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RIP CD 92.9
- Thread starter CbusRadio
- Start date
The owners of the two AM frequencies, 1580 and 1550, were so pleased with this arrangement a few years ago, that they petitioned the FCC to change the stations' call letters: WWCD and WQCD. That sounds like more than a casual brokered time relationship to me that you'd easily break off over some minor detail.
Who was the buyer in 2010 of the 101.1 frequency? Ohio State University. The price tag? $4.8 million. I guess that was a deal too good to pass up. WOSU-FM had been running a mix of NPR shows, news and classical music on 89.7 for decades. OSU wanted to go all-information on 89.7 and have a separate 24/7 classical station. So 101.1 in Grove City was purchased in 2010 and became WOSA. I guess the A stands for fine Arts?
Maybe some of that $4.8 million sale price was used to fund this two AM/two translator project? And that money is running out now?
Who was the buyer in 2010 of the 101.1 frequency? Ohio State University. The price tag? $4.8 million. I guess that was a deal too good to pass up. WOSU-FM had been running a mix of NPR shows, news and classical music on 89.7 for decades. OSU wanted to go all-information on 89.7 and have a separate 24/7 classical station. So 101.1 in Grove City was purchased in 2010 and became WOSA. I guess the A stands for fine Arts?
Maybe some of that $4.8 million sale price was used to fund this two AM/two translator project? And that money is running out now?
Pretty much this. We're not talking about a class A FM signal supplemented by a synchronous on-channel booster, it's two FM translators each limited to 250 watts and with zero signal protection.
It's not uncommon for a station to take specific call letters during an LMA - 102.5 had the call letters WWCD after Fun with Radio sold 101.1 to Ohio State and entered a LMA with the owners of 102.5. When that lease ended in 2020 under the current owners of the IP, they ended up taking the call letters with them in the lease of 1580 WVKO and parked the WWCD calls there.
Fun with Radio who was the owner of 101.1 would have been the one to net the rewards from the sale of 101.1 - the current owners of the Intellectual property (WWCD Ltd) would not have benefited from that. WWCD Ltd purchased the IP of CD 102.5 in 2017 I believe from the previous owners "Fun with Radio."
The folks who own 1550/1580 and the two associated translators at 92.9 are local folks - I believe they truly wanted to give WWCD Ltd a chance for their format to stay on terrestrial radio after the loss of 102.5 and thus the agreement to lease to WWCD Ltd. From what I read they had an initial 3 year agreement and could extend for another 3 years and during that 6 year period they also had the option to purchase the two AMs and 2 FM translators if they wanted to exercise that option.
I believe they are sync'ed but even then, having two translators on the same frequency are not ideal.
The Columbus translator at 92.9 seems to get out better - I can take it down near Lancaster, Circleville and out east in the car to past Newark. Out west it's quickly taken over by WGTZ Eaton, OH. For a high mounted 250watt translator it does as well as expect in the car. Unfortunately, at that power level you struggle with building penetration.
The Delaware translator I believe is only about 250 feet on one of the towers at the WQCD site vs the 500+ feet that the Columbus, OH translator has on a skyscraper downtown Columbus.
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From CD 92.9 Facebook page:
Thank you to everyone for your outpouring of support! We are so grateful to live in this wonderful community. We have been reading all of your comments, and we’ve noticed that lots of people have questions. So, we’ve created a summary of the past few months to help answer those questions and to help fill in the blanks.
In the interests of protecting the confidentiality of our discussions with ICS and Delmar, we initially elected not to reveal any details of the events that have occurred over the past several months. Now that ICS and Delmar have stated their side of the story, WWCD/CD 92.9 would like to share its side of the story, all of which is documented via emails exchanged with Mark Litton (ICS) and Brent Casagrande (Delmar).
On September 23, 2023, we informed ICS and Delmar that we would not be able to renew the existing agreements for another three-year term due to the costs involved with the monthly payment, which would be increasing to $26,000 per month as of January 1, 2024, plus the cost of the expenses that they charged us for the operations of the 2 AM stations and the 2 FM stations, which averaged about $14,000 each month. We thus proposed a new arrangement under which we would be able to purchase the FCC licenses and related assets. We proposed a 10-year, seller-financed deal. ICS and Delmar initially rejected this proposal.
On October 4, 2023, ICS and Delmar presented us with an offer to enter into a 10-year agreement that would have allowed us to purchase the stations. On October 12, 2023, we accepted this offer in principle and agreed to hand the matter over to our attorneys to work out the details.
On October 13, 2023, Mark stated that he had spoken with ICS and Delmar’s attorney about the agreement and sent some follow-up information. They later stated that their attorney would be preparing the agreements but that he would be unable to do so until December 1.
