iHeartMedia has dropped “The Game” from WRNW/97.3 (Milwaukee) and switched it to Adult Contemporary as “B97.3” amid an ongoing shakeup on the Milwaukee radio dial.
iHeart’s decision to switch WRNW back to a music format comes as two major music stations, WLDB/93.3 and WLUM-FM/102.1, prepare to switch to non-commercial Christian formats pending K-Love’s purchase of the stations from the Milwaukee Radio Alliance.
WRNW has adopted WLDB’s format, slogan, positioning, and logo. WLDB, which continues to run its own version of the “B” format, running announcements telling people to switch to 97.3:
97.3 previously carried an Adult Contemporary format for a few decades up until 2004 as “Lite 97.3” (WLTQ).
Though it’s off the air in Milwaukee, the daytime hosts of “The Game” continue to be heard on iHeart’s “1070 The Game” (WTSO Madison) and WBIZ/1400 (Eau Claire). However, the network’s former stations in three other markets have switched to different programming.
973TheGame.com continues to be online, playing WTSO’s web stream rather than WRNW, and its Facebook page remains active.
Notably, iHeart has not put “The Game” on its other Milwaukee Sports outlet, WOKY/920, which continues to carry national programming from FOX Sports Radio.
On the “Drew & KB” afternoon show hours after the change, Drew Olson said he believed the decision was not performance-related, saying they were near the top in target demographics and calling WRNW “the most successful sports radio station in the history of the format in Milwaukee.”
WRNW’s format change comes just a week after iHeart cut at least four station staffers and adjusted its lineup. Former midday host Mike Heller and the station had parted ways about a month earlier.
“The Game” had been in a competitive market of All-Sports formats in Milwaukee, which also includes Good Karma’s “94.5 ESPN FM” (WKTI) and Audacy’s “105.7 The Fan” (W289CB/105.7 and WSSP/1250).
Just last month, “The Fan” added more local hosts, bringing its local content back to 11 hours per day. The station began syndicating its programming statewide simultaneously with its competitor’s format change.
In other market changes, Milwaukee Radio Alliance sold its other signals to Civic Media, which is switching them to simulcasts of its other stations in the area. And the future of “K-Love” station WLVE/105.3 (Mukwonago-Milwaukee) is unclear as the station will no longer be needed to carry “K-Love” once the WLDB/WLUM purchase is complete.
It appears K-Love’s purchase of WLDB and WLUM had not yet been approved by the FCC prior to the government shutdown, meaning formal consummation of the sale may not be possible until after the government reopens.