After 34 years, Columbus alternative rock radio station WWCD played its last song Sunday night.
The station left the airwaves and online-only streaming that it turned to in February after WWCD president Randy Malloy could not reach an agreement with the owners of the 92.9 frequency to keep the station broadcasting. That online livestream ended Sunday.
The closure of the station was “not due to any one factor, but a number of reasons,” Malloy said in a prepared statement. Reached by phone, Malloy declined to elaborate.
“People are going to speculate on this forever, so let them speculate,” Malloy said.
WWCD started in 1990 as a station named CD101 broadcasting on the 101.1 FM frequency. In 2010, the station moved to 102.5 FM, then 92.9 FM.
In January, Malloy said he was in the midst of a six-year lease with ICS Communications and Delmar Media, two companies which own the Federal Communications Commission broadcasting license for 92.9 FM, but could not finalize an agreement with the companies to allow the station to continue to broadcast for the remaining three years after the monthly payment increased.
The station went off air previously on Nov. 1, 2020, after Malloy could not reach an agreement with Delmar and ICS, but returned the next month after the parties made a deal.
Before WWCD’s permanent departure from the airwaves, Delmar said it would continue broadcasting alternative rock on the station under the WWCD brand. Malloy said on Jan. 16 he sent Delmar and ICS a cease-and-desist letter warning the companies against using WWCD’s intellectual properties or representing the broadcast past Feb. 1 as a continuation of WWCD.
WWCD’s former frequency began broadcasting alternative rock as 93X under the callsign WXGT on Feb. 1. In March, the station rebranded to “My 92.9,” and has played oldies ever since.