In early December, ICS and Delmar informed us that certain terms would be included in the new agreements, including immediate termination if payments were one day late, which they later changed to an immediate 10% late fee if any payment was one day late and immediate termination if the payment plus late fee was not made within seven days. We told ICS and Delmar that we would not be able to sign an agreement that included any unreasonable terms. We continued discussions, but on December 20, 2023, ICS and Delmar stated that they would “not be going forward with the 10 year purchase option at this time.”
The 3-year term was ending on December 31, 2023, and we were able to reach an agreement to extend the existing agreements through January 31, 2024, with the hope that an amicable resolution still would be possible with the new year approaching.
We had planned to tell our staff of the state of affairs on January 5, 2024, and told ICS and Delmar about our plan to tell our staff and stated that we would be issuing our press release shortly after notifying our staff. In the interim, ICS and Delmar asked if we would transfer our website to them and give them access to our music library. We pointed out that our existing agreements state: “All rights, title and interest in and to any of Broker's programming, including the right to authorize the use of Broker's programming in any manner and in any media, shall be and remain vested at all times solely in Broker” (WWCD, Ltd. dba CD 92.9 is the “Broker”). And we stated that “nothing is being transitioned or transferred to ICS and/or Delmar upon termination of the TBAs.”
We further stated that if ICS and Delmar “would like to use WWCD/CD101/CD102.5/ CD 92.9’s 33-year history and good will, or any of our music library, programming, service marks, trademarks, trade names, logos, copyrights, or any other intellectual property, we would need to have an executed asset purchase agreement in place, which would be impossible to accomplish before January 5, so the press release will have to remain that CD 92.9 is ending its radio broadcast as of midnight February 1, 2024.”
The next communication we received from ICS and Delmar was their proposed press release that claimed to be a continuation of our business by stating that they would “continue” to support some of our “legacy programs,” would be “reinstating free online streaming,” and wished to thank me, Randy Malloy, for my contributions to WWCD. We immediately informed ICS and Delmar that they do not have permission to use our intellectual property or to portray themselves as a continuation of the brand that we spent 30+ years building, and that we would be taking legal action if they continued to do so. WWCD, Ltd. has CD 92.9, CD929, and WWCD as registered service marks with the State of Ohio.
And that’s where we are. Again, many thanks for your endless support!
Thank you to everyone for your outpouring of support! We are so grateful to live in this wonderful community. We have been reading all of your comments, and we’ve noticed that lots of people have questions. So, we’ve created a summary of the past few months to help answer those questions and to help fill in the blanks.
In the interests of protecting the confidentiality of our discussions with ICS and Delmar, we initially elected not to reveal any details of the events that have occurred over the past several months. Now that ICS and Delmar have stated their side of the story, WWCD/CD 92.9 would like to share its side of the story, all of which is documented via emails exchanged with Mark Litton (ICS) and Brent Casagrande (Delmar).
On September 23, 2023, we informed ICS and Delmar that we would not be able to renew the existing agreements for another three-year term due to the costs involved with the monthly payment, which would be increasing to $26,000 per month as of January 1, 2024, plus the cost of the expenses that they charged us for the operations of the 2 AM stations and the 2 FM stations, which averaged about $14,000 each month. We thus proposed a new arrangement under which we would be able to purchase the FCC licenses and related assets. We proposed a 10-year, seller-financed deal. ICS and Delmar initially rejected this proposal.
On October 4, 2023, ICS and Delmar presented us with an offer to enter into a 10-year agreement that would have allowed us to purchase the stations. On October 12, 2023, we accepted this offer in principle and agreed to hand the matter over to our attorneys to work out the details.
On October 13, 2023, Mark stated that he had spoken with ICS and Delmar’s attorney about the agreement and sent some follow-up information. They later stated that their attorney would be preparing the agreements but that he would be unable to do so until December 1.
In early December, ICS and Delmar informed us that certain terms would be included in the new agreements, including immediate termination if payments were one day late, which they later changed to an immediate 10% late fee if any payment was one day late and immediate termination if the payment plus late fee was not made within seven days. We told ICS and Delmar that we would not be able to sign an agreement that included any unreasonable terms. We continued discussions, but on December 20, 2023, ICS and Delmar stated that they would “not be going forward with the 10 year purchase option at this time.”
The 3-year term was ending on December 31, 2023, and we were able to reach an agreement to extend the existing agreements through January 31, 2024, with the hope that an amicable resolution still would be possible with the new year approaching.
