sweet 16 game.
Local programming on WAUK consists of the mid-morning show The D-List, featuring programming director and UW-Milwaukee basketball voice Bill Johnson, OnMilwaukee.com's Drew Olson, and WISN-TV sports director Dan Needles, while Marquette play-by-play voice and longtime Milwaukee sports anchor Steve "The Homer" True hosts the self-proclaimed World's Greatest Sports Talk Show during the afternoon rush hour. Steve Haywood hosts another local show from 6pm-7pm nightly. Other local programming airs throughout the weekend, including an independent Wisconsin Badgers college football pregame show and a Packers-focused Sunday morning show hosted by Karmazin and former Packer Mark Chmura.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- 540 ESPN (official site)
- Milwaukee radio: a retrospective
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WAUK
- Radio Locator Information on WAUK
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