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96.1 coming to Ashtabula

E

ericjbard

Ashtabula to see another FM creeping up here soon. Auction 91 starts within a few weeks and Ashtabula will see 96.1 hit the air.

Who will get it and what will they do with it?
 
What about a powerful Hot AC because WQAL doesn't do well in the county and WZOO went oldies. Maybe something like that? Who could buy it? Media One (Sweet Home Ashtabula) is at limit.
 
Knew this sounded familiar. From 2005:

http://ohiomediawatch.wordpress.com...small-market-radio-capital-of-northeast-ohio/

OMW stumbled upon this allocation from the FCC earlier this year…granting a move by long-time broadcast engineer Dana Puopolo to add a class A allocation on 96.1 FM in Ashtabula. According to our good friends at NorthEast Radio Watch, Puopolo originally tried for an allocation on 95.9 just up I-90 in Erie a couple of years ago. Unlike the Erie attempt, the Ashtabula allocation for 96.1 FM is officially on the books, though Puopolo hasn’t yet applied to put a station on there.
Click to expand...

96.1 is still listed (as a vacant allotment). It's taken them nearly 6 years to do this.

Here's your qualified bidders list for Auction 91:

http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0413/DA-11-634A3.pdf

"MEDIA ONE GROUP LLC" is on the list, for one application. (What's the over/under on them being able to build the thing? Would they flip one of their other signals? Is this a different arm of the Embrescia empire?)

I'm surprised Music Express isn't on the list, after losing out on 93.7.

EMF is qualified in all 144 auctions. Do they need a full-power FM for K-Love up there (their WCVJ is Air 1), or does WLVX-ex-WEXC/107.1 Greenville fill that role now...backstopping the translators that need a local feed?

Anything I'm missing?
 
Embracia owns "Sweet Home" which is 97.1, 98.3, 102.5, 107.5 plus an AM or two.

Embracia also owns "Media One" which is in Jamestown NY.

Wonder how he can fit another FM in the Ashtabula cluster? Could he spin one of those off to get the new Class A on the air?
 
Flip it CHR and aim it at Erie, PA where WRTS/Star 104 is pulling 19 shares 12+ (!!!) Nothing against them, but some of that has to be attributed to lack of direct competition.
 
Here's a not too far-out sccenario.... Sweet Home gets 96.1 and flips the WREO intellectual property there. The 97.1 stick gets moved to near Mentor which makes it a half-decent Cleveland rimshot. Sweet home operates it as a Cleveland station or flips it to someone else. If it stayed licensed to a city in Ashtabula Co., it could still be acquired by Clear Channel or CBS and not count towards ownership caps.
 
It turns out that Media One is not going after 96.1 Ashtabula after all...it's going after a new allocation near Jamestown NY (home of the other Media One branch).

If I'm reading the results right so far, no one has yet bid on 96.1.
 
OhioMediaWatch said:
It turns out that Media One is not going after 96.1 Ashtabula after all...it's going after a new allocation near Jamestown NY (home of the other Media One branch).

If I'm reading the results right so far, no one has yet bid on 96.1.
Click to expand...

As far as the Jamestown allocation went, Media One just lost a bidding war to Cross Channel Communications... the final price went for over $600K.

Who knows? It might spur the Embrescias to bid on the 96.1 frequency after all, in the scenario that SonoSational18 outlined. Although I have some doubts about turning 97.1 into a Cleveland move-in... it could be done, but the spacing issues (i.e., WAKS/96.5 and WONE/97.5) might be a bit problematic and, by my guesstimations, not result in a full city-grade signal.
 
Although I have some doubts about turning 97.1 into a Cleveland move-in... it could be done, but the spacing issues (i.e., WAKS/96.5 and WONE/97.5) might be a bit problematic and, by my guesstimations, not result in a full city-grade signal.
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With the current tower location, the 54dbu contour makes it to Euclid. It could easily be moved to around Perry, which would get the signal to around Lakewood. It does appear that it could move further west, maybe just east of Mentor. That would put the contour over all of Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga Counties. With some waivers you might be able to move the tower more to the southwest. Undder current rules and regs you wouldn't be able to make 97.1 a full-market signal, but it could be decent rimshot.
 
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