WKSH

WKSH

City of license	Sussex, Wisconsin
Broadcast area	Milwaukee-Racine
Branding	Radio Disney AM 1640
Frequency	1640 kHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date	October 1979 (on 1370 AM) ; March 23, 1998 (On 1640 Khz)
Format	Childrens Radio
Power	10,000 watts day 1,000 watts night
Class	B
Facility ID	87121
Transmitter coordinates	43°4′38.00″N 88°11′32.00″W
Callsign meaning	WauKeSHa (Sussex is located just outside of Waukesha)
Former callsigns	WAZI (1998-1998)
Affiliations	Radio Disney
Owner	The Walt Disney Company (Radio Disney Group, LLC)
Website	radiodisney.com

WKSH (1640 AM) is the Radio Disney affiliate for the Milwaukee area, and is licensed to Sussex, Wisconsin. WKSH is Wisconsin's only station owned by ABC and parent The Walt Disney Company.

History

The station originally signed on in 1979 as WCQL (Waukesha County Quality Listening), a highly directional daytime-only station at 1370 AM. After a failure to generate adequate ratings or revenue, the station's owners, George and Mary Scoufis, experimented with a Contemporary Christian Music format in the early 1980s until it was sold to a group of investors. Those investors turned the station into a 24 hour a day station (requiring the change in city of license to Sussex), changed the call letters to WGNW and launched a news-talk format. However the low power prevented the station from ever seriously competing against power houses like WTMJ and WISN.

In 1985, the owners ended the news talk format, and entered into a local marketing agreement with Wisconsin Petra Productions, which changed the call letters to WKSH, re-branded the station as KS-14 and programmed an adult contemporary Christian music format. Later, a group called "Heir Force Ministries" operated the station for a number of years. In the 1990s the station's programming was taken over by "Life Message" who changed the format to a more conservative mix of teaching and inspirational music. The owner of WKSH shut down the 1370 kHz frequency and moved programming to 1640 kHz, a new station on the expanded AM band, in 1998.

In late 2002, WKSH's owner shut down their business, and Disney's ABC Radio Networks division bought the station in order to convert the station to Radio Disney. Currently the station airs the network's entire schedule with no local programming and automated station identifications, although the station maintains a local staff which promotes the station through public events, live remotes and contests and does so on air from time-to-time.

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WKSH
• Radio-Locator Information on WKSH
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WKSH