-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
RIP CD 92.9
- Thread starter CbusRadio
- Start date
I'm guessing another LMA with eventual sale. iHeart couldn't find success with that signal given the number of format flips over the years. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t just plop WTVN on it a long time ago, considering how much ratings tend to improve whenever AM stations are moved to FM
If Malloy couldn't buy 102.5, 1550 and 1580, there's no chance he'll ever be able to buy 105.7. This smacks of at least trying to get some sort of monetary return for an intellectual property that is unworkable with just a paywalled stream and nothing more.
I think the IP is going to be either sold off or franchised to iHeart. And it's just as well. What else can they do? An LMA with the traveler's information station at 1610 AM? Part 15?
Last edited:
I agree 100%. I don't even like his station and iHeart isn't interested in his format - they have refined and curated formats that actually appeal to the average listener. Perhaps it's just parking the calls there.
It's definitely callsign parking on iHeart's end and possibly playing the long game until they can acquire the IP, or just the brand itself. It worked for Cumulus and how they repurchased the "Q101 Chicago" brand for WKQX.
Why would call letters with "CD" in them be valuable in 2024?
Anyone who thinks anyone else really cares about call letters in 2024 needs a cold bucket of reality dumped on their head
MP492.9
I don't understand the dislike for Randy or CD (whatever frequency) here. Or finding joy in the removal of a station that did, even if it was not your thing, have an impact on Columbus radio for several decades.
No, it wasn't the highest rated. Yes, it struggled in the later years. But it was an independent who managed to super serve their audience against the odds for a long period of time, and the staff was talented and put a lot of passion into it. There's no point kicking them when they're down, and if the station was completely without merit, it wouldn't have existed as long as it did.
Nothing Randy or WWCD did kept any of you from enjoying the music you preferred, or listening to any iHeart or other station. There wasn't a shortage of spectrum that kept something more valuable off the air because CD existed.
Bashing them is as logical as bashing EMF, whose music is not my thing. They're not doing you any harm being on FM in Columbus. And as for iHeart, CD was competitive with, and on the street level, more connected to the alternative audience in the market and the live scene than 105.7. Jacor didn't take them out with 98.9/105.7 and neither did iHeart. For strategic reasons, if iHeart wants to be in the alternative format in the market, they could do worse than a deal with Randy, because their current product isn't setting the market on fire either - and I don't see any of you mad that that format exists on that signal. You might as well be trashing the operators of 92.9 for the classless way their new PD is handling the branding switch, or for continuing to play alternative music that's even more obscure than CD's primetime playlist.
Even if I was not at all into their music, I would admire Randy for his dedication, personal sacrifice and managing to do what he did for as long as he did. I applaud people like that, and the world would be a much more dull place without them. Yes, it's a business. But you also need the mavericks and independents. Good for them.
No, it wasn't the highest rated. Yes, it struggled in the later years. But it was an independent who managed to super serve their audience against the odds for a long period of time, and the staff was talented and put a lot of passion into it. There's no point kicking them when they're down, and if the station was completely without merit, it wouldn't have existed as long as it did.
Nothing Randy or WWCD did kept any of you from enjoying the music you preferred, or listening to any iHeart or other station. There wasn't a shortage of spectrum that kept something more valuable off the air because CD existed.
Bashing them is as logical as bashing EMF, whose music is not my thing. They're not doing you any harm being on FM in Columbus. And as for iHeart, CD was competitive with, and on the street level, more connected to the alternative audience in the market and the live scene than 105.7. Jacor didn't take them out with 98.9/105.7 and neither did iHeart. For strategic reasons, if iHeart wants to be in the alternative format in the market, they could do worse than a deal with Randy, because their current product isn't setting the market on fire either - and I don't see any of you mad that that format exists on that signal. You might as well be trashing the operators of 92.9 for the classless way their new PD is handling the branding switch, or for continuing to play alternative music that's even more obscure than CD's primetime playlist.
Even if I was not at all into their music, I would admire Randy for his dedication, personal sacrifice and managing to do what he did for as long as he did. I applaud people like that, and the world would be a much more dull place without them. Yes, it's a business. But you also need the mavericks and independents. Good for them.
Conversely, you could be thankful Delmar preserved a very similar niche format that is not commercially viable on the air. Radio stations exist to make money, not feel good stories as they have never paid anyone's bills including CD's.
I was unaware, having only done this for over two decades. 
CD was commercially viable to some degree or it never would have made it 30+ years.
Why don't you call your buddies at iHeart and ask them how they like 105.7's performance without the loyalty of Randy's audience and why they see value in the call sign if it's such a useless "feel good story?"
My point stands. The presence of WWCD and 92.9 on some level seem to offend your sensibilities. And you're correct, it's a business. A business that offers you enough choices where you can turn the dial if you're so bothered by alternative rock or small niche stations like 92.9.
CD was commercially viable to some degree or it never would have made it 30+ years.
Why don't you call your buddies at iHeart and ask them how they like 105.7's performance without the loyalty of Randy's audience and why they see value in the call sign if it's such a useless "feel good story?"
My point stands. The presence of WWCD and 92.9 on some level seem to offend your sensibilities. And you're correct, it's a business. A business that offers you enough choices where you can turn the dial if you're so bothered by alternative rock or small niche stations like 92.9.
I don't hate Malloy or the predecessor company or WWCD itself. It was the leasing to purchase method of doing business that was barely viable at best, and looked like a total money drain at worst. I can't imagine how punitive it was to subsidize WHIZ or Delmar all these years, or the financial risks taken by Malloy to restructure the LMA with WHIZ, only to have it pulled out from them anyway.
I at least could understand complications from the 2009 Great Recession that impeded or possibly prevented any purchase of 102.5, but I cannot imagine Delmar asked that much for two high-band AMs with FM translators on the same frequency.
Delmar at least saw value in the format and "CD" branding and clearly wanted it to continue as-is. They probably went too far in the press release, but really, could you blame them?
What WWCD did, persisting all these years despite massive headwinds and market realities, was admirable. As was trying to exist despite the very blatant caste system with streaming royalty fees, effectively hobbling their online presence.
It was almost a miracle that they lasted as long as they did.
I do think Delmar handled it poorly.
The new PD of the station's made inflammatory statements on social media. Not professional. The company thought they could take Malloy's brand without paying for it (not professional.) They tested the stream with mocking liners against Randy Malloy (not professional.)
You don't treat a station with that history that way. The Big Room and other associated events and connections the station had to its audience built a lot of good will and loyalty - Delmar spits on it and then expects listeners and the local music community to be engaged with their product. The playlist of which, is far more obscure than CD ever attempted outside of Independent Playground, which was a speciality show.
I get that it's a company that runs other stations, but when it comes to alternative, I think they greatly misunderstood what CD was and how easily they could "replace" it. This new product won't do "better" than WWCD and the handling of the flip is an embarrassment.
I have always been a fan of CD but listened to the new station yesterday as neutrally as possible. IMO it sounds like they promoted a sports board op to PD and let them play all of their personal favorites. Segues are sloppy, imaging is over modulated (at least on the stream).. It sounds like amateur hour. As someone else previously commented, I have no idea how you would could make that cluster of music sellable.
Delmar probably thought the IP was being given up by Malloy and would be theirs for the taking. That obviously was not the case and are acting out of pure spite as a result.
I would be surprised if WXGT and WQCD don't wind up simulcasting WDLR in a matter of months.
Are the two 92.9's different now? I thought both would be carrying the same thing.
If you want to totally give up, put WDLR on the Columbus 92.9. And that might be an issue when it comes to sports programming, at least whatever WDLR has left.
- Status