History
WEMP
WEMP signed on the air on October 14, 1935; 88 years ago (1935-10-14).[3] WEMP was Milwaukee's third radio station (after WISN and WTMJ). At first, it broadcast on 1310 kilocycles. It was a 100-watt daytimer, required to go off the air at night. It was owned by the Milwaukee Broadcasting Company, with studios in the Empire Building.
When the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) was enacted in 1941, the station moved to 1340 AM.[4] It became a Class IV station, permitted to broadcast at 250 watts, day and night. WEMP was an affiliate of the NBC Blue Network, which became the ABC Radio Network in 1945. It carried the network's dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio."
WMAW and WCAN
On March 24, 1948, a new radio station at 1250 AM went on the air.[5] Its call sign was WMAW with a power of 5,000 watts. In June 1952, the call letters changed to WCAN. Station owner Lou Poller eventually started WCAN-TV Channel 25. It was one of the earliest UHF stations in the United States and an affiliate of the CBS Television Network, before CBS itself purchased a rival UHF outlet, WOKY-TV (now WVTV).
In 1955, Poller sold the 1250 AM license to the owners of WEMP. The new owners moved the WEMP call sign to 1250 kHz. The station at 1340 AM, under new ownership, became WRIT and today is WJOI.[6]
Top 40, Oldies and Religion
Over the years, WEMP aired a variety of formats, including Top 40, Country music and adult contemporary. In January 1984, WEMP switched to oldies, featuring personalities such as John Gardner, Dick Alpert and Ernie Bottom. During the 1990s, WEMP ran Westwood One's syndicated oldies format with Gardner doing a local show in morning drive time.
On August 16, 1998, WEMP switched its format to brokered Christian talk and teaching, retaining the WEMP calls. The final oldie played on WEMP was Don McLean's "American Pie".[7] The religious format continued until December 2004.
Sports Radio
Leading up to New Year's Day 2005, WEMP began stunting. It continuously played Bobby Bare's "Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts of Life." The novelty song made reference to both religion (the old format) and football (previewing a new format).
AM 1250 became an all-sports station on January 1, 2005. The new call sign, WSSP, stood for WiSconsin SPorts. Longtime Milwaukee broadcaster Chuck Garbedian anchored the morning show with Chicago native Johnny Vonn. Veteran sports talk show host Peter Brown was tabbed to do afternoon drive.[8][9] The WEMP call letters were used for a year in New York City by an all-news radio station between 2011 and 2012 (the current WFAN-FM. It became an Entercom sister station in late 2017. Toward the end of 2013, the call sign went on radio station WEMP in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
In late 2006, the sports station underwent a period of change. Program director Chip Ramsey, who had been with WSSP since it signed on in the sports format, was fired on August 9, 2006. He was replaced by Ryan Maguire, who directed a series of moves soon after. Weekday afternoon talk show host Peter Brown was fired on December 7, 2006. Mid-day hosts Cliff Saunders and Gary Ellerson were moved into Brown's slot. Morning show host Chuck Garbedian was let go in early January 2007. He was replaced by former WTMJ and Sporting News Radio personality Doug Russell, a Milwaukee native.
Hockey
In 2006, WSSP acquired the rights to University of Wisconsin–Madison hockey games and coaches shows. Mike Wickett, who worked closely with Maguire when both were on the air at WTKA in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was hired to co-host mornings with Russell. Steve Fifer was tabbed to host the 9-11 a.m. shift.
In June 2007, the station acquired the rights to Milwaukee Admirals hockey, taking them away from cross-town rival WAUK. The contract ran up until the 2017-18 AHL season, when WOKY “The Big 920” and WVTV-DT2 “My 24” acquired the broadcasting rights next season.
Changes in lineup
The station modified its lineup in September 2008 using existing hosts in new positions. Cliff Saunders was moved into the morning slot after Doug Russell and Mike Wickett. Gary Ellerson stayed in the afternoon drive slot where he is joined by Josh Vernier and former morning host Steve Fifer as part of the "Big Show". In October 2008, Saunders was replaced by the nationally syndicated Dan Patrick Show.
In January 2009, Maguire left WSSP for Entercom sister station KCSP in Kansas City, Missouri. Former WTMJ program director Tom Parker replaced Maguire at WSSP. Jim Rome's syndicated show was replaced by Bill "The Big Unit" Michaels, formerly of WTMJ and the pre-game and post-game shows of the Packers Radio Network, in the summer of 2011. Entercom began syndicating The Bill Michaels Show across the state for live or tape-delayed airing the same day. WSSP also aired syndicated programming from Fox Sports Radio until the end of 2012. On January 1, 2013, WSSP became a CBS Sports Radio network affiliate.
Translator and HD Radio subchannel
From October 2010 to October 2020, WSSP programming was heard on an HD Radio digital subchannel of co-owned 103.7 WXSS. In July 2014, WSSP began broadcasting on FM translator station W289CB at 105.7 FM.[10] On October 1, 2014, the station rebranded using the translator's dial position as "105.7 The Fan".[11]
In November 2018, the Milwaukee radio market got two new sports stations in the same month, both on the FM dial. WKTI 94.5 FM, owned by Good Karma Brands, flipped to sports at the beginning of the month. Three weeks later, WRNW 97.3 FM, owned by iHeartMedia, did the same. That left WEMP with only its AM signal and a 250-watt translator, competing against two full-power Class B FM sports stations.
On October 5, 2020, Entercom announced that WSSP would no longer be heard on the 105.7 FM translator, and the translator became a brand extension of WXSS as "Hot 105.7", carrying classic urban contemporary music. Thus, WSSP and would revert its branding to "1250 The Fan."[12] On August 16, 2022, 1250 AM The Fan ended all local programming in Milwaukee, laid off its entire air staff, and converted to a near full-time feed of CBS Sports Radio outside a rebroadcast of WXSS's Sunday morning public affairs programming.[13] The changes in programming were made as part of nationwide cuts to Audacy stations.[14]
Other uses of the WSSP call letters
From 1984-1990, the WSSP call letters were assigned to 104.1 FM in Cocoa Beach, Florida. "WSSPer (Whisper) 104" was as an easy listening station.
