Alternative rock station CD 92.9 to switch operators the end of January
Alternative rock station CD 92.9 will switch to new management after the longtime operator departs the end of the month.
Randy Malloy, president of WWCD Ltd., will no longer operate the station, after failing to reach an agreement with Delmar Media, which owns the station and holds the Federal Communications Commission broadcasting license.
Malloy was in the middle of a six-year lease but said in a social media post that he was "unable to finalize an agreement" to continue the remaining three years and was stepping away from the station Jan. 31.
Malloy said in the statement that CD 92.9 tried its best to remain on the airwaves, but was unable to do so.
"It pains me once again (to) announce our departure from the airwaves," said Malloy, who could not be reached for additional comment Friday.
The decision ends Malloy's 33-year run at WWCD. The station, which calls itself "one of Ohio's last independently operated radio stations," began in 1990 as CD 101.1, then became CD 102.5. It went off the air on Nov. 1, 2020 but returned a month later after striking the deal with Delmar and ICS Communications.
Delmar plans to continue broadcasting a similar alternative rock format when it takes over Feb. 1, according to Brent Casagrande and Mark Litton, who are connected with those companies.
"Delmar Media is happy to report that it will continue the legacy of WWCD by debuting a new and refreshing version of The NEW WWCD," the company said in a news release. "The NEW WWCD will continue its support of local artist(s) and some of the legacy programs that have made the station a favorite of central Ohio radio listeners."
Litton said Delmar may tweak the format and will drop the paywall for the streaming version, but expects things to remain largely the same as they were under Malloy.
"I wouldn’t say we’re going to continue exactly what he’s doing," Litton said, "but we feel there’s enough audience that we’re going to continue our version of the format."
Casagrande said the call name may switch from CD 92.9 to Alternative 92.9 but otherwise the station will be familiar to listeners.
"He couldn’t have been there 33 years without an audience," Casagrande said. "It’s a format that Columbus wants, so were not going to get rid of the format."
Early Friday evening, CD 92.9 posted on social media that the current operator, WWCD Ltd., advised ICS Communications and Delmar Media that it owns the intellectual property, and if ICS and Delmar wanted to use it, they would need to purchase it.
"As you are all aware, Randy Malloy has been the face of the WWCD brand for more than 30 years," the statement said. "What you are reading about from ICS Communication(s), Delmar, or anyone else acting on their behalf is not true — they are not a continuation of CD 92.9. They are using our intellectual property without authorization, and we will be taking legal action to protect our brand."
Malloy texted a statement to The Dispatch on Saturday that he told ICS and Delmar that if they wanted to use any part of CD 92.9's "33-year history and good will, or any of our music library, programming, service marks, trademarks, trade name, logos, copyrights, or any other intellectual property, we would need to have an executed asset purchase agreement in place."
In the Saturday statement, Malloy said he was not able to renew for another three years because of the costs involved with the monthly payment, which would be increasing to $26,000 as of Jan. 1, plus the cost of expenses that ICS and Delmar charged for the operations of the two AM stations and the two FM stations, which averaged about $14,000 a month.
Malloy said his group proposed a new arrangement, a 10-year, seller-financed deal, which ICS and Delmar initially rejected. ICS and Delmar came back in October with an offer to enter into a 10-year agreement that would have allowed Malloy's group to purchase the stations. But in December, ICS and Delmar came back with more terms that Malloy called unreasonable, and ICS and Delmar said they would not be going forward with the purchase option.
Litton said on Saturday that the proposed new agreement would have required Malloy to pay a late fee if he missed a payment and that if after seven days if he didn't make the payment and pay the late fee, the agreement would be terminated.
In another statement Saturday, Malloy said he proposed reasonable late fees. But he said that ICS and Delmar wanted an immediate 10% penalty if Malloy's group was one day late, in addition to immediate termination if the payment plus late fee was not made in seven days.
Litton said that his group was not planning for this situation to happen.
"We’re not the bad guys here," Litton said. "We have to run a radio station."
mferench@dispatch.com
@MarkFerenchik
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@JimWeiker
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: CD 92.9 to continue alternative rock format under new operators
