Milwaukee's Best Not Quite Good Enough

Surely the good folks at WITI Milwaukee are sorry to see local boy Danny Gokey voted off American Idol last night. Milwaukee’s coolest guy since Fonzie has been a major boost for late news ratings on the Fox affiliate, and his presence on the morning program last Friday (“Danny Gokey Day,” naturally) probably didn’t hurt the ol’ Nielsens either.

Gokey Day also saw the stubbly singer hang out with what’s known as the Bronze Fonz (above), perform for about 25,000 at the Summerfest grounds, and spend some quality time with a child from the Make-A-Wish foundation–all the while signing about a million autographs.

WITI boss Chuck Steinmetz says Gokey-mania was like nothing he’d seen in television before. “I know how popular American Idol is, but until you see it up close, you don’t really realize the impact it has on the community,” he says.

One WITI staffer probably took Gokey’s dismissal a little harder than everyone else. (No, not Steinmetz.) As it turns out, Gokey’s brother Charles is an engineer at the station.