After winning the bidding for the 100.9 Class A allocation in Westfield NY in last summer’s FCC Auction 109 with a $25,000 bid, Rick Rambaldo’s Erie Radio Company is selling its since upgraded Class B1 construction permit for 100.9 WRRI North East Township PA to Family Life Ministries for $835,000.
Family Life’s Christian AC network currently is heard in Erie on 98.7 W254AJ Erie fed by Cumulus Media’s 99.9 WXKC-HD3. WRRI will give them a 4.6kW/236m Class B1 signal from the tower utilized by iHeartMedia’s 104.9 WRKT and 95.9 WEBG.
The sale marks the end of a journey for Rambaldo and the 100.9 allocation through two FCC auctions. Made possible by the move of “Rocket 101” WRKT North East from 100.9 to 104.9, Erie Radio Company was the winning bidder for the allocation in the 2015 Auction 98 with a $714,000 bid. His win was nullified when the FCC determined in May 2017 that their downpayment was not submitted in time and they denied a waiver. They were required to submit a $107,100 down payment to the FCC by August 26, 2015, but due to what it claimed was circumstances beyond its control the payment did not reach the agency until 4:35pm on the 27th with a one sentence letter from its bank claiming that it was responsible for the error. The company bid again on the allocation in the 2021 auction, making the sole $25,000 bid this time around.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com