WIIL
 |
|
| City | Union Grove, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Kenosha/Racine/Milwaukee/Chicago |
| Branding | 95 WIIL Rock |
| Slogan | "The Rock Station" |
| Frequency | 95.1 FM (MHz) |
| First air date | 1961 (as WLIP-FM) |
| Format | Active Rock |
| Audience share | 0.8 (Holiday 2016, Nielsen Audio[1]) |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| HAAT | 117 meters |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 28473 |
| Callsign meaning | WIsconsin and ILlinois, also "will" |
| Former callsigns | WLIP-FM (1961–1978) WJZQ (1978–1992) |
| Owner |
Alpha Media (Alpha Media Licensee LLC) |
| Webcast | http://wiil.tunegenie.com |
| Website | 95wiilrock.com |
WIIL (95.1 WIIL Rock) (pronounced "95 Will Rock") is a radio station in Kenosha, Wisconsin that plays an active rock format. The station serves Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and the northern suburbs of Chicago. The call letters stand for Wisconsin and Illinois, as Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, where studios are located and the station's transmitter location, is near the border of the two states. WIIL is owned and operated by Alpha Media, through licensee Alpha Media Licensee LLC, and operates at 50,000 watts of power.
In April 2010, the station received FCC approval to change its city of license from Kenosha to the Racine County community of Union Grove. This was to allow then-owner NextMedia Group to meet ownership caps with its Chicago cluster, as Kenosha is classified in that radio market by Arbitron/Nielsen Audio even though the station's signal favors Milwaukee more than Chicago; moving the city of license to Racine County placed WIIL in the Milwaukee Nielsen Audio market, but the transmitter and studio remained in the Kenosha area.
WIIL began in 1961 as WLIP-FM, a simulcast of its parent sister station WLIP (1050). The station eventually separated from a simulcast and began running its own music programming from 6 a.m. to midnight. The station offered a beautiful music format but in the mid-1970s, it began playing Progressive type AOR format in the evenings, and was known as "The New Rock 95 LIP-FM". By 1978, the station had converted to an all AOR format and changed its call letters to WJZQ. In the early 1980s, "Rock 95" changed to a Top 40/CHR format. In 1990 it became a Dance type Top 40 station, first as "FM 95 WJZQ", and then later as "The New Power 95 WJZQ". It returned to mainstream top 40 by 1991–1992. The transition to "Power 95" was marked by playing a continuous loop of Snap's "The Power" for 24 hours without interruption or explanation. In September 1992 it became "The New 95 WIIL ROCK" with a CR format. For a short period in the summer of 2003 or 2004 WIIL was renamed "95.1 The Rock Station!" but returned to as 95 WIIL Rock not long after. In 2004 it took a more AR direction, while continuing a MR format. In November 2009, the station shifted to a full active rock format.
...
Wikipedia