We had planned to tell our staff of the state of affairs on January 5, 2024, and told ICS and Delmar about our plan to tell our staff and stated that we would be issuing our press release shortly after notifying our staff. In the interim, ICS and Delmar asked if we would transfer our website to them and give them access to our music library. We pointed out that our existing agreements state: “All rights, title and interest in and to any of Broker's programming, including the right to authorize the use of Broker's programming in any manner and in any media, shall be and remain vested at all times solely in Broker” (WWCD, Ltd. dba CD 92.9 is the “Broker”). And we stated that “nothing is being transitioned or transferred to ICS and/or Delmar upon termination of the TBAs.”
We further stated that if ICS and Delmar “would like to use WWCD/CD101/CD102.5/ CD 92.9’s 33-year history and good will, or any of our music library, programming, service marks, trademarks, trade names, logos, copyrights, or any other intellectual property, we would need to have an executed asset purchase agreement in place, which would be impossible to accomplish before January 5, so the press release will have to remain that CD 92.9 is ending its radio broadcast as of midnight February 1, 2024.”
The next communication we received from ICS and Delmar was their proposed press release that claimed to be a continuation of our business by stating that they would “continue” to support some of our “legacy programs,” would be “reinstating free online streaming,” and wished to thank me, Randy Malloy, for my contributions to WWCD. We immediately informed ICS and Delmar that they do not have permission to use our intellectual property or to portray themselves as a continuation of the brand that we spent 30+ years building, and that we would be taking legal action if they continued to do so. WWCD, Ltd. has CD 92.9, CD929, and WWCD as registered service marks with the State of Ohio.
And that’s where we are. Again, many thanks for your endless support!
You can service mark a call sign to a station you don't even own and haven't owned for 12 years? That's gonna be fun to watch play out.
I believe so - I remember when EMF bought the licenses of Cedarville University years ago in the Dayton area - they could not keep the WCDR call letters at that time on 90.3 and had to change 90.3 Cedarville to something else. BUT it does get complicated if you do not have a place to park those call letters - since like you said they don't have a license.
With that said - Nothing can stop Delmar from changing AM 1580's calls to W something else CD (I am sure there is something free out there) if WWCD Ltd does have a mark on WWCD in the state of Ohio. The branding "CD 92.9" would be more problematic as technically (as they say have a mark on that which means Delmar would have to call 92.9 something else).
Given the latest posting - the fans of CD92.9 Columbus on FB are clearly angry at Delmar/ICS now even mor so then before and even threatened to listen to iHeart's 105.7 after the lease is up...
So does it really make sense for 92.9 to stay Alternative at this point other than ICS/Delmar sticking it to Randy for not agreeing to the new lease terms (given 105.7's still alternative after iHeart flipped them back in 2020 when the last lease dispute happened between WWCD Ltd and their radio license partner).
IHeart hovers around a 2+ in the PPMs with 105.7 I know 92.9 has never subscribed but they can't be doing better than that with the signal limitations vs. iHeart's Class A FM that covers the whole market.
iHeart won't do it but it would be an immediate boost to 105.7 listenership wise if Some of Randy's programming could end up on 105.7 and iHeart partner with Randy for stuff at the Big Room etc.
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More recent local news story on the matter...
www.nbc4i.com
From the news media article - appears the renewal deal to purchase fell through when Delmar/ICS added provisions about late payment/late fee. From the NBC4 article the license indicated that there had been issues with WWCD Ltd. making timely lease payments.
The local media article also went into more details than given on the CD929 FB post about the 3-year lease agreement (including a structure of increase each year).
Is Columbus alternative radio station leaving the airwaves? The battle over CD 92.9
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – It was announced earlier this week that a central Ohio alternative radio station was leaving the airwaves after 33 years. However, there are now two competing narratives reg…
www.nbc4i.com
From the news media article - appears the renewal deal to purchase fell through when Delmar/ICS added provisions about late payment/late fee. From the NBC4 article the license indicated that there had been issues with WWCD Ltd. making timely lease payments.
The local media article also went into more details than given on the CD929 FB post about the 3-year lease agreement (including a structure of increase each year).
EMF usually (with some rare exceptions, see WCCC, WPAY and WPLJ) will change calls on their purchases to have something derivative of K-Love or Air1. So if you're a College of Wooster, which retained the rights to the WCWS calls, it was moot when they took over the renamed WKWO.
It wouldn't hurt? It's tough to think of something else that you could run on those two translators (and their AM parents, but it's all about the 92.9).
WWCD diehards will likely believe the word of Malloy for multiple reasons, it wouldn't matter what comes out regarding the LMA renewal or issues with payment or what have you.
