Miami’s WLRN acquires radio station in Palm Beach County

Miami’s South Florida Public Media Group is working to expand public media in the broader region with a deal to acquire an FM radio station and operate it as a community licensee. 

SFPMG, the management company for joint licensee WLRN, filed an asset purchase agreement with the FCC June 6 to acquire West Palm Beach’s The Flame 104.7, a commercial station, from JDD Radio for $6.45 million. West Palm Beach is roughly 70 miles north of Miami. 

WLRN has been looking to restore public media in Palm Beach County for a decade, said CEO John LaBonia. American Public Media Group sold the Classical South Florida three-station network in 2015 to a religious broadcaster. 

Some county residents can pick up WLRN through a translator it previously purchased, LaBonia said. 

“We just can’t imagine an area like Palm Beach County that doesn’t have its own public media service,” LaBonia said. 

The purchase of 104.7 is being financed internally with funding from a spectrum lease WLRN has had in place since 2008, LaBonia said. The expansion still needs approval from the FCC, which LaBonia said could take two to four months. 

The station will simulcast WLRN and NPR programming to start but will eventually have a newsroom covering Palm Beach County and also will air “Palm Beach County–centric original programming,” LaBonia said.

The local programming additions will come once the station begins to get up and running, with probably a year of organizing before that expansion, LaBonia said. WLRN already has one full-time Palm Beach County reporter and just hired another investigative reporter who will mostly cover Palm Beach with some Broward County coverage, he added. 

The acquisition will bring news to an unduplicated audience of more than 800,000, according to a news release. 

“This acquisition underscores SFPMG’s unwavering commitment and dedication to being a trusted voice for the communities it serves,” said SFPMG Chair Richard Rampell in the release, noting emergency communications and NPR programming. 

The Palm Beach station’s call letters are still to be determined, according to LaBonia. 

“It’s a separate market,” he said. “We want to treat it as a separate market.”

Palm Beach County has an estimated population of 1.58 million and a median household income of $81,115, according to U.S. Census data.  

Those new listeners could potentially become supporters. 

“Our hope is that the station will become financially sustainable on its own,” LaBonia said. “We’re going to reach 800,000 people that don’t receive WLRN already.”

A public media station in Palm Beach County will also do more than provide NPR and local programming. 

“We’ll be able to blanket the county now with our emergency services,” LaBonia said, noting the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. 

LaBonia also pointed out that his station is proceeding  with the deal at a time when public media’s federal funding is under threat. Last week, the House approved a rescission package that would claw back $535 million annually in CPB’s forward-funded appropriations for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years.

“It’s bold on our part to be making this move right now,” LaBonia said.