WBUR licensee Boston University agreed Monday to sell its AM repeater in Yarmouth, Mass., to Langer Broadcasting Group LLC.
WBUR entered into the agreement to sell WBUR-AM 1240 to Langer, which plans to flip the station from news to a Portuguese-language format to serve local Portuguese and Brazilian communities. The deal is pending FCC approval, and the sale price was not released.
WBUR-AM was the first station on Cape Cod and has been transmitting since 1940. WBUR bought the signal in 1997.
Earlier this year, WBUR bought 92.7 FM WMVY, known as mvyradio, from Aritaur Communications. In February, WBUR changed the call sign to WBUA and changed the format from music to news. The station reaches up to 60,000 listeners with a 3,000-watt signal. The market includes Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and coastal towns including New Bedford, Fall River, Falmouth and Westport.
“In February, when WBUR began simulcasting on 92.7 WBUA in Martha’s Vineyard, we recognized that our 1240-AM signal was redundant in its coverage,” said WBUR General Manager Charlie Kravetz.
Good Move for WBUR to get rid of its AM signal.