WISN (AM)

Infobox Radio station
name = WISN-AM


city = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
area = Southeastern Wisconsin
branding = "News/Talk 1130 WISN"
slogan =
airdate = October 23, 1922
frequency = 1130 kHz
format = News/Talk
power = 50,000 watts daytime
10,000 watts nighttime
erp =
class = B
sister_stations = WKKV, WMIL, WOKY, WQBW, WRIT
callsign_meaning = The WISconsin News (former Milwaukee Hearst newspaper that merged with "The Milwaukee Sentinel".)
former_callsigns = WIAO, WSOE
owner = Clear Channel Communications
webcast = [http://www.newstalk1130.com/pages/streaming.html Listen Live]
website = [http://www.newstalk1130.com/ newstalk1130.com]
affiliations =

WISN (1130 AM) is a news/talk-formatted radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are owned by Clear Channel Communications, and the home of local afternoon radio host Mark Belling, who has on occasion substituted for Rush Limbaugh on his national program.

The station will also become the new home for Milwaukee Panthers basketball broadcasts in 2007-08, including the Coach Rob Jeter Radio Show. The station was the home of Marquette basketball broadcasts from 1971 to 2006 before opting not to renew its contract with Marquette. [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=590616]

WISN was sixth of 28 rated stations, and second of all AM stations, during the last ratings sample of the Milwaukee market. [http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041207aaa.html]

History

On July 22, 1922, a broadcasting license was issued jointly to the School of Engineering of Milwaukee and the daily evening newspaper, The "Wisconsin News", which was owned by the Hearst Corporation. [Frost, S.E., Jr., PhD, "Education’s Own Stations: The History of Broadcast Licenses Issued to Educational Institutions". The University of Chicago Press, 1937, p. 212.] The call letters assigned (sequentially, they had no meaning) were WIAO. Since December 1, 1921, radio stations had been assigned two wavelengths: 360 meters (833 kHz) for "broadcasting news, concerts and such matter", and 485 meters (619 kHz) for "broadcasting crop reports and weather forecasts". As such, WIAO was licensed to broadcast on a wavelength of 360 meters (833.3 kHz). Although its license called for “unlimited” time at a power of 500 Watts, the fact that the three other Milwaukee stations: WAAK (Gimbel Brothers department store), WCAY (Kesselman O’Driscol Music Co.) and WHAD (Marquette University), were also licensed for the 360 meter band, meant that WIAO had to share time with them.

At 10:15 a.m. on October 23 of that year, WIAO went on the air from the school's Marshall Street building with 100 watts of power, using a student-built transmitter. [“New Station to Be Opened for Radio Fans”. "The Wisconsin News/The Milwaukee Telegram", October 22, 1922, Part II, p. 2.] That power level was formalized on January 9, 1923 when a new license was issued. [Frost, p. 212.]

On July 23, 1923, another new license was issued — this time solely to the School of Engineering — specifying a power level of 200 Watts. The power level was reduced to 100 watts on October 9. [Frost, p. 212.]

In January 1924, "The Wisconsin News", began programming the station on a part time basis. [“Fight News to be Broadcast by Radio”. "The Wisconsin News", January 24, 1924, p. 6.] On May 31, 1924, the station was authorized to shift its frequency to 246 meters (1220 kHz). [Frost, p. 212.] The station did so at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 9. [“Wave Length is Changed by WIAO”. "The Wisconsin News & The Evening Sentinel", June 9, 1924, p. 10.] On August 18 of that year, WIAO changed its call letters to WSOE. [“WIAO Changes to New Call Letters: WSOE to Designate Lake Front Station; More Power Added”. "The Milwaukee Sentinel and Milwaukee Telegram", August 17, 1924, Part I, p. 14.] On December 31, the school announced that it had purchased all of the equipment of WCBD in Zion, Illinois (one of the first religious stations, which also preached "flat earth" information). The purchase included a new, more powerful (500 Watt) transmitter and twin towers, which were mounted atop the school's Oneida (now Wells) Street building. [Grignon, Gaston, W., “Close Big Deal for WCBD: School of Engineering Announces Purchase of Powerful Outfit”. "The Wisconsin News", December 31, 1924, p. 18.] The new WSOE was dedicated on July 8, 1925. [“Open New WSOE Air Station July 7: Dedication to Last 7 Hours: New Equipment to be Most Powerful in State; May Reach Europe”. "The Wisconsin News", June 26, 1925, pp. 1, 16.] At that time, "The Wisconsin News" took over programming the station full time, while the School of Engineering took care of technical operations. Formal approval of the power increase was issued on July 15. [Frost, p. 212.]

