Wisconsin, Pioneer in Radio Trivia Quiz

Answer: University of Wisconsin - Madison

Members of the University of Wisconsin Physics Department were experimenting with radio waves in the first decade of the 20th century. By 1915, they had helped create 9XM, the first radio station in Wisconsin - 9 was the north central region, X was for experimental and M was Madison. The station remained operational during World War I, when most other stations were off the air.

The station acquired the call sign WHA in 1922 and remains broadcasting after a century. It broadcasts on 970 AM from a radio tower at the UW arboretum.

Answer: Stevens Point

WWSP in Stevens Point hosts what it bills as "The World's Largest Trivia Contest" every April. It attracts dozens of teams with hundreds of people for the 54 hour spectacle. The event has even inspired a film, "Triviatown" (2006).

Appleton is also host to a major trivia event at Lawrence University, the Great Midwest Trivia Contest, which is held annually in January. The Lawrence competition actually began before Stevens Point, in 1966. The contest was held on WLFM radio until 2006.

Answer: ideas

Wisconsin Public Radio dates its roots to WHA in 1922. The Ideas Network really took off in 1947. It is largely based on the campuses of the University of Wisconsin system. The network includes national programming from National Public Radio and some international programming from BBC News as well as regionally produced discussion shows.

Answer: WIBA

WIBA has been around since April 2, 1925. It is the oldest commercial radio station in Wisconsin. WIBA is a news/talk station that broadcasts on 1310 AM and 101.5 FM. The FM station was launched in 1969. The station broadcasts from Fitchburg.

WZEE started in 1949, WTSO began in 1948 and WORT is the newcomer to Madison radio, starting in 1975.

Answer: Gimbels

WAAK was launched on April 26, 1922 from atop the Gimbel's Building, It lasted for six years, but was shut down by federal regulators in 1928.

The Gimbel's building was opened in 1887 at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Plankinton, along the Milwaukee River. It remains one of the city's architectural landmarks. The building as a department store closed down in 1986.

TA Chapman's major store dates to 1885, and it was located on East Wisconsin Avenue. The Chapman company went bankrupt in 1987.

Espenhain's was located at Fourth and Wisconsin in 1922. It went out of business in September 1932, at the peak of the Depression.

Boston Store was located directly across the street. The store was built in 1900 and eventually incorporated into the Grand Avenue Mall. It was the last survivor, closing in 2018.

Answer: Marquette

WHAD was begun by Father John Kramer at Marquette in the fall of 1922. The station was briefly affiliated with the Milwaukee Journal, until it moved to create WTMJ in 1927.

The other three colleges could have had a radio station. Carthage dates to 1847, Caroll stated in 1846 and Dominican began in 1864. Marquette is actually the late comer, starting in 1881.

Answer: Charlie Sykes

Charlie Sykes, who has since come to regret his conservative past, was the voice of conservativism on Milwaukee radio at WTMJ from 1993 to 2016. He has written numerous books, most on the subject of public education. In 2017, he wrote "How the Right Lost its Mind," detailing the decline and fall of the Republican party to Trumpism.

Mark Belling and Vicki McKenna are both on WISN. Sykes actually got his start in radio substituting for Belling on WISN in 1992. Belling has been on the air since 1989, McKenna claims to be a :"Reformed Communist" but she has now embraced an even more absurd philosophy.

Jeff Wagner is on WTMJ, but began broadcasting in 1998.

WTMJ dates back to 1922, when it was WCAY. The Milwaukee Journal bought it in 1927 and changed the call sign to TMJ. Over the last few decades, it has been a leading voice for conservative talk radio in the Milwaukee area. WTMJ broadcasts on 1130 AM.

Answer: 1960s

WUWM, the radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee began broadcasting on September 9, 1964. The present day university was created in 1956. The institution began as the Milwaukee Normal School, a teacher's college, in 1885.

WUWM broadcasts on 89.7 FM and is part of the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network.
The station broadcasts from the WITI radio tower in Shorewood.

Answer: Jazz

Ron Cuzner brought his velvet smooth voice to "The Dark Side" on WFMR, Milwaukee's late classical radio station, between 1977 and 2000. "The Dark Side" aired between Midnight and dawn, and featured jazz music. Cuzner began his program with "Good morning. It's a glorious morning."

Cuzner died in Milwaukee on March 23, 2003.

Answer: Michael Feldman

Michael Feldman hosted "Whaddya Know" on WPR until 2016, and continues to host the show on-line as a podcast. He began the show in 1985. Starting in 1997, it began broadcasting at the Monona Terrace, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed convention center in Madison.

The show asked contestants a variety of trivia questions, It was modeled in some respects after the classic Groucho Marx show "You Bet Your Life."

Peter Segal hosts "Wait, Wait.. Don't Tell Know" another trivia based show on National Publci Radio. Joy Cardin was a veteran journalist on Wisconsin public radio, and Ben Merens runs a public affairs talk show on WPR.