Northwestern Region stations filing to change COL

Scott Fybush reports this week that Family Life Radio, the company in the process of buying Clarendon-licensed WNAE-FM (102.7), has already filed to relocate the Community of License to Wattsburg on the New York/Pennsylvania border. The new site would boast a 3.5 kW signal from a new tower located just far enough to be properly spaced from Erie’s WQHZ-FM (102.3).

Meanwhile, down in Mercer County, Cumulus has long been attempting to move Mercer-licensed WWIZ-FM (103.9) closer to Youngstown. The latest attempt was in 2007 when they applied to change the CoL from Mercer to West Middlesex. But the application was against FCC rules barring CoL changes for clusters grandfathered over ownership limits. But in 2008, with the help of DC communications lawyers, Cumulus redrew the boundaries of the Youngstown market leaving out several outlying stations. A two-year waiting period went into effect and in January of this year, the company reapplied for a CoL change to West Middlesex. The move was granted last week. The studios will not be moving, but Fybush expects an application to be filed to move the transmitter across the Ohio/Pennsylvania line.