Update - sale of WDRQ to Family Life Radio CONFIRMED

[MWmetalhead]

I think you're completely misconstruing the nature of the complaints, sirrealone.

It's not that people suddenly feel P-U Country 93.1 is a great station, but rather the fact the local FM dial is becoming increasingly loaded with stations that appeal to fringe audiences.

David Corey did a crappy job programming 93.1, which surprised me given his resume. Cookie cutter corporate radio at its finest.

I seldom listened to 93.1 before, and I'll seldom listen to the FLR programming.

[KeenerGold]

I think you're completely misconstruing the nature of the complaints, sirrealone.

It's not that people suddenly feel P-U Country 93.1 is a great station, but rather the fact the local FM dial is becoming increasingly loaded with stations that appeal to fringe audiences.

My thoughts exactly. I wasn't a fan of New Country 93.1, but now a lifelong friend is out of job again, and the Detroit dial loses a decent class B signal to a non-comm broadcaster with limited appeal.

With David Corey's departure, what changes, if any, to WDVD should we expect?

[audiophile]

W4 should have never been killed - it won country station of the year and had consistently higher ratings than 99.5.

Doug FM should not been killed either, if did fair in the ratings a cost almost nothing to run. 93.1 being NASH'ED didn't help either.

[ZenithCKLW]

Aren't non-comm religious broadcasters supposed to be within 88-92 MHz, translators excepted? (WMUZ doesn't count since it's commercial.) We already lost 102.7, which I feel snuck in there during waves of translator and HD subchannel rotations.

As if the Detroit dial wasn't bland and depressing enough, we lost another signal that COULD HAVE been something appealing to the market.

[Graham Wellington]

Everyone on here is bemoaning losing a full strength FM signal to a "niche" format, as if these stations were currently airing programming to a wide audience. Name one station in the market that isn't a niche station. All of them adhere to a strict format, catered to a specific demographic. How is Family Life Radio programming any worse from a niche perspective than any other station?

[Graham Wellington]

As if the Detroit dial wasn't bland and depressing enough, we lost another signal that COULD HAVE been something appealing to the market.

Do you honestly believe anything appealing or fresh was ever coming to this frequency?

[MWmetalhead]

W4 was a weak biller when it was deleted from 106.7. Perhaps not enough people in the building knew how to effectively sell Country? It was poorly programmed in its final year, but WYCD was poorly programmed, too, at the time. I heard airchecks of W4 from either 96 or 97 and the station sounded really good back then.

I recall reading W4 was billing about $4.8 million per annum at the time compared to ~$6 million for WYCD.

Cumulus should've segued Doug FM to a classic hits format, just as it did with WJJK in Indianapolis. WYCD had monster ratings in 2012 and 2013, so I can understand why Cumulus wanted a country station, but the manner in which Gnash FM was rolled out was just abysmally executed in all respects.

[MWmetalhead]

Name one station in the market that isn't a niche station.

WOMC and WNIC each have 800,000+ unique listeners in the course of a given week (used to be closer to a million).

WDRQ in its current form has about 250,000.

This new station will probably have about 50,000.

Mass appeal stations such as WOMC and WNIC are not fringe stations. Yes, all stations are programmed with a particular audience or objective in mind.

I agree that nothing appealing or fresh would have appeared at 93.1 if it were to remain in Cumulus' hands.

[Colonel Flagg]

Does anyone know if FLR vacated their studios/offices on Garfield Rd in Clinton Township?

If they are still there, I guess we know why.

The missteps with WDRQ should have been corrected upon the departure of the Dickey Bros. Cumulus has done a crappy job with all 3 Detroit stations. It's not exactly a secret that 760 and 96.3 are "For Sale" as well.

[audiophile]

FLR vacated that studio 17 years ago. It's been a big "satellator" since then.

[Ben Zonia]

History repeats itself. In 1988, Family Life Radio bought WDRQ, then on 1030 AM, from tvbobn. It was a tape loop of recent recurrents when it first signed on.

93.1 was WLTI then, and was Soft Adult Contemporary.

[edj]

Crickets from our local media and newspapers.

[FakeAndyStuart]

$10,000,000

That will buy down a little debt.

[AMFMTV]

Audacy stock price as of June 13 - .062/share. They're not buying anything. Swap? Perhaps. Purchase? Nope.

[mikemach]

I hear a DJ as of 1:30 pm fwiw.