When Comedy Aired on Waukesha Radio

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Comedy has conquered stages, video streaming and even the resurgent audio album. But apart from comics who regularly guest on morning drive-time shows, comedy has been a rarity on commercial radio.

Back in 1981, however, one station in Waukesha attempted to lure listeners with doses of humor between its music rotation and a late afternoon full-length “Comedy Classic.” But as WAUK 1510 AM (not to be confused with the recent reclamation of the call letters at 540 AM for a politically left talk format) faced hurdles that kept it from being a ratings leader, it eventually became a local pioneer in programming that now dominates that side of the radio dial. 

Ed Walters, who purchased WAUK in 1978, got the notion to add three comedy segments to the signal's adult contemporary mix in spring of 1981 and branded the station as “The Komedy Korner.” Talent storied as W.C. Fields and Jack Benny and contemporary as Steve Martin and Robin Williams provided the 1,000+ segments from vinyl purchased in new and used record shops and garage sales, as well as loaned contributions from loyal listeners.    

As of August 1982, when WAUK was the subject of a Milwaukee Journal article by Rich Kirchen, it had yet to crack 1% of listeners in the Milwaukee market in the Arbitron ratings, the gauge that provides a majority barometer by which radio stations determine their advertising rates. According to Kirchen's piece, WAUK wasn't profitable at the time and was supported by the Walters' profits from an FM outlet he owned in Des Plaines.    

Double Troubles

WAUK had the double troubles in terms of being able to compete for attentive ears. Its owner was incapable of spending much on promotion compared to other established, often more powerful stations in the nearby bigger city. Plus, the nature of its sunrise-to-sunset license forced the station to go off air during the dead of winter at about 4:15 p.m.; this was at a time when the Federal Communications Commission was considering legislation allowing stations within WAUK’s parameters to broadcast a couple of hours after sundown. 

Valiant a go as WAUK gave in its innovation of infusing comedy amid mellow adult pop and, per Walters, news coverage good as anyone's, WAUK left its Komedy Korner in June 1983. A switch to an all-talk format made it the first AM signal in Southeastern Wisconsin to go that direction in seven years. Though AM stations didn't command much of a listenership for music by this time, Milwaukee remained a skeptical market, where other mostly-talk AM broadcasters of the time played some music so as not to agitate nor alienate their audiences. And WAUK’s switch occurred roughly five years before Rush Limbaugh made talk-oriented broadcasting nigh synonymous with the AM band and political conservatism.

Though comedy radio, after a fashion, resides in abundance on the internet, the closest thing currently to a terrestrial U.S. comedy radio station appears to be Denver’s KQMT HD band signal (also available online). Perhaps comedy already has sufficient infrastructure and exposure to not need any more regular radio play than comedians such as Nikki Glaser guesting on programs like “Bob & Tom.” But in the current media landscape with a plethora of laughs to be had, it still maybe worthwhile to consider how full-time comedy on actual radio could go over nowadays. 

Thanks to Milwaukee Public Library for the research and resources necessary to share the WAUK Komedy Korner story.

In Memoriam

December has been especially sad for the stand-up comedy world with the deaths of two bright lights in its firmament.

The passing of Kenny Deforest, 37, was announced mid-month by fellow comedian Ryan Beck on the GoFundMe page set up for Deforest after he suffered an injury from a Dec. 8 bicycling accident in Brooklyn. Missouri-born Deforest was named a comic to watch in 2015 by Comedy Central and released a couple of specials: the black & white filming of his 2017 debut album, B.A.D. Dreams, and the more recent and intensely autobiographical Don't You Know Who I Am?  As an organ donor, Deforest lives on bodily as his artistry will continue to amuse, enlighten, and provoke. 

Here's Deforest explaining the conversational advantage lost by quitting cigarettes, among other subjects, on Late Night with Seth Meyers ...

Born to Indian parents in Atlanta, Neel Nanda succumbed to thus far unknown causes on Christmas Eve, not many days after celebrating his 32nd birthday and playing a comedy festival in Toronto. At the time of his passing, he was known in his adopted Los Angeles for producing the “Unnecessary Evils” showcase, named one of the city’s 10 best comedy shows by LA Weekly. He had become a club headliner who made his TV debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” but also appeared on Hulu. Viceland, and MTV.

Here Nanda, on Comedy Central, on male-female relations ...