WREO-FM

WREO-FM (97.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format licensed to Ashtabula, Ohio. It is one of five stations in Media One Radio Group's Ashtabula cluster, the others being WFUN (AM), WFXJ-FM, WQGR (FM), WYBL (FM), and WZOO-FM.

WREO-FM Billboard Circa 1992

WREO-FM

Ashtabula, Ohio United States
Broadcast area	Ashtabula, Ohio Erie metro area (limited) Greater Cleveland (limited)
Frequency	97.1 MHz
Branding	Lite Mix 97.1
Programming
Format	Soft adult contemporary
Affiliations	Ohio State Sports Network
Ownership
Owner	Media One Radio Group (Media One Holdings, LLC)
Sister stations	WFUN WFXJ-FM WQGR WYBL WZOO-FM
History
First air date	February 17, 1949 (1949-02-17)
Former call signs	WICA-FM (1949–1960)
Former frequencies	103.7 MHz (1949–1960)
Call sign meaning	"Radio Enterprises of Ohio"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	54566
Class	B
ERP	50,000 watts
HAAT	152 meters
Transmitter coordinates	41°48′58.00″N 80°46′52.00″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	Mix971FM.com

For many years, WREO broadcast an easy listening format. It moved with the trends of "office-safe" stations beginning in the early 1990s, converting to Smooth jazz in the early 1990s, adult contemporary in the spring of 1992, then switching to Hot AC in summer 2013. During the AC era, it branded as "Star 97.1", then switched to the "Mix 97.1" branding upon the Hot AC switch. On September 6, 2021, the station switched to a playlist with a more "Lite Rock" sound as "Lite Mix 97.1" with legendary Cleveland broadcaster Ted Alexander II serving as Program Director.[2] Through it all, the heritage WREO-FM calls have been retained.

Most of the station's programming is locally originated, either live or through advanced voice tracking, along with local news, weather and traffic coverage, and local community service features. Syndicated programming over the weekend includes the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, The John Tesh Radio Show, and Backtracks USA.

Because of the station's large signal range (formerly branded as "Powerhouse Of The North Coast") which also easily covers the eastern portion of the Greater Cleveland area, along with all of Erie County, Pennsylvania, it is heavily competitive with Erie's in-city stations, sometimes topping them in Nielsen Media (and in the past, Arbitron) ratings. It also has good listenership across Lake Erie in London, Ontario and into the Youngstown/Warren metro to the south, and some fringe coverage into western New York. The station maintains a weather partnership with Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC (Channel 3), and a branding partnership with the Ashtabula County Medical Center, including studio sponsorship.