In all seriousness, I believe, perhaps illegally, that 92.9 changed their coverage to non-directional. Because they always had terrible coverage. I could barely pick the station up anywhere, but a couple of weeks after they switched to alternative I could pick it all over the city no problem. Yet the coverage map looks the same lol. I always just assumed they went non-directional illegally
I think what happened was when the deal was made, the Columbus 92.9 was off the air. It was having lots of issues under the old owner. When it came on, big difference. Radio Locator agrees with RabbitEars; the Delaware 92.9 is directional. And that is good. That sends more signal to where it’s needed. I do have a question and maybe this should use a different subject: how can one see a coverage pattern for AMs and FMs using RabbitEars? I find lots of TV stuff but…
FM is here: https://www.rabbitears.info/fmq.php
I'm not sure there are AM coverage maps on RE. However, Radio-Locator and FCCData both have AM maps. Of the two I prefer FCCData.
Thanks Inari.
The Columbus 92.9? If they did do this, then they definitely deserve punishment. They had to protect Dayton's 92.9 all along, but given how they plopped onto the frequency when Delaware was already there and heard quite well across most of Columbus, I wouldn't be surprised. And yes, I get that Delaware wasn't due protection in that situation, but with all the empty frequencies in the area and the fact that I liked WDLR's format at the time, it seemed ridiculous not to choose an empty channel.
I lived in Reynoldsburg at the time WVKO's translator came on, and they and Delaware just shredded each other even that far south. I always thought Columbus' 92.9 was noticeably weaker out by the casino and on the southwest side, which it should have been/be given the null toward Dayton.
I’ve read the various Facebook posts and am scratching my head.
I’m not sure what intellectual property could be transferred except service marks and possibly liners. Unless Del/ICS plays previously recorded 92.9 programs, anyone can play a format.
Music library? That can always be acquired from many sources.
Local music? If I were a local musician or group, I’d be getting whatever copies I could to the new owner for play. Some of what 92.9 aired may be from bands no longer in existence. But surely there are copies of all or most of it. Especially the good stuff.
Format exclusivity? 105.7 has a very similiar format. Why not go after them? Honestly, Randy had a certain touch and I doubt anyone could duplicate it. The question is, can it be improved? Quite possibly.
Air staff? Many have posted their love of the city, audience and local performers. Does it matter who signs the paychecks as long as the format and mission continues to serve the community and they’re being treated fairly in the end?
Advertisers? I’m guessing advertisers were fans of the station and format. If it carries on as it is or in a similiar presentation, does it really matter whose server that presentation is coming from?
Fans/audience? What fans of the existing owner don’t understand is if they take their anger out on ICS/Delmar, that could mark defeat for the format they love. ICS/Delmar has plenty of format void options should alternative fail or they’ve determined the well has been poisoned to the point alternative isn’t viable. Listeners lose. Local acts lose. In the meantime ICS/Delmar lives on in another format.
It’s sad it has come to this. But it has. Does sulking & being bitter solve anything?
I’m not sure what intellectual property could be transferred except service marks and possibly liners. Unless Del/ICS plays previously recorded 92.9 programs, anyone can play a format.
Music library? That can always be acquired from many sources.
Local music? If I were a local musician or group, I’d be getting whatever copies I could to the new owner for play. Some of what 92.9 aired may be from bands no longer in existence. But surely there are copies of all or most of it. Especially the good stuff.
Format exclusivity? 105.7 has a very similiar format. Why not go after them? Honestly, Randy had a certain touch and I doubt anyone could duplicate it. The question is, can it be improved? Quite possibly.
Air staff? Many have posted their love of the city, audience and local performers. Does it matter who signs the paychecks as long as the format and mission continues to serve the community and they’re being treated fairly in the end?
Advertisers? I’m guessing advertisers were fans of the station and format. If it carries on as it is or in a similiar presentation, does it really matter whose server that presentation is coming from?
Fans/audience? What fans of the existing owner don’t understand is if they take their anger out on ICS/Delmar, that could mark defeat for the format they love. ICS/Delmar has plenty of format void options should alternative fail or they’ve determined the well has been poisoned to the point alternative isn’t viable. Listeners lose. Local acts lose. In the meantime ICS/Delmar lives on in another format.
It’s sad it has come to this. But it has. Does sulking & being bitter solve anything?
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I guess this will stay pretty quiet until it's closer to the end of the month but I've been thinking about this. What good is the CD-92.9 identifier to WWCD Ltd. after the end of January? All it will do is promote the 92.9 frequency that they will no longer use. No wonder Delmar wants to continue alternative. And, who owns the WWCD calls? Doesn't Delmar, who owns the license? So don't they have rights to use it? Nathan referred to this earlier.
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