88Nine Radio Milwaukee streams adult album alternative and local Milwaukee music live on WYMS, playing at least one track by a Milwaukee artist every single hour. Press play on Radio Shuffle and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
Born as a school station, reborn as a community one
WYMS has carried two very different identities on the same frequency. According to Wikipedia's history of the station, it first signed on March 5, 1973 as a Milwaukee Public Schools station, with call letters standing for "We're Your Milwaukee Schools," and ran for years as a jazz station nicknamed "Jazz 89." The nonprofit organization Radio Milwaukee was founded in 2003, and on February 26, 2007, under a long-term operating agreement with MPS, that nonprofit relaunched the frequency as 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, a station built from the ground up around local music and community.
A mission built to bridge a divided city
That founding mission was explicit from the start. A 2017 OnMilwaukee retrospective on the station's first decade describes its original vision as using music to help unify a city widely recognized as one of America's most segregated, built around three stated goals: promote Milwaukee, promote inclusion, and promote Milwaukee music. The station joined NPR as an official member station in January 2019, adding national news and cultural programming to its locally rooted music format.
A dial built for Milwaukee artists specifically
Unlike a typical commercial alternative station, 88Nine builds its playlist with a hard local commitment, hand-picking songs by local music lovers and guaranteeing airplay for Milwaukee artists on an hourly basis. The station backs that commitment with events like the Radio Milwaukee Music Awards and free community concert series that put local bands directly in front of the listeners the station exists to serve, funded entirely by members, donors, underwriters, and volunteers rather than advertising.
Listen free on Radio Shuffle
88Nine Radio Milwaukee streams a station built around its own city's music and community. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle, anywhere, any time, with no sign-up required.