WTMJ-TV morning news anchor Vince Vitrano will host WTMJ-AM's morning show when Gene Mueller retires in February
To find a replacement for longtime morning news host Gene Mueller, WTMJ-AM (620) had to go all the way down the hall.
WTMJ radio announced Wednesday morning that Vince Vitrano, morning news anchor at WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), will be the new host of "Wisconsin's Morning News" on the AM station after Mueller retires in February.
Mueller himself broke the news on the air. "Chef's kiss — great move," he said. Vitrano followed minutes later with the news on television.
RELATED: WTMJ's Gene Mueller, who's been a Milwaukee radio personality for 40 years, announces he's retiring
Vitrano, who was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Wauwatosa, joined WTMJ-TV in 2000 as a general assignment reporter, and has appeared frequently on the radio station with Mueller over the years.
"For a kid born and raised in Wisconsin, this job is like playing for the Brewers and the Bucks!" Vitrano said in the radio station's announcement.
Mueller has hosted "Wisconsin's Morning News" for 14 years. Before that, the Sheboygan native was paired with legendary Milwaukee DJ Bob Reitman on WKTI-FM (94.5) for a quarter-century.
Steve Wexler, vice president and market manager of Good Karma Brands, which owns WTMJ-AM, said the station hadn't ruled out bringing in a new, out-of-state voice to replace Mueller.
“Could we have taught someone how to say Kinnickinnic and Oconomowoc? Sure. That’s not always a bad thing," Wexler said in an interview. "But to have someone like Vince who grew up here and has been so involved here, it just seemed like hand in glove, and a great tribute to Gene.”
WTMJ-TV, which is owned by Scripps, often has its reporters and anchors appear on WTMJ-AM, a relationship that's a holdover from when the two stations were owned by the same company — Journal Communications (TMJ stands for "The Milwaukee Journal") and then Scripps, which bought Journal Communications in 2015. (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was also part of that deal; the newspaper was spun off to Gannett a year later.) Good Karma bought the former Journal radio properties in Milwaukee in 2018.
It's unusual for a broadcast personality to go directly from one property to another in the same market when both aren't owned by the same company. But Vitrano's move from WTMJ-TV to WTMJ-AM seems to have been amicable on all sides.
"We are thrilled for Vince," Joe Poss, vice president and general manager of WTMJ-TV, said in the announcement. "It is not a goodbye for TMJ4, as we have been a news partner to 620 WTMJ since the dawn of local television. This is an opportunity for a colleague and friend that we support and celebrate."
For a little while, Vitrano won't have to figure out a different commute.
The TV and radio station are both still camped at Radio City, the broadcasting complex at 720 E. Capitol Drive. But construction is starting soon on Good Karma's new downtown studio at The Avenue, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.; Wexler said the stations will move in “hopefully by midyear” in 2022.
Contact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cforan12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WTMJ-TV's Vince Vitrano to replace Gene Mueller on WTMJ-AM's morning news
