WNIR Kills Radio One Translator

Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 Kent "The Talk of Akron" has successfully killed an effort to put up a new translator on 100.3 (W262BN), which would have been located on a Verizon Wireless cell phone tower in North Ridgeville.

As we reported earlier, WNIR took to its own airwaves to warn listeners in the Elyria and North Ridgeville areas that "an out of town company" was proposing a signal in that area that could interfere with WNIR, and asking those listeners to write to the station.

The Federal Communications Commission agreed on February 26th, and dismissed the application by religious translator storehouse Edgewater Broadcasting of Twin Falls ID (which has filed to sell the translator to Radio One), and another later application that would have moved the Cleveland-licensed facility to 99.1 FM - an effort to respond to Media-Com's filing to deny the translator move.

And it appears that WNIR's appeal to listeners in the area of the proposed translator took the day.

From the FCC decision letter (PDF file):

The petitioner has demonstrated that it has listeners within the 60 dBu of the proposed translator station and that grant of the translator will result in interference to those listeners.

The decision also dismissed a newer application by Edgewater, seeking to change the translator's frequency to 99.1 FM.

That dismissal was of a waiver Edgewater sought to move the frequency out of the accepted range for such a move - 1st, 2nd or 3rd adjacent to 100.3, or to an "IF" frequency 10.6 or 10.8 MHz away.

An "IF" move would have, by necessity, dumped the station into a potential frequency in the non-commercial band, and a whole new set of RF gymnastics would be needed to make it into the commercial band again...assuming the first move would have been granted.

Edgewater said it wanted the waiver for 99.1, due to potential interference problems with moving the frequency - with WNIR, or Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7 or that company's country WGAR/99.5.

The FCC didn't buy the waiver request, so the translator remains licensed to its 100.3/Lorain site, which we don't believe has ever hit the airwaves.

As we previously reported, Edgewater agreed to sell W262BN to a subsidiary of Radio One, a sale already approved by the FCC, but filed in mid-January for a 90 day extension of the consummation deadline.

With the proposed move basically dead at this point, it's anyone's guess if Radio One is still interested in picking up the translator.

By the way, a big hat tip to long-time friend and colleague Scott Fybush at NorthEast Radio Watch, who gave us the heads up...and some of the technical explanation above...