TOMAHAWK, Wis. (WSAW) – There\u2019s nothing better than getting in your car and hearing a familiar voice on the radio, always there for you on that drive. Gregg Albert\u2019s gamble four decades ago has paid off for him and Tomahawk.<\/p>\n
Inside a small building sits a giant in the Northwoods.<\/p>\n
WJJQ as you know it today wasn\u2019t built overnight, but over 41 years, thanks to owner Gregg Albert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took my wife\u2019s pension that she had from the Brown County Library and what little bit of money that I had. Went in debt up to our necks, but yeah, very frightening that day,\u201d he shared. <\/p>\n
Then AM-only, they added an FM license and were off and running.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur accountant told us when we bought the station to give it five to seven years. Don\u2019t be too nervous,\u201d Gregg said. <\/p>\n
The small staff of seven includes his son, Tim who joined the family business in 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s taught me well,\u201d Tim said. \u201cSo, I came in on a Saturday morning when he was here and I said, \u2018What do you think?\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Seriously?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Gregg adds, \u201cI\u2019m very blessed he made that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 26 years since, Tim\u2019s watched, listened and learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being a good person and being an integral part in the community,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Gregg built the foundation of WJJQ\u2019s success not on, but with the people of Tomahawk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe continuously reaches out to us and gives back in different ways,\u201d , Executive Director Charis Lau said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to give back to your community,\u201d Gregg said. \u201cThey have supported us all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community takes care of us and we want to take care of them as the radio station,\u201d Tim added. <\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be Tim who turns that dial going forward. Just don\u2019t use the \u201cR\u201d word around Gregg.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, you do something for 40-plus years, it\u2019s pretty hard to give it up 100% because it\u2019s what you love to do,\u201d Gregg said. \u201cYeah, so, it\u2019s been difficult to step back.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December, he\u2019ll celebrate 55 years with his wife, Margie. Travel and grandkids will occupy their bandwidth. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think what he\u2019s done has been amazing and it\u2019s been a pleasure to be on that ride with him the past 20-some odd years,\u201d Tim shared. <\/p>\n
When he signs off, he leaves WJJQ in a better place than when he signed on. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll worked out in the end,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd here we are, almost 42 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gregg is still around the office three or four hours a week. He says he doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be involved, saying he can vacuum and empty garbage cans as he did the first 40 years.<\/p>\n
If you know someone who has a story to tell, because who doesn\u2019t like a good story, email Dale at dale.ryman@wsaw.com.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WSAW. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOMAHAWK, Wis. (WSAW) – There\u2019s nothing better than getting in your car and hearing a familiar voice on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[82276,88,82271,216,3,82274,44097,82275,82270,82273,82277,82272],"class_list":["post-129702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-dale-ryman","tag-entertainment","tag-gregg-albert","tag-music","tag-news","tag-northwoods-radio","tag-tomahawk","tag-tomahawk-chamber-of-commerce","tag-wjjq","tag-wsaw","tag-wsaw-story-submission","tag-you-know-youre-from"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}