History
The station was created as the second iteration of heritage station WHBL's FM sister WWJR in 1993 as part of a large frequency swap in northeastern Wisconsin that also involved WKTT moving from 103.1 to 98.1, and WWJR from 97.7 to the new 93.7 frequency to facilitate the creation of Kaukauna-licensed WOGB on 103.1. For the first four years of 93.7's history as WWJR, it carried a basic adult contemporary format.
In early 1997, the Walton family, the longtime owners of WHBL and WWJR, acquired the license for a new station licensed to Sheboygan Falls at 106.5, which would transmit, like WHBL and WWJR, from their Washington Avenue three-tower array site on Sheboygan's south side. The Waltons determined that Sheboygan County was underserved by the lack of a locally based country music station, and at that time country listenership in the area was mainly split several ways in all areas of the county among WKTT and WCUB to the north from Manitowoc County, West Bend's WBWI-FM, and WMIL-FM from Waukesha-Milwaukee to the south.
On April 7, 1997, another frequency swap took place with the launch of 106.5. WWJR's format and calls were moved to 106.5, with 93.7 becoming a new radio country station, "B-93", taking the calls WBFM and mainly airing live programming during the day and voicetracked programming in the overnight hours. Officially, WBFM holds the FCC facility ID which originated with WWJR's original 97.7 facility in 1972.
WWJR would switch to an active rock format at the end of 2000 as "The Buzz" under the calls WHBZ, while WKTT would end up converting to adult contemporary as WLKN in 2003 as WBFM's stronger signal in Manitowoc reduced the ratings for WKTT after their launch and to fill the AC hole left by WWJR's demise.
Besides the purchase of the Walton stations by Midwest Communications in 2000, the addition of some voicetracked shifts from Midwest stations in Green Bay and Wausau, along with a current weather forecasting agreement with WLUK-TV in Green Bay, WBFM has remained relatively unchanged in format since April 1997. A minor change of branding with the decimal number was added in mid-2007 to avert any confusion with Milwaukee's WLDB (93.3), itself known as "B93.3".
WJMR-FM is an urban adult contemporary radio station serving the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area. They are known on-air as "Jammin' 98.3", and are licensed to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Under ownership of Saga Communications, its studios and transmitter are located in Milwaukee's West Side.
WMIL-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, and serving the Greater Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin radio market. It carries a country music radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on West Howard Avenue in the Milwaukee suburb of Greenfield.
WLDB is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, a partnership between Times-Shamrock Communications and All Pro Broadcasting. WLDB airs an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. Its studios are on Good Hope Road in Menomonee Falls.
WDDW is a Spanish-language FM radio station licensed to Sturtevant, Wisconsin, and serving Milwaukee and Racine. It is owned by Bustos Media, with studios on South 108th Street in West Allis. WDDW is known as "La Gran D", and plays traditional Regional Mexican music.
WWKL is a commercial radio station licensed to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and serving South Central Pennsylvania, including Harrisburg, Lancaster and York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and it broadcasts a rhythmic contemporary format. The studios are on Vartan Way in Harrisburg.
WTAQ and WTAQ-FM are conservative news/talk-formatted radio stations, licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin (AM) and Glenmore, Wisconsin (FM), that serve the Green Bay and Appleton-Oshkosh areas. The stations are owned by Midwest Communications.
Midwest Communications, Inc. is a Wausau, Wisconsin–based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Illinois and Wisconsin. The company is a family-owned business and is headed by the Wright family.
WNOV is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It airs an urban contemporary radio format, with some weekday talk shows and urban gospel music on Sundays. The station is owned by the Courier Communications Corporation and is leased to a company called Radio Multi-Media. The studios are on West Capital Drive in Milwaukee.
WRYU is a commercial AM radio station licensed to West Bend, Wisconsin, and covering Milwaukee's northern suburbs. The station is owned by David Magnum, through licensee Magnum Communications, Inc., and features a classic rock format. The radio studios and offices are on South Main Street in West Bend. WRYU carries the syndicated program John Tesh - Intelligence for Your Life.
WSHS (91.7) is a student-run high school radio and public radio station operating on a non-commercial educational license in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Owned by the Sheboygan Area School District, the station's studio is located on the second floor of Sheboygan North High School on the city's north side, and its transmitter is located in the central courtyard of the North High building. An auxiliary studio is also located at Sheboygan South High School, though most programming originates out of North High. The station's signal covers most of Sheboygan and portions of Kohler and the towns of Mosel, Sheboygan and Wilson, and is also simulcast as the audio on the district's South-produced cable channel SASD TV during non-programming hours, which is carried on Spectrum and AT&T U-verse systems in Sheboygan, Fond du Lac and Washington Counties.
WHBL is a radio station in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with a Conservative talk radio format. The station is owned by Wausau-based Midwest Communications, along with three sister FM stations in the market.
WHYB is a radio station licensed to Menominee, Michigan and serving the areas of Menominee, neighboring Marinette, Wisconsin, and the immediate border area of Upper Michigan and Northeast Wisconsin. The station is owned by Radio Plus Bay Cities, LLC and broadcasts a classic hits music format.
WLKN is a radio station licensed to Cleveland, Wisconsin with an adult contemporary format consisting mainly of music from the 1980s until the current day, serving the lakeshore cities of Sheboygan and Manitowoc/Two Rivers, Wisconsin, along with Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties in general. The station's studio is located in Manitowoc, and the station is owned by Seehafer Broadcasting. The station's transmitter is located north of Cleveland, in the Town of Newton.
WGXI is a radio station licensed to Plymouth, Wisconsin and serving the Sheboygan County area, which features a classic country/rock hybrid format under the branding "Cow Country 1420AM 98.5FM". WGXI is affiliated with the Midwest Farm Report, Bill Baker's Dairy Minute, weather forecasts from WISN-TV in Milwaukee, and carries Plymouth High School boys varsity football. The station's studios are located on WI 57 North just east of Plymouth, with its transmitter behind the studio building. WGXI also utilizes an FM translator station, W253CW (98.5), which also broadcasts from the same facility and allows a clear stereo signal to be carried at all hours throughout most of Sheboygan County.
WXER is a Hot AC FM radio station broadcasting on 104.5 MHz in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, which is owned by Midwest Communications. The station is licensed to the city of Plymouth and broadcasts from a tower southwest of the city.
WJJS is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Salem, Virginia, and serving the Roanoke metropolitan area. WJJS has a rhythmic Top 40 radio format and is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. Programming is simulcast with co-owned 102.7 WJJX in Appomattox, Virginia, serving the Lynchburg metropolitan area. The radio studios and offices are on Old Forest Road in Lynchburg and its transmitter is located on Luckett Street near Shenandoah Ave in Roanoke.
WPCK is a radio station licensed to Denmark, Wisconsin and serving Green Bay. The station is owned and operated by Educational Media Foundation. WPCK's transmitter is located off Finger Road in Montpelier.
WHBZ is a Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin-licensed radio station based in Sheboygan that plays a mainstream rock format. The station is currently owned by Midwest Communications and features an all-local lineup, with Fox News Radio updates and forecasts provided by WLUK-TV in Green Bay.
WCLB is a radio station in Sheboygan, Wisconsin which airs a hybrid classic country/rock format simulcast from WGXI (1420) in Plymouth. WCLB's license is owned by Mountain Dog Media, a company owned by former State Senator Randy Hopper, with WGXI's owner, Galaxie Broadcasting, providing its programming from its studio facility on WI 57 in Plymouth.
WEMP 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 Seehafer through Seehafer Broadcasting Corporation, 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 previous owner Mark Heller's purchase of the license in 2013.
