WKTI (94.5 FM) – branded 94.5 ESPN Milwaukee – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKTI is an affiliate for ESPN Radio. WKTI is known as ESPN Milwaukee; also jointly identified as ESPN Wisconsin alongside Madison-based sister station WTLX, which simulcasts much of WKTI's local programming. WKTI also serves as the flagship station for the Marquette Golden Eagles; and the radio home of Mark Chmura, Mark Tauscher, Tony Smith and Steve True. WKTI shares its transmitter and tower facility with WTMJ-TV from its former studio located off of Capitol Drive (Wisconsin Highway 190) in Milwaukee, an Art Deco facility known as "Radio City", in tribute to the New York complex of the same name. WTMJ radio, WKTI and WGKB moved to a new studio within the Third Street Market Hall in downtown Milwaukee at the end of 2022.
In addition to a standard analog transmission, WKTI broadcasts in HD Radio and rebroadcasts their AM sister station on its second subchannel.
History
Early years (1922-1950) The owner of the Milwaukee Journal, in addition to publishing a daily newspaper, was a pioneer of broadcasting. It acquired WTMJ in 1927, after it had been on the air since 1922, among the earliest AM radio stations in Wisconsin. On February 23, 1940, an experimental FM station, W9XAO, started broadcasting in the Apex radio band (roughly between 25 and 44 MHz), as the first FM station west of the Allegheny mountains. In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the establishment, effective January 1, 1941, of an FM band operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz. The first fifteen commercial FM station construction permits were issued on October 31, 1940, including one to the Milwaukee Journal Company for 45.5 MHz, which was issued the call sign W55M. This facility had a 50 kW transmitter located in Richfield, Wisconsin, and primarily simulcast WTMJ's programming.
Effective November 1, 1943, the FCC modified its policy for FM call letters, and the station's call letters were changed to WMFM. The station call letters became WTMJ-FM on December 1, 1945. It began running classical music for some hours of the day; one of the announcers was WTMJ's Jonathan Green, who utilized a more sophisticated voice and name as J. Bradley Green for his work with the FM side. The company began to focus on its new television station, WTMJ-TV, which signed on in 1947. This original WTMJ-FM, along with co-owned WSAU-FM in Wausau, ended operations on April 2, 1950, with their licenses turned in to the FCC for cancellation.
Beautiful music (1959-1974)
A second WTMJ-FM, predecessor of the current station, commenced operations on June 1, 1959, at 94.5 FM, and ran beautiful music programming for the next 15 years.
Top 40 (1974-1989) In 1974, the station changed to a separately programmed automated Top 40 format, using the branding "I-94" (named after Interstate 94, the main east-west interstate highway that runs through Milwaukee). To support the new brand, the owner wanted to change the station's call sign but could not decide on the two middle letters of a new name. The station manager, Jack Lee, proposed "WWWI", but the airstaff was not comfortable about using the tongue-twisting call letters on-air. A sales manager suggested two letters from "Katie", his wife's name; the call sign was thus changed to WKTI. I-94 was an automated station promoted as "Nonstop Stereo Rock."
In 1981, live disc jockeys were employed. The next year, Bob Reitman began hosting WKTI's morning show. The program director, Dallas Cole, added Gene Mueller to the morning show in mid-1982. Lips LaBelle later became the afternoon DJ and promotions director. In late 1982, Danny Clayton became the night DJ and music director. These people worked as a team at WKTI for the next fifteen years. The station experienced steady ratings and growth.
Hot adult contemporary (1989-2008) Between 1989 and 1990, WKTI gradually decreased its Top 40 formula and evolved to Hot AC, as the station decided to target a more adult audience. This left WLUM-FM as the only CHR station in Milwaukee for a time. By around 1999, WXSS-FM began to compete for WKTI's predominantly female audience with music from younger artists. WKTI had a long-standing popular morning show, and the station did not make changes in response to the competition. However, slow adjustments were made to WKTI's playlist, changing to an Adult Top 40 format to attract new and younger listeners. The changes included contests and a Friday playlist called Flashback Friday, which featured music from the 1980s.