How Sen. Sherrod Brown got involved in CD 92.9’s Columbus FM radio exodus

View a previous report on 93X’s launch on 92.9 FM in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — As CD 92.9 FM’s final hours broadcasting as a terrestrial radio station ticked down, one of Ohio’s U.S. senators tried to intervene before it lost access to the airwaves.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, WWCD Ltd. owner Randy Malloy and 92.9 FM frequency licensees Delmar and ICS Communications on Jan. 31. Malloy, Delmar’s Brent Casagrande and ICS’ Mark Litton’s talks for WWCD Ltd. to purchase the FM license and associated equipment had fallen through, and Malloy’s CD 92.9 station was scheduled to lose access to the frequency at midnight on Feb. 1.

As the station’s final day on air passed, Brown’s letter asked the group to “exhaust all options toward a compromise” to keep WWCD Ltd. as the audio provider for 92.9 FM. Calling it “ingrained in the cultural fabric of central Ohio,” he asked FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to closely monitor the situation.

“Among their most important contributions is the exposure they’ve given to countless local acts, helping to create a thriving local music scene that can rival that of any city in America,” Brown wrote.

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However, Brown’s request did not materialize. CD 92.9 FM left the airwaves as scheduled the morning of Feb. 1. Delmar and ICS used the frequency to launch their own station, 93X, which Litton said would maintain the same emphasis on local music. While the new station would keep a tenet the senator praised, he expressed concern in his letter about how this outcome could affect Malloy’s station.

“Absent an agreeable resolution to this dispute, the employees at WWCD could lose their good-paying jobs and the community could lose a station they love,” Brown added.

Part of the senator’s prediction came true. Malloy revealed on Saturday that he had to lay off nearly half of WWCD Ltd.’s employees as it transitioned to internet streaming as “WWCD Radio.” But it’s unclear if the other half of Brown’s forecast will happen as 93X takes up the mantle, and another radio player seized a key symbol of CD 92.9.

As part of 93X’s launch, ICS filed paperwork with the FCC to change the 92.9 FM frequency’s call letters from WWCD to WXGT. On the same day that the former call letters opened up, national radio corporation iHeartMedia snapped them up. The company filed with the FCC to swap the letters for its local station, Columbus Alternative 105.7, from WXZX to WWCD.

Neither iHeartMedia nor Malloy responded to requests for comment on whether they’re working together, or separately as both were about to broadcast on FM radio and the internet under the same call letters. Malloy, who previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to Delmar and ICS to prevent them from using the WWCD brand, has not announced any similar legal action against iHeartMedia.

The conglomerate has not publicly taken any steps to rebrand 105.7 for its new call letters as of Thursday. It won’t formally broadcast as WWCD until Feb. 12, according to an FCC authorization form.

Malloy’s WWCD Ltd. has previously broadcasted in central Ohio on frequencies including 92.9, 102.5 and 101.1. It also went off the air briefly in 2020 during a transition from 102.5 to 92.9.

Brown’s office did not respond to a request for comment on CD 92.9’s failure to remain on FM radio, or the other developments with the frequency and brand. The senator is running for reelection uncontested in a March primary, but could face one of three Republican challengers in November.

Read the full letter from Brown to the FCC, Delmar, ICS and Malloy below:

01.31.2024-SB-Letter-to-FCC-re-WWCD-Delmar-ICSDownload

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