WNRG-FM

WNRG-FM
City of license Brookfield, Wisconsin
Broadcast area Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Branding Energy 106.9
Slogan Shut Up and Play the Hits
Frequency 106.9 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date August 1995 (as WFMI)
Format Rhythmic Contemporary
ERP 4,400 watts
HAAT 116 meters
Class A
Facility ID 67484
Callsign meaning ENeRGy
Former callsigns WLJU (2/1993 – 6/1995, CP)
WFMI (6/1995 – 5/1997)
WXPT (5/1997 – 11/1997)
WPNT (11/1997 – 4/1999)
WMJO (4/1999 – 6/1999)
WJMR (6/1999 – 12/2000)
WFMR (12/2000 – 6/2007)
WJZX (6/2007 – 5/2010)
WNQW (5/2010 – 6/2010)
WZBK-FM (6/2010-9/2012)
Owner Saga Communications
(Saga Communications of Milwaukee, LLC)
Sister stations WHQG, WJMR-FM, WJYI, WKLH
Webcast Listen Live
Listen Live - HD2
Website energy1069.com

WNRG-FM (106.9 FM) - branded as Energy 106.9 - is a rhythmic contemporary radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, licensed to the suburb of Brookfield. The station, which is owned by Saga Communications, is branded as "Energy 106.9". Its studios (which are shared with the other four sister stations) and transmitter are located in Milwaukee's West Side.

History

Early years (1995–2007)

The 106.9 frequency came into being in Milwaukee when it was licensed as WLJU on February 10, 1993. The new station was owned by Harris Classical Broadcasting, which also owned Milwaukee's heritage Classical station, WFMR. It formally signed on for the first time in August 1995 as WFMI, playing a satellite-fed smooth jazz format. A more powerful and resourceful station, WJZI (93.3) converted from a failing rock format as WQFM to smooth jazz in 1996, giving WFMI stiff competition.

Both stations were sold to Saga Communications and WFMI was quickly switched to a Modern AC format, becoming WXPT on May 14, 1997, branded as "106.9 The Point" (the first song on "The Point" was Sheryl Crow's "A Change Would Do You Good"). When Chicago's WPNT-FM changed formats a few months later, 106.9 picked up the WPNT call sign. They had modest success for a small station, but a few of the bigger stations in the market took notice and adjusted their playlists to fight off the young suburban upstart.

The station is also hamstrung by a traditionally weak signal which has never covered the important suburban markets like the Waukesha and Ozaukee County suburbs very well, and is virtually non-existent north of the Sheboygan County line, where it runs into co-channel interference from WHBZ on 106.5. This is because the frequency was a short-spacing allocation which is shared with WOOD-FM across Lake Michigan in Muskegon, Michigan, which is at a very strong 50,000 watts compared to this station's weaker power, and it does have conflicting interference with that station on the northern rim of their coverage area.

Again, due to stiff competition, the format was changed again in April 1999, this time to a trendy new format known as Jammin' Oldies, and the call letters became WMJO (Milwaukee's Jammin' Oldies). The calls were changed a month later to WJMR and tag line to "Jammin' Hits" due to legal issues. The call sign for 106.9 became WFMR on December 12, 2000, after an in-house frequency swap with WJMR-FM.

Saga Communications moved WFMR to the 106.9 FM dial position, and WJMR-FM's format and call letters to 98.3 on December 12, 2000. This was done primarily to boost WJMR-FM's signal in the urban areas of Milwaukee, and to target WFMR toward the western and northern suburbs. Saga moved the studios to Milwaukee the year before, in 1999.

Smooth Jazz 106.9 (2007–2010)

At midnight on June 26, 2007, ironically on the 51st anniversary of its original sign-on, WFMR ended its classical music format when it flipped to the Smooth Jazz format, a change made quickly to gain momentum from rival WJZI, which dropped the format a week earlier to become light Adult Contemporary music as WLDB/B93.3. On July 15, 2007, the station changed its call sign to WJZX.[1]

On April 24, 2007, the FCC granted what was then WFMR a construction permit to move its transmitter from its original site in Menomonee Falls to the WJYI/WHQG/WJMR tower in Milwaukee outside of the stations' main studios on McKinley Avenue. However because the station moved closer to Lake Michigan, the power was thus reduced in half from the Menomonee Falls signal to 4.4 kW in order to protect what was then WMUS (currently WOOD-FM) across the lake. 106.9's HD Radio signal was put into service in 2008, though because of the current limitations of digital radio the digital signal only covers the city of Milwaukee and eastern Waukesha County proper.

Tiger 106.9 (May–June 2010)

On May 27, 2010, at Noon, WJZX flipped from Broadcast Architecture's syndicated satellite feed Smooth AC "Smooth Jazz Network" to a stunt format called "Tiger 106.9", which referenced Tiger Woods's scandals and featured cheating-themed music from all eras.[2] Saga had reserved the call letters WNQW, possibly referring to the currently popular "Now" format of Top 40 music and announced them publicly in the media, which may have proved to be problematic in hindsight as seen below. The format change was likely done due to the introduction of Arbitron's Portable People Meter audience measurement system in the month of June into the Milwaukee market.

BA's smooth/urban AC format remained for a period of time without local broadcasters on 106.9's HD Radio HD2 subchannel, which has since been replaced with an HD relay of sister AM station WJYI, which has a Christian/brokered programming format. Internet listeners were referred to the live stream of Saga sister station WJZA in Columbus, Ohio, which featured the same basic format and playlist structuring as the former WJZI. However, WJZA has since also changed format to classic hits.

