WMKE-CD (channel 21) is a low-power, Class A television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.[1] Owned by CNZ Communications, it has studios on West Stratton Drive in suburban New Berlin and a transmitter at the Milwaukee PBS tower on Milwaukee's northeast side.
History
The station first signed on the air as W08BY in November 1985, broadcasting on VHF channel 8 under the ownership of Dothan, Alabama–based broadcaster Charles Woods. It offered a mix of locally produced programming, public domain movies and television series, and music videos, with the rest of its broadcast day filled by programming from the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic. Woods sold the station to KM Communications in 1990; the same year MuchMusic programming was dropped, and replaced with the viewer request music network The Box. After The Box was acquired by Viacom in 2001, the station became an MTV2 affiliate with some programming in Korean (the owners of KM Communications were Korean Americans). In August 2000, WMKE moved to VHF channel 7 to allow for PBS member station