WLUM is run as a partnership with co-owned WZTI and Shamrock Broadcasting's WLDB as a group called the Milwaukee Radio Alliance.

[2] WMKE (102.1 FM) launched in September 1960, broadcasting from studios located on North Avenue in Milwaukee with a format consisting primarily of Broadway show tunes.

[4] Former Packer legend Willie Davis purchased and split the programming of the two stations on February 14, 1979, switching WAWA-FM to WLUM (short for We Love YoU Milwaukee!

By 1989, WLUM was featuring shows like "Casey's Top 40" and "American Dance Traxx" as it began to shift further towards a dance-leaning direction that was loosely patterned after Power 106 in Los Angeles.

Hip-hop was slowly being phased out and more modern rock was added to the playlist, due to Davis' desire to distance his station from the violent image of most rap and hip-hop music, after finding out that the station had begun to carry a nightly hour of uncensored music after the FCC's "safe harbor" regulations were not in effect (a record homicide count in Milwaukee and several area violent crimes also played into the re-shift).

[7] This began to occur in earnest on December 1, 1993, when Wauwatosa West High School assistant principal Dale Breitlow was murdered by a former student, and the station immediately pulled Dr. Dre's "Dre Day" and Eazy-E's "Real Compton City G's" in reaction, dropping their usual music and allowing those affected to call-in about how the shooting affected them.

After adding more classic rock tracks to the playlist, the station shifted to an adult album alternative format on June 23, 1998, at 5:00 p.m.. Artists played during this era included Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Melissa Etheridge, Led Zeppelin, Dave Matthews Band, and The Doors.

By September, the station was once again a full-time reporter to alternative rock airplay charts for radio industry trade magazines.

[17] The Bob and Tom agreement ran out in 2005, and a locally oriented morning show, "Kramp and Adler", debuted on St. Patrick's Day.

The station admitted past mistakes, then announced their "independence", stating they were now free from corporate practices and radio consultants and pledged a stronger dedication to their listeners and the local community.

Jackson also added new DJs to the airstaff such as Michelle Rutkowski from WKQX in Chicago, and changed the name of the station to "FM 102.1" with the slogan, 'Independent.

The first including My Chemical Romance, Rise Against and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus at the Riverside Theater (Milwaukee) on Wednesday, December 13, 2006.

2007's BSS was held in the same location on Sunday, December 16 with Coheed and Cambria, Jimmy Eat World, Shiny Toy Guns and The Starting Line.