held the call sign wkti ca or wkti cd on channel 22 from 2012 to 2015 see wlwk cd . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message wkti city milwaukee wisconsin broadcast area milwaukee wisconsin branding 94.5 kti country slogan milwaukee s new country wisconsin proud frequency 94.5 mhz also on hd radio first air date june 1959 as wtmj fm format fm hd1 country hd2 news talk wtmj simulcast erp 14 000 watts haat 291 meters class b facility id 74095 callsign meaning katie former callsigns wtmj fm 1959 1974 wkti fm 1982 2008 2015 wlwk 2008 2015 owner e.w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc sister stations wtmj wtmj tv webcast listen live website www.kticountry.com wkti 94.5 kti country is a country music radio station in milwaukee wisconsin broadcasting at 94.5 mhz . the station is owned by the e.w. scripps company . the company owns wtmj am and wtmj tv . wkti maintains studio facilities located on capitol drive in milwaukee this art deco facility is known as radio city in tribute to the new york complex of the same name . wkti s transmitter located approximately 4 miles 6.4 km north of downtown milwaukee broadcasts a hd radio signal with the station airing a simulcast of its talk radio sister station wtmj on its hd2 subchannel . contents 1 history 1.1 1940s and 1950s 1.2 1970s and 1980s 1.3 1990s and 2000s 1.4 2010s 2 references 3 external links history edit 1940s and 1950s edit the owner of the milwaukee journal was a pioneer of fm broadcasting . in early 1940 an experimental station w9xao started broadcasting . in 1942 the station was called w55m . it broadcast from a 50 kw transmitter located in richfield wisconsin . for a short time in the mid 40s the station was known as wmfm . 1 after world war ii the station was renamed wtmj fm and it moved to the 88 108 mhz band . initially wtmj fm used the 102.1 fm frequency but struggled for many years especially when the company began to focus on its new television station . in 1950 the station stopped broadcasting . it returned in 1959 at 94.5 fm running automated programming for many years . 2 1970s and 1980s edit in 1974 the station changed to a stand alone automated top 40 format with the nickname i 94 named after 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 djs were not comfortable about using the tongue twisting call letters on air . a sales manager suggested two letters from katie his wife s name and so the call sign was changed to wkti . i 94 was an automated station promoted as nonstop stereo rock . in 1981 live air personalities were employed . in 1982 bob reitman anchored 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 . 1990s and 2000s edit by the early 1990s wkti evolved to hot ac . by about 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 so the station did not make changes in response to the competition . however slow adjustments were made to wkti s playlist changing to the 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 . in late 2005 wkti adopted an adult top 40 format while continuing to play some vintage artists . in september 2006 the station no longer voiced the w in its call sign and the branding changed to 94 5 kti milwaukee s hit music channel . in late 2006 bob reitman semi retired moving on to a weekly program on local public radio station wuwm . gene mueller continued the morning show with amy taylor and gino salamone as gene amy and gino until taylor resigned in april 2007 . on may 15 2007 wkti and its sister station wtmj moved gene mueller to wtmj s wisconsin morning news . a new show mathew blades in the morning with blades erin austin and aj was launched on wkti . the station s evening lineup was also changing . cindy huber hosted the evening program for two years but then left the station in a reshuffle and moved to wldb . the station then chose to air syndicated programming after 7 pm airing john tesh s intelligence for your life show which had a wkti programmed playlist interspersed with tesh s segments of trivia . in september 2008 wkti broadcast play by play reports for teams normally on wtmj which had their broadcasts displaced by radio coverage of another sport . for example the milwaukee brewers broadcasts moved to wkti to allow green bay packers radio play by play reports to air on wtmj . on september 28 2008 for the first time in milwaukee fm radio history the station aired a green bay packers game where they played the tampa bay buccaneers . 3 on july 22 2010 wlwk aired a brewers game due to wtmj s coverage of a sudden flash flood situation . 4 at 12 12 pm on november 6 2008 the sophie b. hawkins song damn i wish i was your lover gave way to hello goodbye by the beatles . 5 after this journal broadcast group general manager steve wexler stepped in to introduce listeners to a complete makeover for 94.5 fm . the station launched a new adult hits format branded as the new 94.5 lake fm . chicago s beginnings was the first song to be broadcast . with the exception of matthew blades the station s entire airstaff was released with the change . 