The authorized power level was increased to 1,000 watts on April 21, 1927. [Frost, p. 212.]

At 3:00 a.m. on June 15, 1927, the first of two major reassignments of radio frequencies made by the new Federal Radio Commission (FRC) took effect. [“Stations Will Change Waves Tomorrow”. "The Wisconsin News", June 14, 1927, p. 12.] The reassignment affected almost 600 of the nation’s 694 radio stations. [“Stations Must Change Waves or Quit Ether”. "The Wisconsin News", June 15, 1927, p. 16.] WSOE was shifted to a wavelength of 270 meters (1110 kHz).

The Journal Co. had programmed Marquette University’s station, WHAD (which was wholly unrelated to the current-day Delafield-licensed Wisconsin Public Radio outlet), since January 1925. It couldn’t come to a satisfactory agreement with them on where to take the station, and at the suggestion of a Federal Radio Commissioner, decided to purchase another. On April 20, 1927, The Journal Co. purchased WKAF.

On June 1, 1927, WSOE was shifted to a frequency of 1110 kHz and its power reduced to 500 Watts. [Frost, p. 212.] WHAD was assigned to a wavelength of 293 meters (1020 kHz) [Frost, p. 194.] , and ordered to share time with WKAF until the Journal Co. took over the latter station, at which time WHAD would be moved to another frequency. ["The Milwaukee Journal’s Broadcast Service to Wisconsin, Part I & II". (undated), p. 13. Milwaukee Journal Stations. 1922-1969. Milwaukee Manuscript Collection 203. Wisconsin Historical Society. Milwaukee Area Research Center. UWM Libraries. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Box 3, folder 4.] That happened on July 25, 1927, and the call letters were changed to WTMJ. ["WTMJ on Air Monday Night: Initial Broadcast of Journal's new station at 7:30 p.m., "The Milwaukee Journal, July 25, 1927, p. 17."]

As a result, WHAD was shifted to 270 meters (1110 kHz) on September 15, and ordered to share time with WSOE. [“Three Locals Affected by Wave Change”. "The Sunday Sentinel and Milwaukee Telegram". September 25, 1927, Radiologue, p. 4.] On October 15, WSOE’s power was cut to 250 Watts. [Frost, p. 212.]

To compete with WTMJ, "The Wisconsin News" entered into a lease arrangement with the School of Engineering on November 15, 1927. The lease was for a minimum of three years. The agreement specified that the newspaper was to “operate the station and furnish all financial support while its ownership and technical supervision was to remain in the hands of the school." Subsequent license applications filed on January 11 & 12 were filed in the name of the School of Engineering and "The Wisconsin News", respectively. [Frost, p. 212.]

To reflect the new arrangement, "The Wisconsin News" changed the call letters of WSOE to WISN on January 23, 1928.

