Man bringing radio network to area

Darryl Badley Jr. hopes to provide “the voice of the community” when he brings his online radio station to Lake County, combining his Army service, radio experience and local roots to serve veterans and other area residents.

Badley’s Christian Warrior Radio Network will begin its Northeast Ohio operations on March 6, with a launch party at its temporary Cleveland headquarters. He intends to eventually move the station to his childhood home of Lake County to share the stories of local veterans, offer community-focused programming and support studentrun radio stations in local schools.

Badley, who goes by “Mr. Darryl,” was born in Painesville and was first encouraged to look into radio work while at Wickliffe High School, where he graduated in 1993.

“As a 15-year-old with one of the lowest singing and speaking voices in the country, it was one of those things where my teachers at Wickliffe High School and my guidance counselor said, ‘Man, you have a voice for radio,’ ” he said, adding, “That stuck with me.”

Badley joined the U.S. Army after high school, specializing in supplies, transportation and logistics. He was granted a medical retirement after nine years and is now a disabled veteran.

After his military service, Badley began to work in radio. He said that over the past 20 years, he has been a student worker for the University of South Carolina’s radio station, a production assistant for a Radio One (now Urban One) station in Virginia and an on-air traffic and weather host for iHeartMedia in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I had my own radio show off and on since 2005,” he added.

Badley started Christian Warrior Radio Network in 2020, after he was furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The station initially focused on veterans before expanding to additional community programming for the Charlotte area.

According to a news release, he launched the station to “address the issues that many people, especially veterans, faced,” such as “mental illness, health, job search, community engagement and many other things.”

“The original mission was to provide programming that catered to the 21 million US veterans (91% of whom are Christian), their spouses, as well as those that are still serving in the military,” the release added. “However the station has expanded its reach to also include any and all that seek and desire inspiration and support in the community.”

Badley noted that the station still offers veteran-focused programming.

“Every day at noon, we have our tribute to veterans with the national anthem and veteran-centered music, patriotic music and things of that nature,” he said.

Badley also plans to offer a “Wall of Heroes” later this year, giving veterans the opportunity to share their stories on the station.

“One of the things that really motivates me to do this is, my grandfather was a veteran during World War II,” he said, noting that he and his grandfather had the same specialist jobs. “I didn’t know that till the day that he died.”

Badley added that the “Wall of Heroes” will also help preserve veteran stories for future generations.

“We’re almost to the point where we don’t have any World War II veterans left, and now we’re almost out of all Korean War veterans as well,” he said, noting that he will encourage veterans young and old to share their stories.

In addition to veteran programming, Badley said that Christian Warrior Radio will “be like any other radio station,” offering programming for sports, news, weather and what he described as “primarily inspirational music, or Christian music.”

Badley also wants to open the station up to local programming.

“I am looking for people who want to broadcast, whether it be have their own podcast or have their own radio show on the station,” he said.

“I want to impact the community, and I want to make sure people are informed,” Badley added.

Another way he intends to serve the community is through the CW Radio Foundation, which he described as a “501c3 nonprofit that supports community activities and community endeavors,” including initiatives to help homeless veterans.

He also hopes to use the foundation to partner with local schools.

“One of the things that I want to do is actually help students and help schools and school systems create their own radio stations,” Badley said.

His station has served the Charlotte and Charleston, South Carolina areas since its launch. His station is now temporarily based in Cleveland, though once he is able to purchase a permanent location, he intends to make one final move to either Painesville or Wickliffe.

“I’m not going anywhere anymore,” he said. “I’m stuck, I’m here, I’m home.”

Badley said that people who are interested in sponsoring the station or having a radio program can reach him at mrdarryl@cwradio. net.

He added that people who want to listen to Christian Warrior Radio can visit cwradio.net or download the app for iOS and Android.

Though the station will be based in Northeast Ohio, Badley noted that “anybody with Wi-Fi or internet or on my app can listen to it.”

Christian Warrior Radio will broadcast a Northeast Ohio launch event from 5 to 7 p.m. on March 6, he added. Badley described it as “a concert and interviews with different people, and basically, just a showcase of all the different things that we’re going to be doing in the community.”