No interest in 96.1 for Ashtabula

As you know, there was some very high bidding in “Auction 91” for new FM stations. Both Erie and Jamestown open frequencies went to underdog bidders. Our friends at Ohio Media Watch point out that nobody was even interested in bidding for the open 96.1 frequency. “Sweet Home Ashtabula”, a subsidary of Media One owns all of the commercial FM stations (AC WREO 97.1, Classic Rock WFXJ 107.5, Country WYBL 98.3 and Oldies WZOO 102.5) and one AM (Sports WFUN 970) in the Ashtabula region. Of course, the group was sold off by Clear Channel to SHA a few years back. It could be that SHA is at their limit of stations but it’s surprising that X-Press Broadcasting who owns Country WKKY 104.7 nearby in Geneva, Ohio did not go for it to add a second signal in Ashtabula. OMW states that the frequency will come up again in a future auction.