Milwaukee Radio: Progressive Talk Format Set To Launch

Michael Crute, co-host of a syndicated show called Devil’s Advocates Radio, says on a podcast produced by the liberal group Citizen Action of Wisconsin that he’d bought the Waukesha-based WRRD 1510 AM. The 25,000-watt daytime only station will flip to Talk on February 1. The station  currently broadcasts ESPN Deportes format.

A news release from Citizen Action said of the deal, “Crute and current licensee, Good Karma Brands, have agreed to terms of sale, with an operating agreement permitting the immediate format change while application for licensing transfer is processed by the FCC,” according to Milwaukee Magazine.

Devil’s Advocates Radio most recently aired on  Progressive WXXM 92.1 FM The Mic in Madison that dropped that format in November.

Since The Mic dropped its news-talk format, Crute and his partner, Dominic Salvia, have been producing their show in syndication, serving 16 markets around the country, Crute said on the Citizen Action podcast.

WRRD 1510 AM (23 Kw-Daytimer)

The Citizen Action release describes the new format thus: “The Bill Press Show, the Stephanie Miller Show, the Thom Hartman Show, and Free Talk Live will join the Devil’s Advocates in providing a live daily weekday line-up between 6 am and 9 pm CT. Westwood One will provide National news, daily features like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and weekend national programming like Meet The Press. WRRD 1510 AM will welcome Milwaukee’s own Earl Ingram Show back to the Wisconsin airwaves Saturdays 12-3 p.m.”

It will also include an hour of the Devil’s Advocates Radio show, broadcast from 2 to 3 p.m. and then again in drive time, from 5 to 6 p.m., Crute said in the podcast.

Terri Williams, organizer of Radio-Active, said in an email Friday, “The launch of 1510 AM provides progressives with a tremendous opportunity to change the conversation in southeastern Wisconsin.”

“This is not simply a business deal, my mission is to offer Milwaukee and Wisconsin a new voice and change our political dialogue,” Crute said in a press release Friday. “Our state and our nation need more fact-based political conversations, more speaking truth to power, more inclusive voices, and less partisan rhetoric.”