WAUK

Infobox Radio Station
name = WAUK


airdate =
frequency = 540 (kHz)
city = Jackson, Wisconsin
area = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
format = ESPN Radio & local sports talk
owner = Good Karma Broadcasting, LLC
power = 400 watts
class = B
callsign_meaning = WAUKesha "(city of license for the 1510 frequency)"
branding =540 ESPN
website = [http://www.540espn.com/ 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 since January 1, 2005 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 continued with 1510 [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=710223 JS Online: Pack prepares, just in case ] ] until May 5, 2008, when Good Karma converted the new WRRD to ESPN Deportes Radio, a Spanish language sports talk format [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=745195 JS Online: Spanish-only on AM-1510 ] ] . WMCS's time brokering arrangment with WAUK ended on June 30, 2008, when the station reclaimed their nighttime hours for the music and community talk format the station airs the rest of the day [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=765643 JS Online: WMCS-AM radio ends ESPN feed, goes talk and music ] ] .

Programming

* Mike and Mike in the Morning with Mike Golic and Mike Greenburg weekday's 5AM-9AM
* The D-List with Drew Olson, Dan Needles, Matt Salmon, and Caitlin Morrall weekday's 9AM-12PM
* Tirico & Van Pelt with Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt weekday's 12PM-2PM
* The World's Greatest Sports Talkshow with Steve "The Homer" True weekday's 2PM-6PM
* The Game with Bill Johnson and Steve Haywood weekday's 6PM-8PM
* The Pulse with Doug Gottlieb weekday's 8PM-10PM

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. The station also airs Wisconsin Badgers basketball games pre-empted by WTMJ (620) due to rights conflicts

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 Green Bay Packers player Mark Chmura.

References

External links

* [http://www.540espn.com/ 540 ESPN] (official site)
* [http://www.onmilwaukee.com/buzz/articles/milwradio.html Milwaukee radio: a retrospective]
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