Malloy invades the Dairyland

It has been nearly a year since Mike Malloy got the axe from Air America Radio. Since then, he's rebounded with Nova M Radio and landed his show on radio stations in markets such as San Francisco, Miami, San Diego, Seattle and Chicago.

And now, Malloy has landed the mother of 'em all... KENOSHA!

Kenosha?

Yes, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Smack dab on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. The rough midway point between Milwaukee and Chicago. Hometown of Orson Welles, Don Ameche and the guy who invented the answering machine (Joseph Zimmerman). A town that still has streetcars (yay!). A town ranked by many as a desirable place to live. And unlike the crappy crime-infested ghetto that is it's neighbor to the north, Racine, Kenosha is indeed a nice little town.

And now, Kenosha radio listeners can stay up late and listen to Malloy on WLIP (1050AM) from midnight to 3AM.

WLIP is a little 250 watt station owned by NextMedia, a fairly decent-sized company that owns a bunch of stations around the outskirts of Chicago (Kenosha is considered part of the Chicago radio and television markets). WLIP has just flipped formats, de-emphasizing the previous solid gold oldies format while adding more talk shows.

The bad news is they're not flipping to liberal talk. It looks like Malloy is it. The good news is that, hey, at least they've got Malloy. And they're not cramming the schedule with a bunch of typical conservocrud. Currently, WLIP has a generous amount of locally-oriented programming (very generous for a low-powered AM station in a small market). They're adding a few syndicated shows as well. In addition to Malloy buried in overnights, 'Dr.' Laura will air in afternoons and Jim Bohannon will air evenings 9-midnight, if that's your cup of tea (okay, probably not).

The miniscule 1050AM frequency might not sound like much, but it does cover some populated areas. The signal basically stretches from Chicago to Milwaukee (though with static in those two cities). And they put out a city-grade signal from Racine to Waukegan, Illinois. For listeners in the northern Chicago suburbs, unhappy that the city's progressive talker WCPT (850AM) signs off at night (per FCC rules), this at least gives them some kind of alternate for after-dark listening.

Malloy's addition to the WLIP roster marks somewhat of a return to the Chicago airwaves. Years ago, he was on WLS, prior to their liberal purge. And with WCPT, his show is mostly confined to their 24/7 webstream, as they sign off early in his program.

So there you go. If you're driving I-94 between Milwaukee and Chicago in the nocturnal hours, at least you've got something to listen to. Malloy's show airs on delay from midnight to 3AM weekdays.