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December 3, 2020 4:05 pm  #1


Radio Disney Going Silent

It was a Mickey Mouse operation right from the beginning. (Sorry couldn't resist.) Many DXers will be interested to know that the abysmal Radio Disney will be no more in the New Year, after the company announced it would be shutting the radio operation down for good in early 2021. It's a shadow of its former self, after dropping radio affiliates in the past few years. 

I've never quite forgiven them for taking over WQEW, the former WQXR and clear channel station at 1560 in New York City. It's now an all-Christian format. 

From the Hollywood Reporter:

"Radio Disney launched as an over-the-air network in 1996 and owned 23 stations during its peak. In 2014, the company sold 22 of those stations and moved to satellite and digital distribution. The remaining station, KRDC-AM in Los Angeles, was where Radio Disney's national programming feed originated; it will be sold in 2021." 

The end of RD won't leave those who worked there feeling they're in the Happiest Place On Earth. At least 36 people are losing their jobs. 

Radio Disney Shutting Down Amid Restructuring

 

December 3, 2020 5:27 pm  #2


Re: Radio Disney Going Silent

Radio Disney is not the only thing going away. They're making more news by not having more news. 

ABC News Layoffs Part Of Restructuring At Walt Disney Company

     Thread Starter
 

December 3, 2020 5:33 pm  #3


Re: Radio Disney Going Silent

RadioActive wrote:

It was a Mickey Mouse operation right from the beginning. (Sorry couldn't resist.)

Zing!!!

As for Disney being on the 1560 frequency, I recall catching it in Thornhill in 2015 I think.  It was weird, in that it sounded exactly like having a far away "CFTR" in the age of smartphones.

But then again, CHR on the AM band sounded weird when Kenny the Hit Man was playing Brownstone and Whigfield in August 1995.

 


Cheers,
Jody Thornton
 
 

December 4, 2020 10:30 am  #4


Re: Radio Disney Going Silent

Love the way the ABC News layoffs are in the "Low Single Digit" percentage.

 

December 18, 2020 7:39 pm  #5


Re: Radio Disney Going Silent

Jody Thornton wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It was a Mickey Mouse operation right from the beginning. (Sorry couldn't resist.)

Zing!!!

As for Disney being on the 1560 frequency, I recall catching it in Thornhill in 2015 I think.  It was weird, in that it sounded exactly like having a far away "CFTR" in the age of smartphones.

But then again, CHR on the AM band sounded weird when Kenny the Hit Man was playing Brownstone and Whigfield in August 1995.

 

One night in 2006 in London I managed to pull in 4 different Radio Disney stations. 1560 was one of them, but I don't remember the others.

I had a brief interest in DXing back then. Pulled in WPBT-2 from Miami one time, when it was still transmitting analog.

 

December 21, 2020 12:36 pm  #6


Re: Radio Disney Going Silent

I recall Radio Disney purchased a station in Flint Michigan and moved it to Detroit. I think its frequency was 910 khz. They constructed a highly directional 9 tower transmitter site to enable a 50 KW signal. That would have been an expensive project. The station ran as Radio Disney perhaps for a decade and was sold at a significant loss to a Christian broadcaster. When it was on its night pattern you would lose the signal 15 miles east of Windsor.