Detroit Radio: Family Life Radio To Acquire Country WDRQ-FM

Cumulus Media has reached a deal to sell “New Country 93.1” WDRQ-FM in Detroit.

Street talk has Family Life Radio as the buyer with Cumulus making the sale to raise cash. The purchase price has been reported to be $10M. The Cumulus cluster consists of two other stations:  Hot AC WDVD 963 FM and news/talk WJR 760 AM.  

“WDRQ will remain on the air until the transaction closes later this summer,” said a Cumulus Media spokesperson. “Following the sale, we’re excited to offer our listeners the opportunity to continue to enjoy WDRQ via the stream available on most major streaming outlets.”

The history of the station dates back to 1947 and was originally owned by Storer Broadcasting. It signed-on as WJBK-FM in the summer of 1947.  Over the years the station has aired a series of formats, including country back in 1969-1971.

WDRQ again returned to country music as Nash FM 93.1 on January 2, 2014. The first "official" song under the format was "Radio" by Darius Rucker. 

On February 18, 2020, WDRQ rebranded as New Country 93.1. The station is currently ranked 18th (2.1 6+) in the market, behind Audacy's  Country WYCD (6.1). With the sale, Cumulus Detroit director of FM programming David Corey is departing the company.

Cumulus has been divesting what it calls its non-core assets, which includes selling off stations in major markets where it has trailed larger clusters. During the past four years Cumulus has sold all of its stations in New York City: hot AC WPLJ (95.5), country “94.7 Nash-FM” WNSH, talk WABC (770) and “Talk FM 103.9” WFAS-FM. 

It has sold heritage rocker KLOS Los Angeles, hot AC “Mix 107.3” WRQX Washington and “Talk 106.7” WYAY Atlanta.