WEMP

For the Milwaukee radio station that held the WEMP call sign from 1935-2004, see WSSP. For the New York station which held the WEMP call sign from 2011-2012, see WFAN-FM.
WEMP
City of license Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Broadcast area Manitowoc County and Sheboygan County
Branding WEMP-FM, 98.9
Frequency 98.9 MHz
Repeaters WLWB, 1530 kHz, New Holstein
(daytime-only)
First air date December 7, 2013 (two day program test authority)
December 7, 2014 (official launch)
Format Easy listening
Power 6 kW
ERP 6 kW
HAAT 89.4 m
Class A
Facility ID 85300
Callsign meaning Heritage call sign formerly used by WSSP Milwaukee
Affiliations ABC News Radio
Owner Mark Heller
(Metro North Communications, Inc.)
Sister stations WGBW, WLWB
Website www.wempradio.com

WEMP (98.9 FM) is an FM radio station licensed to Two Rivers, Wisconsin carrying a mixed easy listening and soft oldies format. The station transmits from the WLKN tower in Newton and covers the Manitowoc/Two Rivers market, along with eastern Sheboygan County, including Sheboygan. The station is owned by Mark Heller via Metro North Communications, Inc., which is the station's licensee. The station's allocation has been proposed by the FCC since 1996, going through three owners who failed to build the facilities before Heller's purchase of the license in 2013.

The station began broadcasting via program test authority on the evening of December 7, 2013 at 10pm, broadcasting until December 9 at midnight, using a limited hour loop of easy listening music with some Christmas music mixed in due to music licensing concerns, along with weather and sports updates and small talk from Heller, and pre-recorded station identifications done by WGN's Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong. Also part of the PTA were several jingles from the original WEMP in Milwaukee during their prime in the 1960s; the WEMP call letters were coincidentally made available when the last holder in New York City re-called their station in mid-2012 during a transition period to a new format and eventual new owners.

The PTA happened nine days ahead of the expiration of the station's construction permit after the station's original plan to build a new tower in Newton was rejected by the town board. The test was performed using the studio facilities of Cleveland's WLKN (98.1), along with their antenna and transmitter just west of Newton. WLKN went off the air to allow the PTA to go forward, and also streamed the PTA in full using their website. The test ended with the signal re-tuned to 98.1 and WLKN's programming resuming as scheduled.

WEMP began permanent service a year later on December 7, 2014, broadcasting from the WLKN tower with its current format, and has remained commercial free during a testing period. The station is simulcast on their sister station New Holstein-licensed WLWB (1530), which operates as a daytime-only signal. WEMP utilizes studio facilities on the lower level of WLKN's studio building, along with using WLKN's existing post office box for correspondence.

In February 2015, limited commercial advertising began, along with the addition of top-of-the-hour newscasts from ABC News Radio and half-hour weather updates.

The station had an unactioned request to move the city of license to Howards Grove, north of Sheboygan, which was reflected in the 2013 test run on-air station identification as "WEMP, Two Rivers, Howards Grove". Heller intends to broadcast high school sports from across the station's coverage area, which is neglected as Manitowoc stations focus mainly on that area and the villages directly west, while Sheboygan radio stations focus on their local teams and high schools further south.

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