WHAD-FM 90.7 will switch to classical music as part of Wisconsin Public Radio reshuffle

Classical music is returning to Milwaukee radio, 15 years after the last local station carrying the format dropped it in favor of smooth jazz.

But the local airwaves will lose a news-talk station in the process.

Starting May 20, WHAD-FM (90.7), the Wisconsin Public Radio station licensed to the Milwaukee area, will switch from its news-talk format known as The Ideas Network to WPR Music, a classical music format with jazz, world and folk music tossed in the mix during the weekend.

The switch is part of WPR's plan to replace the two current formats on its 38 member stations — The Ideas Network and NPR News & Music — with WPR News and WPR Music. Half of the WPR stations will get the news format, featuring a mix of National Public Radio programs, syndicated fare and WPR news-talk shows; the other, including WHAD, will switch to all-music, with shows hosted by Wisconsin on-air talent.

Details on the statewide changes are at wpr.org/new.

Announcing the format changes, WPR said the changes were the result of two years of audience research and analysis.

“We have heard from Milwaukee listeners for years that they want us to bring classical music radio back to the city and this will do just that,” Marta Bechtol, executive director of the Educational Communications Board, said in a statement from WPR. The board operates WPR and PBS Wisconsin in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

WHAD used to have classical music on its main channel, later shifting it to the station's second audio channel, broadcasting in HD.

The last Milwaukee radio station that carried mainly classical music was WFMR-FM, which dropped the format in 2007 when it switched to smooth jazz. (That station, now WRXS-FM, currently plays oldies music on 106.9 FM.)

WPR pointed out that markets like Milwaukee that are losing the WPR news format can pick it up from nearby WPR news stations — like WGTD-FM (91.1) in Kenosha — or at wpr.org and the WPR app. Also, a number of the NPR shows that are on WHAD also air on WUWM-FM (89.7), the Milwaukee NPR affiliate.

(WGTD is among the state public radio stations that are switching to the WPR Music brand on May 20.)

Other Milwaukee news-talk stations include WAUK-AM (540), WTMJ-AM (620) and WISN-AM (1130).

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WHAD-FM 90.7 will switch to classical music as part of WPR reshuffle