Michelle Rutkowski named Brand Manager at 93XRT
She comes to the Audacy station from now-defunct Milwaukee cluster
Audacy’s Triple A 93XRT (WXRT-FM) has named Michelle Rutkowski as their new Brand Manger, effective October 13. The Chicago native succeeds Laura Duncan in the role, who exits November 3. Duncan announced in August she would be stepping down from the position after four years.
“We are excited to welcome Michelle to the WXRT family. Her deep knowledge of the format, along with the strength of her relationships across the region were the drivers of her consistent success in Milwaukee. We look forward to her replicating that performance on behalf of WXRT,” said Kevin Cassidy, who is Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Audacy Chicago. “I would also like to recognize the immense contribution that Laura Duncan made during her tenure as Brand Manager of WXRT. She hands Michelle the keys to a finely tuned muscle car!”
“This iconic station has influenced me so much as a listener and shaped my deep love of music, and as a programmer who strives for the level of excellence that WXRT has delivered for decades,” said Rutkowski. “It’s an absolutely euphoric experience to be welcomed back to my beloved hometown to continue the legacies of those who made WXRT the revered Chicago treasure that it is. I would like to thank Jeff Sottolano, Dave Richards and Kevin Cassidy for the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Rutkowski arrives to the “muscle car” from the recently-dissolved Milwaukee Radio Alliance, where she was the Vice President Of Programming And Operations, overseeing four stations in the city: AC WLDB-FM, Alternative WLUM-FM, Oldies WZTI (which branded itself as “The Fonz”, named after the character Henry Winkler played on the Milwaukee-set sitcom Happy Days), and Country WLDB-HD2, which launched as “Froggy MKE” last year as a home for emerging country artists. Rutkowski arrived at WLUM in 2006 as an on-air personality and became Assistant Program Director and Music Director at the station in 2011, and was promoted to Program Director of WLUM and WLDB three years later.
Rutkowski began her career here in Chicago at the then-Emmis Communications-owned WLUP-FM and WKQX-FM in 2002, where she served in a variety of roles including promotions and as an on-air personality.
Recently, the Milwaukee Radio Alliance announced it was selling its four stations with WLDB and WLUM to Christian broadcaster K-Love, Inc. (formerly the Educational Media Foundation) and “Fonz” and “Froggy” to Civic Media. The Milwaukee Radio Alliance was a split partnership between All Pro Broadcasting and Times-Shamrock. In 2018, K-Love purchased WLUP from Merlin Media for $21.5 million and flipped it to Contemporary Christian. Civic Media is expected to retain both novelty formats, while WLDB and WLUM will take the K-Love and Air 1 formats.
WXRT recently received mixed ratings news in the Chicago PPMs. While the station finished third overall in the August report, the station’s ratings took a nosedive in the key 25-54 demo, falling from third to fifteenth place and also finished fifteenth in the 18-49 demo as iHeartMedia rival Rock 95.5 saw a ratings surge at the same time.