Milwaukee Talk Radio Love It or Hate It? (Bruce, Gordon: food, driving)

[silverjet]

I agree that Milwaukee is very fortunate to have such solid radio options. I think having strong local radio is a valuable asset to a community. Even though I've been in Minnesota for a number of years, I appreciate and occasionally still listen to Milwaukee radio (particularly WTMJ). In the Twin Cities we've basically got WCCO which is as generic as WGN and then a station kind of like WISN but unfortunately it's 90% syndicated programming.

[gymdawg]

If you enjoy WTMJ, you must enjoy listening to commercials. When I last listened to the morning show, it was two short lifestyle pieces followed by five commercials, the traffic and weather, followed by five commercials, and about six "news" stories with a break in the middle for five commercials. Plus Gene Mueller's annoying Sheboygan accent. Colleen Boland is another issue: why does she read the "news" as if she's speaking to kindergartners? Of course, WISN is right wing talk. I have to admit, Mark Belling can be pretty compelling when he talks about certain issues. I disagree with him about 90 per cent of the time. Nonetheless, I think he's the best personality in Milwaukee radio.

[ipkl07]

Personally, I don't listen to talk radio. I only listen to music and sports. Don't really care to listen to it to be perfectly honest. I don't need to be falling asleep behind the wheel.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by ipkl07

onest. I don't need to be falling asleep behind the wheel.

Well you don't just have to listen to NPR you can listen to other radios stations that will keep you awake.

[Vegas_Cabbie]

Milwaukee has pretty solid sports radio - 105.7 is entertaining.
Just about everything else is awful.

[ccjarider]

I have not lived in WI since 2008 but I always that Jeff Wagner was milk toast.

It seemed like his hot topics are things like "should criminals be in jail instead of on parole" or something reeeaallly boring like that.

The older audience would dutifully call up and agree with Jeff and that dialogue would go on for 10-15 minutes of host/caller generally figuring out what to say to continue agreeing. He did not address fun, interesting controversial things at all.

I was in WI earlier this year on business and tried listening to him while driving between Rockford and Wausau. Turned it off after 20 minutes - same guy doing same shtick.

Ouch. Can't believe he can stay employed.
Actually made me feel bad for WI if that is the best their "flagship" station can do.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

I have not lived in WI since 2008 but I always that Jeff Wagner was milk toast.

It seemed like his hot topics are things like "should criminals be in jail instead of on parole" or something reeeaallly boring like that.

The older audience would dutifully call up and agree with Jeff and that dialogue would go on for 10-15 minutes of host/caller generally figuring out what to say to continue agreeing. He did not address fun, interesting controversial things at all.

I was in WI earlier this year on business and tried listening to him while driving between Rockford and Wausau. Turned it off after 20 minutes - same guy doing same shtick.

Ouch. Can't believe he can stay employed.
Actually made me feel bad for WI if that is the best their "flagship" station can do.

Yeah I agree, his topics are so one sided as in a no-brainer of a decision. For instance a topic he will do is where the outcome or is it right or wrong is not even a close call, like "texting teen driver crashes should she see jail time?".

Then he will set up the topic with the obvious facts of the case and draws out the setup of the topic, then go to break, then come back from break, re-setup the topic then take calls and he will not offer any new takes than the obvious ones he used during his setup of the topic.

His show is boring and too predictable, yawn. Since Charlie has left I haven't listen to WTMJ at all except for Brewers games.

The Sports show with Greg is bland and very boring as well. For sports talk it's all Spiegel and Parkin's Show and Berstein and Goff on 670 The Score. Laurence Holmes Show is also really good. I hate the Cubs and the Bulls but their show is so much better than our junk up here like Bill Michael's.

