RadioMilwaukee recently boosted our commitment to Milwaukee with a major investment in our future – and in the city’s.
As reported in BizTimes last month, our six-year-old station recently purchased a vacant building in Walker’s Point to create a $2.8 million facility for our studios and offices and to connect us more directly to the community.
While we continue renovations and fundraising, we recently moved our listener-supported, non-commercial radio station into this new studio and office complex at 220 E. Pittsburgh Ave., which includes a new Stone Creek Coffee café. When completed, our building will include community space, room for training more interns and a 100-seat performance studio. This will enable us to help invigorate Milwaukee through live musical performances, unique events, community programs and discussions bringing people together to tackle important issues. And our investment will spur economic development in Walker’s Point and help promote this thriving area.
While radio is a traditional medium, RadioMilwaukee (WYMS-FM, 88.9 FM) has used its airwaves from the start in new, unique ways to improve the community and has established a major presence in new digital media.
We’re thankful that our “Sound Foundation” capital campaign, chaired by Sarah O. Zimmerman, for the new facility has attracted major support from across business and philanthropic communities. Our campaign and project leadership includes Katie Heil, Curt Culver of MGIC, Juli Kaufmann of Fix Development, Jim Schleif of Shorewest Realtors, Michael DeMichele of DeMichele Company LLC, Charlie Trainer of TMB Development, Julia Taylor of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Bill Bonifas of CBRE, Bob Monnat of Mandel Group and Kyle Weatherly of Solaris. Major donors also include individuals such as Sue and Curt Culver, Barry Mandel, Jennifer LaMacchia, Betty Quadracci,Joan Lubar, Mike Drescher, Janine and Bruce Smith, Julia and Bladen Burns and philanthropic organizations such as the Astor Street Foundation, The Brico Fund, Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, David & Julia Uihlein Charitable Foundation and Ken and Melinda Krei Family Foundation. Business support has come from AO Smith Foundation, Badger Meter Foundation, von Briesen & Roper, SC, WE Energies and others.
Listeners support RadioMilwaukee in part because the station uniquely and significantly contributes to our region’s cultural richness. We are strongly dedicated to Milwaukee, building community through the music we play, positive messages about Milwaukee and the 250 Community Stories we air throughout the day featuring people, neighborhoods, and organizations working to improve Milwaukee.
We are one of the new efforts that are invigorating the city and attracting young people to come here and to stay here. In partnership with organizations and businesses like The Pabst / The Riverside / Turner Hall Ballroom, gener8tor, NEWaukee, Milwaukee Film, Teachtown, Flying Car and others we are keeping Milwaukee fresh and on the edge.
Of course, RadioMilwaukee is about music. Bringing new national and international music to our listeners, we integrate the best of Milwaukee music into what we play every day. We support Milwaukee musicians in other ways, including the annual Milwaukee Music Awards, development and distribution of free download compilations and weekly airing of live in-studio performances by Milwaukee’s finest musicians on our “414 Music” show.
RadioMilwaukee provides a window through which the world can view Milwaukee. People think of Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles and other cities as meccas for music and hipness. Well, Milwaukee can hold its own with those locales, and RadioMilwaukee proves it by playing the best in new music and by showcasing Milwaukee’s deep and diverse music community.
Radio continues to play a major role in our community, even in this digital age. It’s easily the most accessible media around – it’s in our cars, offices, kitchens, living rooms and everywhere else. And we’ve made RadioMilwaukee even more available through new technologies, including website streaming and smart phone apps. We also vigorously spread our Community Stories, music and messages through social media, including to our more than 18,500 Facebook friends and 10,500 Twitter followers.
While radio is free to listeners, it’s definitely not free to produce or distribute. We greatly appreciate our major business and philanthropic supporters and our 3,200 individual and contributing family members.
We strongly encourage others in the business community to join those already supporting this investment. We’ll be opening our facility’s doors to the community with a celebration beginning at 4 p.m. Sept. 28. Once completed and paid for, the new studio complex – and our supporters – will us help launch RadioMilwaukee’s next phase of helping build a better Milwaukee.
Mary Louise Mussoline is executive director of RadioMilwaukee. To discuss involvement in the Sound Foundations campaign, contact Mussoline at marylouise@radiomilwaukee.org or (414) 892-7971. For more information on the project, visit http://building.radiomilwaukee.org.
