Morning Star Gino Salomone Exits WKLH-FM After 14 Years

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, October 18, 2021 | 11:10am CT

Gino Salomone

Longtime Milwaukee media personality Gino Salomone has left the morning show at WKLH-FM (96.5) after 14 years at the station. Salomone said on Facebook that he and the classic-rock station "could not come to a contract agreement." Friday was his last day.

"I want to thank the listeners who have been so good to me," he said in his post. "I've been privileged to have become friends with so many of you and your support means the world to me," said Salomone. He also said the parting was most cordial and that he was "very open" to returning to radio in Milwaukee.

During his final show on WKLH Friday morning, Salomone got a sendoff from show co-hosts Dave Luczak and Dorene Michaels. Salomone joined WKLH in 2007 after exiting WKTI-FM (94.5), where he had been part of that station's morning show since 1986. He's survived several reshufflings at WKLH, including in 2015 when longtime morning co-host Carole Caine's contract wasn't renewed.

In addition to his interviews with movie and television celebrities, Salomone, a Milwaukee native, has been a familiar figure in a number of nostalgia-tinged events in 2014. In 2014, he was instrumental in working to restore the Kooky Cooky House, a local Christmastime destination from the 1960s and '70s.

In the meantime, Salomone will keep his long-running gig doing celebrity interviews and other features at WITI-TV (Channel 6).