620 WTMJ has turned into WGN North.

[silverjet]

Originally Posted by gymdawg

If you enjoy WTMJ, you must enjoy listening to commercials. When I last listened to the morning show, it was two short lifestyle pieces followed by five commercials, the traffic and weather, followed by five commercials, and about six "news" stories with a break in the middle for five commercials. Plus Gene Mueller's annoying Sheboygan accent. Colleen Boland is another issue: why does she read the "news" as if she's speaking to kindergartners? Of course, WISN is right wing talk. I have to admit, Mark Belling can be pretty compelling when he talks about certain issues. I disagree with him about 90 per cent of the time. Nonetheless, I think he's the best personality in Milwaukee radio.

I don't agree with him on a lot of issues, but I do listen to Mark Belling and have for years. Now that his show is in podcast form I can just skip over stuff I don't want to listen to.

[sholomar]

I've listened to a lot of Belling and I lived in eastern South Dakota for quite some time. I'm not saying I agree with everything he says.. in particular I think his views on climate change are dead wrong, but I still find him entertaining and I can take an opposing viewpoint without having a mental breakdown, so I put him on in the background when I'm working on the house or exercising. It lets me keep up on Wisconsin issues away from my original home which I still hold an emotional connection with. Also it's good he brings up things the mainstream media would otherwise ignore. It's good to have a balance to the left leaning media outlets out of Milwaukee. These talk shows have done a lot to influence Wisconsin politics whether you want to believe it or not. Democrats tend to use their media strength to engage in social engineering, and having a strong conservative voice as a counter is important, and one thing that makes WI so great, it has a nice split of both parties which do well together despite their bickering. Belling and conservative talk in general helps keep their base well informed, which is one reason Wisconsin had more of an anti-Trump sentiment than other states, though Belling eventually warmed up to Trump. (aside from Trump taking a shot at Walker that was completely unjustified)

A far better talk show host than Rush, Hannity, or the other shows on WISN, in my opinion. Plus the commercials only take up about 25-33% of the show.. when he subs for Rush, I swear it feels like it's half commercials. It's 2017... we don't like listening to commercials anymore. From about 3:07 to 3:35 there is usually no commercial interruption.. I make it a point to catch this time if I'm doing something where I'd be listening. I listen on Iheart out here, obviously.. and when I'm visiting Milwaukee I still use Iheart as the AM station signal stinks by comparison.

Belling has mentioned on his show that 620 may not be focusing on conservative talk anymore, and that Fox News is also headed in that direction. When he's gone, I fear the conservative talk radio presence in WI will be gone, and though democrats think they would like that, both parties need each other more than they would like to admit. The balance is what makes WI great. Neither side can see their shortcomings, but as someone who's a moderate, I can. As long as the audience is there and someone can make money, hopefully options come up to replace Belling that are good in the conservative talk space.


By the way, Bob and Brian are a lot better than the national options as well.. frankly I'm surprised their show never went national. Another Milwaukee staple that I remember going back to my youth. I don't find myself listening to radio from 6 to 10AM though, so I don't make it a point to listen online. A lot better show than Bob and Tom, Howard Stern, or this "Mancow" guy I used to listen too way back when.

[Milwaukee City]

I never understood the appeal of Bob and Tom, Mancow or Savage. I never liked Stern but admittedly I never actually listened to his show until this year. It's a lot better than I thought although the porn topics and all the swearing gets old. Now that I have gotten older Bob and Brian seem a lot better now that I am 34. When I was younger I would just tune into the Steve Czaban segment then turn it off.

I am as right wing as the come right out of the 50's as they say. I never used to like Belling but after listening to 620 3-6 and their commercial-a-thon I turned on Belling out of a whim. Belling was going head to head with a politician over being over paid and benefits, it was a full on argument. I couldn't believe it, I was hooked from that point on.

Also as a right-winger I do listen to NPR..wait wait don't tell me and even the weird garden show during middays. I'll also listen to Progressive radio in Chicago via the tune-in app. Kathleen Dunn seems to be a dullard never challenges anyone and "hmmm's" every 20 seconds, very annoying but we all have our own ticks.

One political observation, I find it interesting that none of my many liberal friends never listen to or watch or read conservative media but many of my fellow right-wingers will listen to liberal programming.