Karen Dalessandro

Karen Dalessandro is among the most recognizable voices in Milwaukee radio touching generations of listeners with her energy, passion, and love of people.

Karen started her career in 1981 at a small station in Michigan while still attending radio school. She moved to Milwaukee in 1998 when she was offered the opportunity to become morning host on country station WMIL-FM. She was, at the time, the host of one of only a handful of female-led morning shows in the nation. Awarded Broadcasting Personality of the Year by the Country Music Association in 2001 and 2015, Karen was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2017 she moved to afternoons on WKTI-FM and in 2019 joined WKLH-FM as afternoon host.

Karen’s community efforts are countless. She co-hosted the annual Child Abuse Prevention radiothon that has raised an average of $300,000 a year. She raised thousands more for the same cause when her show took over the new Miller Park, and later the Fiserv Forum, to sit in every seat in the new stadiums. As founder of Karen’s Check Up for Chicks, she provided hundreds of breast cancer screenings for women in need.

In her more than three decades on the air, Karen has lived up to her reputation from her peers as the “gold standard of excellence in the broadcasting industry.”