A Class B AM at 540 kHz with a signal pattern stretching from Green Bay, Wisc., to Chicago’s northern suburbs has just been sold by the Craig Karmazin-led Good Karma Brands.
Who’s the buyer of this Milwaukee-focused facility and its associated FM translator, which for months has been a home of “Liberal Talk”?
It’s WAUK Radio Inc., a Wisconsin-based entity led by Michael Crute that sees 20% equity interest by Sage Weil.
Paperwork filed for approval with the Commission sees WAUK Radio acquiring WAUK-AM, licensed to Jackson, Wisc., and FM translator W266DR at 101.1 MHz in Waukesha.
Despite the AM’s huge coverage area, the stations focus on Waukesha, hence the brand “The ‘Sha” used by the facilities.
The transaction is valued at $650,000, and a 10% deposit has been made by Crute to GKB.
Since January, local media has been reporting on Crute’s plans to purchase WAUK and use it as a counterprogramming hub against conservative-leaning talk programming heard in Milwaukee.
Crute is the former operator of WRRD-AM “Resistance Radio 1510,” which is today Good Karma Brands-owned WGKB-AM. At the time, he leased air time from the licensee.
Today, with programming in place via a Time Brokerage Agreement, the liberal talk is indeed in place — along with a Waukesha-centric brand. Nationally known host Thom Hartmann airs in the 11am-2pm Central time slot.
Why the Waukesha focus? Urban Milwaukee reports Waukesha has the third most Democrats of the state’s 72 counties, behind only Milwaukee and Dane counties.
