In another extraordinary turn for Columbus, OH’s Alternative format battle, iHeartMedia has surrendered the WWCD call letters once belonging to independent station CD 92.9. CD 92.9 brand owner Randy Malloy had been battling to save the signal, which went off-air on February 1.
Malloy has been struggling to retain the WWCD brand following a frequency lease dispute with Delmar Communications and ICS Communications. Despite several frequency changes, CD 92.9 held the WWCD call letters for the three decades it was on-air. After his latest lease was not renewed, Delmar and ICS announced their intentions to keep the WWCD sign and format, leading to a cease and desist from Malloy.
Delmar and ICS backed off their initial plans, but used the frequency to launch a new Alternative format station named 93X (WXGT) – with the slogan “A Better Alternative.” Malloy said CD 92.9 would continue to broadcast online while he searched for potential broadcast options.
Then hours after CD 92.9 was replaced by 93X, iHeartMedia seized the opportunity to adopt its long-standing WWCD call letters for its own station, Columbus Alternative 105.7 (WXZX). The company filed with the FCC to swap WXZX for WWCD, which was granted and took effect on February 12.
In the most surprising twist of all, on February 12, iHeart again filed to change the call letters back to WXZX, which became effective on February 19. WCMH-TV discovered website registration data shows the domains cd1057.com and cd1057fm.com were purchased in late January, but no further branding change for Columbus Alternative 105.7 was initiated.
While the WWCD call letters are again available, the future remains uncertain for CD 92.9.
