After 10 days and 47 bidding rounds, the FCC has completed its auction of 112 new FM allocations.
The highest bid went to Robinson Entertainment, LLC which paid $2,015,000 for a Class A at 100.3 in Lake Park, FL. That station will cover West Palm Beach and is headed by Nicholas “Dick” Robinson, the Founder/CEO of The Connecticut School of Broadcasting.
$452,000 gave Denise Esserman a Class C3 allocation for 93.7 in St. Simons Island, GA. Esserman is a practicing lawyer in adjacent Brunswick, GA, however her husband Eddie is owner of Country “104.1 The Wave” WRJY and Adult CHR “Magic 105.9” WXMK in the market along with serving as a broker for Media Services Group.
Ricardo Arroyo wins a 99.7 Class A in Silver Springs Shores, FL for $449,000 serving the Ocala market. Arroyo is a Director in Q Broadcasting, which owns Spanish News/Talk “La Grande 1030” WONQ and Gospel “Rejoice 1140” WRMQ in the Orlando market and “La Primera 1190” WPSP Royal Palm Beach.
A Palm Springs Class A rimshot at 102.7 in Mecca, CA goes to Sunnylands Broadcasting for $254,000. The new station will join Sunnylands’ CHR “KQ 95.5” KQCM Twentynine Palms Base serving the Joshua Tree area. Sunnylands also came away with a Class A at 103.3 in Oak Harbor, WA.
Lotus Communications grabs 99.5 in Greenfield, CA for $182,000.
Connoisseur Media adds to its Erie, PA cluster with a $167,000 bid for a Class A on 95.9. The station will become its seventh station in the market joining Country “93.9 The Wolf” WTWF, Variety Hits “94.7 Bob-FM” WXBB, Classic Rock “Rocket 101” 100.9 WRKT, CHR “Star 104” 103.7 WRTS, Sports “1330 The Fan” WFNN, and Talk “Jet Radio 1400” WJET.
Hispanic Target Media came away with three new stations; A Bakersfield rimshot at 92.7 in Wasco, CA for $158,000, a Fresno rimshot at 107.7 in San Joaquin, CA for $147,000, and a Class C0 at 95.3 in Roswell, NM for $117,000.
The Phoenix based Black Entrepreneurs Assocation, Inc. comes away with a Class C3 in Wickenburg, AZ for $98,000. Potentially this signal could rimshot Phoenix. With the partners, Arthur Mobley and Therman Stewart active in the Phoenix African-American Community perhaps some form of Urban format targeting Phoenix will eventually come to this signal.
The lowest winning bid was a mere $750 to Resonance Media Group for a Class C0 on 96.9 in Grand Portage, MN. As we pointed out last September when the potential allocations were released, there is potential for this station to serve the Thunder Bay, ON market.
The FCC gained $4,119,979 in net proceeds from this auction with 19 signals going unclaimed. The full results of the auction can be seen here.
As CommLawBlog points out, federal anti-trust rules are still in effect preventing prospective bidders from discussing the auction. The FCC will release a public notice with full details and procedures in the coming weeks.
johndavis 
azradio
So Art Mobley isn’t giving up on the dream. I’m not sure where he’s expecting to build, but here’s the pattern of Mike Barna’s C3 in Wickenburg for comparison. https://maps.google.com/?q=http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/contourplot.kml%3Fgmap%3D2%26appid%3D1002420%26call%3DKSWG%26freq%3D96.3%26contour%3D60%26city%3DWICKENBURG%26state%3DAZ.kml
I haven’t done the research yet on the spacing with KRQQ and KDKB, but if they place the station on 106.3 KOMR’s tower they might be able to get city-grade into Peoria and Glendale. Still a reach to serve the whole market.
I’ve spent a lot of hours looking into this Wickenburg allotment. KDKB prevents the station from being moved east, a station in Flagstaff prevents it from being moved north. KDKB prevents it from going on KSWG’s tower, it would only work if KDKB did a downgrade in class. The station can upgrade to a C2 if it goes southwest of Wickenburg and that could shoot more signal into the Phoenix market but they would be required to build a several hundred foot tower. Even if they some how make things work, KRQQ from Tucson in many places puts a very strong signal into the east valley. So unless I am missing something the channel will never get more than the Glendale area.