On January 5th of this year, radio station CD92.9 announced that, effective February 1st, 2024, the station will end its broadcast after failing to negotiate a license extension with the FCC. WWCD has been a monumental force for good and for the arts of Columbus since long before I was born, but I’m still terribly saddened to see them go. In losing them, we lose a pillar of not only Central Ohio’s music and arts scene, but Columbus hockey as well.
The majority of people reading this probably haven’t heard of CD92.9, or have a vague awareness at most. The vast majority of my age bracket certainly hasn’t. Streaming has made independent radio, for the most part, a thing of the past. Yet here we are, on a Blue Jackets blog, with a tribute article for a FM radio station, written by a 21-year-old, in the year of our Lord 2024. How? Why?
Let’s start with the basics. Founded in 1990 as CD101, WWCD began its broadcast as just another local, independent radio station, playing alt rock. In 2010, WWCD made it’s first of two frequency shifts, from 101.1 to 102.5, just as something called iTunes was getting off the ground. By November of 2020, the time of its second shift to 92.9, it was one of only a handful of local, independent radio stations in the United States.
Throughout its history, it’s been fiercely committed to local music and arts, sponsoring several dozen concerts per year, as well as playing a song from a Columbus artist every hour on the half hour. While I can’t prove it, I’m almost certain that bands such as Twenty One Pilots, Caamp, Snarls, and other theme artist Angela Pearly either wouldn’t have made it off the ground, or were greatly aided in doing so by WWCD.
The CD92.9 Big Room has been the venue for hundreds of concerts, live sessions, and more. In addition, the Andyman-a-thon, where listeners can get any song played for a donation to charity, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. Couple that with other fun annual events like Undercover Weekend, Guest DJ, and more, as well as daily or weekly events like the Five Spot, Big Room Block, Adoptable Pet of the Week, 4:20 Break, and Cover of the Day make listening to the radio fun.
All of this boils down to one thing: WWCD is our radio station. Sure, iHeart Radio stations will mention local things every once in a while, but at their core, there’s no difference if you listen in Columbus or Atlanta or Kansas City or San Diego. Being independent means that the DJ is able to flavor the playlist to Columbus, and reference local events like a national station just can’t. And they’re consistently on top of their new music playlist; I’ve had 105.7 advertise a song as “new music” when I’ve been hearing it for three months on 92.9.
But arguably most importantly, and certainly most relevant to this site, is WWCD’s influence on helping the early days of hockey in Columbus. The Blue Jacket’s predecessors, the Columbus Chill, had their games broadcasted on CD101. (In fact, Chill player Jim Ballantine wore 101 to promote the station, becoming the first professional player to wear a three-digit number, and later became a DJ on the station). Does an ECHL team become as popular as it does without that foothold? And as the Blue Jackets struggled through their first decade, WWCD was the exclusive home for the CBJ, and later became the backup station for if 97.1 had something Ohio State going on. It’s possible, and I’d argue likely, that the Columbus Blue Jackets would not exist without CD101.
Finally, there’s the impact that WWCD has had on me. Growing up, we only ever listened to two things: Christian rock, and classic rock. Then, in 2018 two things happened: I got my driver’s license, and my sisters introduced me to AJR. The former introduced me to music outside of my parents’ tastes, and the latter introduced me to CD102.5. I had the station as a preset in my radio for those non-97.1 Blue Jackets games, but I found I kept tuning in more frequently outside of the games.
In 2021, I decided I wanted to fully commit to expanding my music tastes. I was still mostly AJR, my dad’s classic rock, and a few one-offs from WWCD that I liked. I decided to listen to a new artist every month while I was at work. The first year was mainly popular artists I was already familiar with, like Imagine Dragons and Fall Out Boy, but by the end of the year, it had branched out to artists like lovelytheband, Federal Empire, and Bishop Briggs; artists that I never would have even thought about before, and never would have heard without 92.9. Like a fish on a line, I kept getting pulled in more and more.
Throughout 2022, CD92.9 went from a minority of my car ride listening, to a 50/50 split, to the majority. By early 2023, I brought back the monthly artists, and CD92.9 was officially my favorite station. Grabbitz. The Wrecks. Boywithuke. Talk. Colony House. All now regulars on my playlists, entrenched in my top 10 artists list, none without this little, independent alt rock station on Front Street. I don’t think I can put into words how much this station has influenced me. And I don’t think I can put into words how much its loss will mean for Columbus.
So, if you live in Columbus, turn off the bluetooth today. Tune in to WWCD for the last time. You can only witness a dying star once.
For those who rocked the best, we salute you.