Packers Part Ways with Milwaukee Flagship after 92 Years

For the first time since Earl “Curly” Lambeau played as a halfback, the Green Bay Packers’ games won’t be heard on Milwaukee’s WTMJ radio.

The Packers announced Wednesday that their games will be heard in Milwaukee on iHeartMedia’s “97.3 The Game” (WRNW) starting in the 2022 season. The Packers’ news release acknowledges that the move ends a partnership with WTMJ/620, now owned by Good Karma Brands, that dates back to 1929.

There will be no change to the sound of the broadcasts, since the Packers began producing game coverage and managing the Packers Radio Network in 2018.

WTMJ’s 50kW daytime and 10kW nightime signal blankets eastern Wisconsin, also providing a strong signal to Green Bay. It’s also relayed on the 250-Watt FM signal of W277CV/103.3 (Milwaukee).

“The Game” has a stronger FM signal in Milwaukee, operating with the widest coverage area allowed for FM radio stations in southeastern Wisconsin (a maximized class B facility using 15.5kW at 278m).

iHeart also carries the games in the Madison and Eau Claire markets and syndicates its daytime lineup from “The Game” to stations in Green Bay, Wausau, and Superior. (iHeart doesn’t have any stations in Green Bay or Appleton, where the Packers are heard on Midwest’s WIXX/101.1 and Woodward’s WAPL/105.7).

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“The Game” is in a crowded field of Sports Talk stations in Milwaukee that also includes Audacy’s “The Fan” (WSSP/1250), Good Karma’s “94.5 ESPN” (WKTI), Good Karma’s “ESPN 540” (WAUK), and iHeart’s “Big 920” (WOKY). WRNW and WSSP each programs 12 hours of local sports talk each weekday while WKTI has 9 hours of local programming.

None has been a ratings sensation, at least among publicly-released ratings: Nielsen Audio’s October 2021 survey for listeners 6+ ranked WRNW 15th, WSSP 16th, WOKY 18th, WKTI 22nd, and WAUK 26th in average quarter hour shares.

Meanwhile, WTMJ is the flagship of the Brewers and Bucks radio networks and is the top-rated station in Milwaukee with an average quarter hour share more than double all of the Sports Talk stations combined.