Mike Crute
Host “Devil’s Advocates Radio Show”
February 2012 – Present
CEO and majority owner Devil Radio 92.7 FM-Madison and WTTN 1580 AM-Columbus, WI.
March 2018 – Present
Milwaukee’s Favorite Local Entrepreneur-Shepard Express 2017.
The Devil’s Advocates Radio Show has aired since February of 2012, inspired by the Wisconsin Uprising and the Recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
Walker survived, but the Devil’s Advocates thrived-taking Crute’s hometown of Madison by storm. The Devil’s Advocates Radio Show became an afternoon-drive ratings winner #2 with Men and #2 with Women, 35 and over, in America’s #91 media market by Spring 2016. Crute had contracted with IHeart Radio’s WXXM-The Progressive Mic 92.1 FM, and independently produced the show. When Walker began running for President, the Devil’s Advocates Radio Show went on the road. Eventually chasing Bernie, Hillary, Trump and Cruz around the country, covering strategic primaries, campaign rallies, diner appearances, and Presidential debates. Progressive Talk was crushing the conservative-talk competition in Madison, also owned by IHeart.
Ten days before the 2016 Presidential Election, IHeart Media cancelled their broadcast contract with the Devil’s Advocates. On the day Donald Trump won election, with Wisconsin turning Red and casting the decisive electoral votes to Trump, Progressive Talk ceased in Madison. The former Progressive Mic-WXXM played Christmas music.
Crute immediately went into action, seeking an available station to purchase in Madison, before contracting to purchase an AM radio station just outside Milwaukee. The signal originated from Waukesha, WI, often described as the most Republican County in America. Just a week after returning from the Trump Inauguration and the Women’s March in D.C., Crute launched the Progressive Talk format anew in Wisconsin. Crute leveraged his home, his business, and his life savings, seeking to change future electoral outcomes in Wisconsin. His goal soon expanded to building a rapid-response, Democratic Party supporting, “Resistance Radio” Network, eventually covering 2.4 million including Dane and Milwaukee County voters, purchasing two existing AM stations and acquiring FCC license and building two new FM signals covering Madison and Milwaukee.
Wisconsin’s Resistance Radio Network helped Progressives elect two Supreme Court Justices in spring elections, helped defeat Scott Walker by 29,000 votes in the 2018 mid-terms and helped Senator Tammy Baldwin win a landslide re-election on the same ballot. Most importantly, Dane County/Madison delivered a decisive margin, as Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by approximately 22,000 votes.
After broadcasting from and commuting to Milwaukee for three plus years, Crute sold his Milwaukee area stations. Crute will concentrate on Devil Radio’s financial and commercial success in Madison.
——
Crute is married to Liza. They have son’s, Kadin and Karston, both at Middleton High School. Crute has an adult step-daughter, Kelsey, living and working in Los Angeles. The family has two incredibly naughty dogs, Berkely and Wyn. Crute is the assistant coach of his son’s Special Olympics basketball team.
Crute’s mother, Dorothy, was an unpaid lobbyist for the Wisconsin Foster Parents Association when he was a child, dragging him to legislative offices at the Wisconsin Capitol. She successfully shepherded legislation to law, benefiting foster parents with higher reimbursement rates-improving quality of care. Upon her death, Crute became a Ward of the State of Wisconsin. He became a foster child. Crute received a stable home, role models, and a path to college. He benefited from the very law his mother pushed to passage.
Crute’s eldest son, Kadin, was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum before he turned two. Wisconsin then lacked mandated insurance coverage for therapies, and Medicaid waiting list for services were years long. He now had a pre-existing condition and could not be insured on his family’s individual insurance policy. Kadin’s story came to the attention of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s office. Doyle supported a legislative remedy, and Crute supported Doyle’s effort with speeches and press conferences with the Governor and Crute’s family, including Kadin. Then WI Assembly Speaker, Mike Heubsch, killed the bill for the benefit of the insurance industry, on the floor at 1 am. The bill died, despite overwhelming bi-partisan support during Senate passage. Crute was outraged for his family and those like his.
Jim Doyle inserted the Autism mandate in his next budget and signed it into law with the family in attendance. Crute has been exceptionally political ever since.
Bryan Kelly
Executive Producer
2017 – Present
Bryan Kelly wandered into the production booth one day in 2017, and he has yet to find his way out. More details about the life and times of Bryan Kelly to come.