Miami school board opposes SFPMG acquisition in West Palm Beach
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WLRN’s school board licensee is opposing an attempt by the Miami station’s management company to acquire a commercial station in nearby West Palm Beach.
South Florida Public Media Group, which manages WLRN, announced last month it had reached a deal to acquire The Flame 104.7 for $6.45 million. A request to transfer the license was filed June 6 with the FCC.
On July 9, the School Board of Miami-Dade County filed a petition urging the commission to deny the reassignment of the license from the commercial station’s owner, JDD Radio, to SFPMG. The school board is WLRN’s licensee.
In its petition, the school board said it plans to seek an audit of South Florida Public Media Group’s use of WLRN funds in “anticipation of possible litigation.”
A statement provided to Current by SFPMG CEO John LaBonia said SFPMG is “actively communicating with the School Board to address their concerns and will be responding to the FCC petition shortly.”
LaBonia told Current in June that the purchase would be financed internally with income from a spectrum lease WLRN has had in place since 2008.
The school board believes SFPMG has no independent sources of funding other than what it raises from WLRN donor lists and from “the lease of EBS frequencies, which are part of the endowment for WLRN, and are not available for unrelated activities,” according to the petition.
SFPMG was founded in 1974 as Friends of WLRN, according to the petition. It has managed WLRN under a contract with the school board since July 2022.
The petition to deny also noted that WLRN’s broadcast service area overlaps with that of JDD Radio’s 104.7 signal.
“Notwithstanding the potential issues raised by this competitive acquisition by Buyer, regarding breach of contract and fiduciary obligations as manager and fundraiser for WLRN, any use of the WLRN endowment or WLRN donor-raised funds would constitute a misappropriation of funds,” the petition to deny said.
According to LaBonia, some Palm Beach County residents can pick up WLRN broadcasts through a previously purchased translator. But, since American Public Media Group sold its Classical South Florida network to a religious broadcaster in 2015, WLRN has been looking to restore public media service to the county. West Palm Beach is about 70 miles north of Miami.
“We just can’t imagine an area like Palm Beach County that doesn’t have its own public media service,” LaBonia said in an interview last month.
The challenges of school affiliated licensees.