In 2004, the station added a mid-morning local issues-based talk show hosted by Jerry Bader, who had come from new sister station, WHBL in Sheboygan, where he had been news director through the 1980s and most of the '90s until the 2000 purchase of WHBL by Midwest. Under new management, WHBL went from a full-service format to a conservative talk format matching that of WTAQ, and Bader was groomed into a political talk show host. WHBL continued to carry the WTAQ version of the show live, along with WSAU in Wausau, and Bader also had the title of program director for WTAQ. Bader was let go from the station after his February 8, 2018 program, claiming that his "never Trump" political stance had caused friction with station management. John Muir was named the new host of the program in April 2018, which he held until June 2020, with "Regular Joe" Giganti as his replacement.