6 7 on november 13 2008 wkti officially changed call letters to wlwk fm . journal warehoused the wkti call sign at its adult standards station in powell tennessee serving the knoxville market until journal s sale of the station to local interests in december 2012 . the wkti calls then moved to the sturgeon bay door county channel 22 translator for wgba tv in green bay . from july 8 2009 to october 1 2011 lake fm had a television component in conjunction with the digital subchannel network thecooltv for wtmj dt3 marketed as thecooltv powered by 94 5 lake fm . 2010s edit in 2012 wlwk rebranded as 94 5 the lake . journal communications and the e.w. scripps company announced on july 30 2014 that the two companies would merge to create a new broadcast company under the e.w. scripps company name that would own the two companies broadcast properties including wlwk fm wtmj radio and wtmj tv . the deal would separate wlwk from the journal sentinel for the first time in its history as the two companies newspapers will be spun off into a separate company under the journal media group name . the transaction was completed on april 1 2015 . 8 on may 29 2015 at 9 am after playing pinball wizard by the who and going into a stopset wlwk began airing the beatles album abbey road in its entirety with an announcement following the end of side 1 from scripps milwaukee radio s vice president and general manager tom langmyer thanking listeners of the lake and notifying them about a forthcoming format change followed by side 2 ending the lake format with the final song on the album the end . at 10 am wlwk flipped to country resurrecting the wkti fm callsign as 94.5 kti country a change that was made fcc official on june 8 2015 . 9 the fm suffix was dropped a week later as the call letters became simply wkti . the first song on the relaunched kti was bartender by lady antebellum . the station became the second country outlet in milwaukee with a full power signal as it takes on iheartmedia s heritage rival wmil in its first head to head battle since 1987 when wmil took out wbcs the latter later flipping to active rock as wlzr that station is now whqg . 10 11 the call letters of wkti and wlwk were effectively switched and wlwk s calls currently reside on the wgba sturgeon bay translator . later the same day racine station wmkq flipped from country to adult hits also branding itself as the lake with a nearly identical logo . the station s owner david magnum described the abrupt flip as a means of filling a gap created by wkti s flip ; however the two stations are otherwise unaffiliated with each other and magnum s appropriation of wkti s former branding caught scripps off guard . representatives of both companies indicated that they were in discussions over the matter and the station has since reserved domain and social media names carrying different brands . 12 13 wmkq would rebrand as the shore on june 29 . references edit bellamy r. k. riding the airwaves . milwaukee journal 7 september 1944 . accessed 2 december 2013 . 1 fybush.com 2006 . local news today s tmj4 2 js online blog . 3 js online blog . newswatch js online . blades will slip some chat into a sea of music on the lake milwaukee journal sentinel december 5 2008 e.w. scripps journal merging broadcast ops . tvnewscheck . july 30 2014 . retrieved july 31 2014 . wkti fm call sign history . federal communications commission . retrieved 9 june 2015 . https radioinsight.com blog headlines 93141 scripps launches kti country milwaukee 94.5 the lake becomes kti country radio station owners surprised by 92.1 fm s new name logo . the journal times . june 3 2015 . retrieved 18 june 2015 . a shore change for lake brand battle . radio insight . retrieved 18 june 2015 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wkti radio locator information on wkti query nielsen audio s fm station database for wkti v t e radio stations in the milwaukee racine wisconsin market by am frequency 540 620 860 920 940 1050 1130 1250 1290 1340 1400 1460 1470 1500 1510 1540 1560 1610 1640 by fm frequency 88.1 88.9 89.7 90.7 91.1 91.7 92.1 92.5 93.3 93.7 94.5 95.1 95.7 96.1 96.5 96.9 97.3 97.9 98.3 99.1 100.1 100.3 100.7 102.1 102.5 102.9 103.7 104.5 104.7 104.9 105.3 105.7 106.1 106.9 107.7 noaa weather radio frequency 162.400 162.450 162.525 digital radio 620 1130 1250 88.9 1 88.9 2 90.7 1 90.7 2 93.3 1 94.5 1 94.5 2 95.7 1 95.7 2 96.5 1 97.3 1 97.3 2 98.3 1 98.3 2 99.1 1 99.1 2 100.7 1 100.7 2 102.9 1 103.7 1 103.7 2 104.7 1 104.7 2 106.1 1 106.1 2 106.9 1 by callsign kec60 kzz76 wwg91 wauk wbkv wccx wddw & w230ci wfaw wgtd wglb whad whqg wiil wisn wjmr fm wjti & w250bn wjyi wkkv fm wklh wkti wldb wlip wlkg wlum fm wlve wmbz wmil fm wmse wmwk wmyx fm wnov wnrg fm woky wsjp wsjp fm wpjx wptj444 &