Unbelievable.  This station was the top rated FM station in this market for about 20 years.  It WAS the station to listen to in the 80's.  I knew they were struggling with their identity recently.

It was hard when Top 40 radio started having so much swearing in it and starting including so much rap music.  They had to segue into an adult contemporary station and that seemed to hold onto the people that grew up on the station but never added any new, young listeners.

Now they're copying us and going with a JACK format.  Everybody wants to be like Freeze-Frame. 

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WKTI-FM (94.5) ended its 34-year run shortly after noon Thursday in a format change that replaced a "hot adult contemporary" format with a new identity as "94.5 Lake FM," playing a diverse playlist of music dating from the '60s to today.

It's a version of a format often called "Jack FM," although the new station, which will pick up the call letters WLWK-FM when the Federal Communications Commission gives its OK, won't be using that moniker.

Gone are all the on-air voices that were a signature of the old WKTI, from its relatively new morning show to Milwaukee radio standby Jim "Lips" LaBelle.

Voices will return - probably after the first of the year - but they'll be new and will have a less prominent role. In other words, don't expect a big-personality morning show. For an undetermined time, there won't be any ads on the station.

It's a change that's been a long time coming since WKTI dropped out of the top 10. In the summer Arbitron ratings, WKTI was tied for 12th place with Spanish-language WDDW-FM (104.7) among listeners 25 to 54, the key audience for advertisers.

The goal for the station is a return to the top five.