Protesters gathered Thursday at Pacific Lutheran University, licensee of KPLU, to oppose the sale of the Tacoma, Wash., station to the University of Washington’s KUOW in Seattle. Forty supporters attended the protest, according to the (Tacoma) News Tribune.
Pacific Lutheran University students march by PLU President's office to protest sale of KPLU to KUOW. pic.twitter.com/a2JKVs1lDX
— pwissel (@KPLUPaula) December 3, 2015
Save KPLU protest in Red Square. #SaveKPLU pic.twitter.com/S9MeG2Br4j
— Mast Media (@PLUMast) December 3, 2015
A PLU student organized the protest, which included a march around campus and a reading of the KPLU advisory board’s letter to the university denouncing the sale, the News Tribune reported.
Public opposition has grown since PLU announced Nov. 12 that it would sell the station to the University of Washington for $8 million. The station’s advisory board condemned the pending sale in a public meeting and unanimously voted to oppose the sale, despite having no authority to stop it. That meeting was followed by the letter to PLU’s president and board of regents, calling the sale “fundamentally misguided.”
A Friends of KPLU group has formed and created a Save KPLU website, offering advice on how supporters can try to block the sale.
“The best possible solution is for a community organization (such as Friends of KPLU) to purchase KPLU from PLU for a price that’s similar to what KUOW has offered,” the website says. “KPLU would become a community-licensed public radio station, and KUOW would continue to be the same KUOW it is today.”
A Change.org petition asking the university to reconsider the sale has garnered over 1,200 signatures, and a separate petition with over 400 signatures calls on the FCC to reject the deal. Supporters and staffers are also discussing developments in a Facebook group.
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