With the issuance of its General Order 40 on August 30, 1928, the FRC assigned WISN a new wavelength of 267 meters (1120 kHz) [BCL, “U.S. Radio Stations on New Wave Lengths Sunday: WTMJ Shifts to 620 K.C.; Adjustments Made”. "The Milwaukee Journal", November 11, 1928, Recreation Section, p. 1, ] at 250 Watts of power. The new assignment took effect on November 11. It was also ordered to share time with WHAD, with WISN receiving six-sevenths of the available time, and WHAD one-seventh. [Grignon, Gaston W., “Many Stations Change Wave Lengths Sunday: Expected to Clear Ether”. "The Wisconsin News", November 9, 1928, Part 2, pp. 2, 4.] The studios, transmitter and towers were still located at the School of Engineering. WHAD had objected to the time-share arrangement with WISN, but its request to shift to 900 kHz was denied by the FRC on October 22. [Frost, p. 194.]

WISN applied for permission to increase its power to 1000 Watts on July 29, 1930, and it was granted by the FRC on September 12. The station was sold to "The Wisconsin News" in November of that year. [This is based upon the fact that the initial lease was for three years, as well as that according to Frost (p. 213) in its license application of December 30, 1930 WISN stated that the newspaper was the owner.]

The station continued to be located at the School of Engineering until 1932. That year, the School of Engineering reorganized itself as a non-profit corporation, and changed its name to the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). It moved from the Oneida Street building after purchasing the German-English Academy on North Broadway Street. Hearst also owned the morning newspaper, "The Milwaukee Sentinel", and the WISN station offices and studios were relocated to its building on Michigan Avenue. The transmitter and tower were relocated to the top of the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co.’s Public Service Building, and the newspaper took over operational responsibility for WISN.

WHAD applied for 900 kHz again in 1929, under the understanding that it would share time with WLBL. Its application was denied as WHA and WLBL had entered into a time sharing agreement. WHAD appealed to the United States District Court of Appeals, which subsequently upheld the FRC’s decision. It subsequently tried to negotiate a better time-sharing agreement with WISN. The latter interpreted the 1/7 requirement to be one day, while WHAD interpreted it as divided over a week. On November 12, 1931, a hearing was held to decide the matter, and as a result, in licenses issued to the two stations effective on February 19, 1932, specified definite hours for the operation of each. [Frost, p. 195.]

In 1934, "The Wisconsin News" purchased WHAD from Marquette University, and on May 29, WHAD was deleted and WISN was able to broadcast seven days a week. [Frost, p. 196.]

In 1937, "The Wisconsin News" became "The Milwaukee News", which folded in 1939. WISN then became "The Milwaukee Sentinel" station, but the call letters were not changed.

In 1941, the FCC shifted WISN to 1150 kHz as a part of The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (Havana Treaty). The station shifted to its current frequency of 1130 kHz on March 11, 1965, at which time its power was increased from 5000 W to its current 50,000 W daytime, 10,000 W nights.

In 1958, the station reacted to growing listener and advertiser backlash against the growing popularity of rock-and-roll and declared it's format to be "non-rock, anti-Top 40." To mark the event, the station played 5 hours of rock music then burned that music in the station's courtyard. [cite book | last = Fisher | first = Marc | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Something in the Air | publisher = Random House | date = | location = | pages = 48 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-375-50907-0 ]

WISN had an adult contemporary format from the 1970s into the 1980s, when they changed to their current news/talk format.

Before 1997, WISN-AM was co-owned with WISN-TV by the Hearst Corporation, however in the wake of the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Hearst decided to expand their stake in television (creating Hearst-Argyle Television), and sold their radio stations except for two in Baltimore. Clear Channel bought WISN-AM, along with sister station WLTQ-FM (97.3, now WQBW) the next year. The radio stations stayed within the combined WISN-TV/AM/WLTQ studios at N. 19th St. and Wells St. until 2000, when all five Milwaukee Clear Channel stations moved into WOKY (920)'s expanded studios on Howard Ave. in Greenfield.

Currently there are no corporate connections between WISN-TV Channel 12 and WISN-AM, except for the television station providing weather forecasts to all five of Clear Channel's Milwaukee stations.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.newstalk1130.com/ 1130 WISN]
* [http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/milwradio.html Milwaukee radio: a retrospective]
*amq|WISN
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