The Green Bay Packers departure from decades-long flagship radio station WTMJ 620 AM for new Milwaukee radio home WRNW 97.3 FM The Game was four years in the making and included a visit in Minneapolis when the city hosted the 2018 Super Bowl — before the Milwaukee FM station even carried sports programming.
The Packers surprised many fans and radio industry professionals with their Oct. 27 announcement the team will switch its Milwaukee affiliate starting with the 2022 NFL season to “The Game,” which is owned by radio giant iHeartMedia.
Representing iHeartMedia in the 2017 meeting were Colleen Valkoun, president of iHeart’s six-station Milwaukee cluster, and Jeff Tyler, area president for iHeartMedia in Wisconsin.
“Colleen and I let (the Packers) know we had a plan for the station, but didn’t have the station on the air,” Tyler said. “We let them know what we were thinking.”
That meeting led to another conversation between Packers representatives, Tyler and Kevin LaGrett, who is now president of iHeartMedia Sports, Tyler said. LeGrett flew to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl and the iHeart executives pointed to their company’s station KFAN-FM in the Twin Cities that carries Minnesota Vikings games and is a dominant station in that market, Tyler said.
Still, iHeart didn’t have a Milwaukee sports station. That changed in November 2018 with the launch of “The Game” on 97.3 FM, which previously aired contemporary hits music.
The station runs sports-talk shows with personalities including Steve “Czabe” Czaban, Ted Davis, Drew Olson and Kevin “KB” Brandt. “The Game” also broadcasts Wisconsin Badgers games.
The Packers have been heard on WTMJ since 1929 and will remain there for the balance of the current season. The station at 620 AM also carries the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks.
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