Milwaukee Radio: WISN's Mark Belling Cutting Back His On-Air Schedule

Radio talk Host Mark Belling, who still tops audience ratings with his conservative talk show on WISN 1130 AM in Milwaukee, addressed in a Milwaukee Business Journal interview why rumors he’s retiring are wrong, why he’s cutting back his schedule and how long he intends to remain on the station.

Belling told his audience Oct. 25 he agreed to a new contract to continue his afternoon drive program with a schedule where he’s mostly off the air the first four months of each year starting in 2023. He also announced that WISN-AM mid-morning host Dan O’Donnell will anchor the afternoon drive-time show when Belling isn’t on the air.

The biggest change will be that Belling will take off a significant amount of time in the winter and early spring, he said. He will appear on “The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show” one week per month from January through April each year.

Mark Belling

The rest of the year, from May 1 through Dec. 31, he will resume his current schedule working four days per week with occasional vacation days, he said.

Belling, 66, said he held discussions for months with executives at WISN radio owner iHeartMedia ahead of the year-end expiration of his current five-year contract. He started the show in March 1989.

“This has been my intent really since about April or May to try to get something like this done,” Belling said Thursday in an interview. “It just took until this time that we finalized it. It’s been in the works for a long time.

“My desire is to keep doing the show, but to do the show less. And I think doing the show less makes it easier for me to keep doing the show for a longer period of time.”

Jeff Tyler, metro president for iHeartMedia in Milwaukee and Madison, said the company is excited that Belling signed the contract extension.

“The WISN listeners and sponsors are getting more of this true Milwaukee legend,” Tyler said Thursday via email.

Tyler said iHeartMedia and Belling hand-picked O’Donnell to do the show when Belling is away.

The plan is for Belling to “have a presence on the air even in weeks he is off and (Belling) will be available as breaking and important news stories happen to come on and be a big part of the conversation,” Tyler said.

Belling said he plans to spend more time in Florida the early part of the year but will return to Milwaukee for the weeks he’s hosting the show.

Belling, who suffered a stroke on the air in February 2019 but shows no signs of it on his broadcasts, said he is changing his schedule for his physical and mental health “so that when I am on the air I am as alive and engaged as ever.”