On May 28, 2010, at 9 AM, the 70s/80s rock station WQBW, owned by Clear Channel Communications, flipped to top 40, and was re-branded as "97.3 Radio Now." This was likely done to block Saga's attempt to brand 106.9 with the new WNQW calls as "106.9 Now".[3] 106.9's new call sign was registered with the FCC on May 21, along with the new "Now" branding. Clear Channel appeared ready to reformat "The Brew" even before WJZX's stunting, and put it into place earlier than expected to claim the "Now" brand before 106.9 had the opportunity. 97.3 took the calls WRNW on June 10.

The "Tiger Radio" stunt carried over into May 29 before a switch to songs featuring the word "America" in the title throughout the remainder of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Saga also could not cancel the WNQW calls, which were implemented as scheduled on May 28,[1] so it retained those calls until it filed for a new set.

The station switched to another stunt format on June 2, playing The Beatles' entire catalog in alphabetical order. The catalog looped several times through the next few days.[4]

Big Buck Country 106.9 (2010–2012)

On June 7, 2010, at 3 PM, 106.9 finally debuted their new permanent format, with the name "Big Buck Country 106.9." The station played classic country, which focused on country music from the late 1970s through early 1990s and debuted with the Alan Jackson hit "Gone Country". It put 106.9 in direct competition with AM Clear Channel operation WOKY (920), Clear Channel station WMIL-FM (106.1), and West Bend's WBWI-FM (92.5), which has most of its audience in Milwaukee's northern suburbs.[5] The call letters WZBK-FM became effective June 15, 2010, calls already in use by a sister AM operation in Keene, New Hampshire.

Energy 106.9 (2012–present)

On September 7, 2012, at 10AM, after playing "What Might Have Been" by Little Texas and the first minute and a half of "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks (which began repeating on the line "When the thunder rolls/and the lightning strikes..." before grinding to a halt that led into energizing sound effects featuring thunder and lightning), WZBK changed their format to Rhythmic Top 40, branded as "Energy 106.9". "Energy" launched with "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO.[6][7] In a statement from general manager Annmarie Topel, the station's format will be similar to a contemporary-hits format, but with "no bubble-gum pop," and added that “As the (rhythmic CHR) format evolves, there are great opportunities for stations that are newer, faster, cleaner and leaner.” On September 12, the call letters were changed to WNRG-FM to match the "Energy" handle. (Despite this, WNRG-FM continued using the WZBK legal ID liners for two more days.) In its first 30 days, WNRG was commercial free and promised to play 10,069 songs until October 8, when it added commercials and began promising to only play 60 minutes of music on air.

The flip to Rhythmic also brings the format back to Milwaukee for the first time since September 1994, when WLUM carried the format before they flipped to Alternative, which at the time was due to owner Willie Davis' decision to move the station away from playing the increasing Hip-Hop content that he felt was too offensive. Like WLUM (during its later years), WNRG-FM's Rhythmic playlist is heavily focused on Rhythmic Pop/Dance currents.[8] As such, WNRG-FM faces competition from Top 40/CHR rivals WRNW and WXSS, and from Urban Contemporary rival WKKV.[9]

WNRG-FM is also the first station in the Saga Communications Rhythmic Top 40 line up to be launched on a full-powered signal, as their two other outlets in Des Moines (HITS99.9 K260AM/KIOA) and Champaign (HITS99.7 WIXY-HD3 & W259BG), broadcasts on simulcasting HD radio subchannels and FM translators. They also share the same fonts and logos except for the branding (Des Moines and Champaign's monikers are "Hits"). The WNRG voiceover imaging and liners are being handled by Scott Matthews and Wendy K. Gray of CESD Talent.[10] All 3 stations were programmed in Milwaukee by Saga/Milwaukee PD Brandon Rowe up until his departure in May 2013.[11]

On January 25, 2013, and after running jockless for four months, WNRG hired its first airstaffer, Jeremy "Cousin Ed" Schultz, for afternoons,[12] while Rowe took the 7PM-Midnight slot until his exit from the station. They also added DJ Ekin for mix shows duties, airing at 6PM and 10PM daily. WNRG began adding an airstaffer for the midday slot with the hiring of Taylor Vaughn in October 2013. Taylor left in January 2014 and was replaced by Ashley Z (who has also since left the station).[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Call Sign History
  2. ↑ "Milwaukee's Smooth Jazz WJZX 106.9 stunts as Tiger Radio". Radio-Info.com. May 27, 2010. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved Sep 7, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Smooth Jazz, Brew and Radio Now Recap" from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (May 28, 2010)
  4. ↑ "Ratings games spur identity crisis". Jsonline.
  5. ↑ "Smooth-jazz station finally makes its move - to 'country legends'". Jsonline. June 7, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Big Buck Gets Energy" from Format Change (September 7, 2012)
  7. ↑ "Classic country station switches to 'Energy 106.9'" from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (September 7, 2012)
  8. ↑ "New 'rhythmic' format for 106.9 radio" from Milwaukee Business Journal (September 7, 2012)
  9. ↑ "Saga Gives Milwaukee An Energy Boost" from Radio Insight (September 7, 2012)
  10. ↑ "Scott Matthews, Wendy Gray Team Up For Energy 106.9/Milwaukee" from All Access (September 11, 2012)
  11. ↑ "Energy 106.9 Brand Mgr. Brandon Rowe And Saga Split" from All Access (May 9, 2013)
  12. ↑ "Cousin Ed Joins Team At Energy 106.9 In Milwaukee" from All Access (January 25, 2013)
  13. ↑ Taylor Vaughn Heading Home To Milwaukee from All Access (October 15, 2013)

External links

Coordinates: 43°02′49″N 87°58′52″W / 43.047°N 87.981°W