System/Policy
Minnesota Public Radio seeks to sell its Idaho station
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Boise State Public Radio will air its music service on the station.
System/Policy
Utah pubcaster to acquire KCPW
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The format on KCPW’s 88.3 FM signal will switch to bilingual programming.
System/Policy
Owner of KCPW seeks to sell station
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The Salt Lake City station has faced financial challenges since it became independent in 2008.
System/Policy
WUNC to purchase station from school board
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The deal is an “important step in the expansion of public radio in North Carolina,” WUNC said in a press release.
System/Policy
WXXI to purchase Rochester’s now silent jazz station
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The $1.2 million deal combines a cash payment and $525,000 donation to the public broadcaster.
Quick Takes
KUSP convenes community forums to mull future service options
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The station is holding three public meetings and two board meetings to decide the station’s fate.
Infinite Guest
PBS may continue on commercial multicast channel in South Texas
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PBS is talking with at least three entities interested in saving public television programming in the far southern Rio Grande Valley.
System/Policy
San Mateo college district puts KCSM-TV up for sale
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As expected, the San Mateo County (Calif.) Community College District announced Dec. 7 it is seeking a buyer for public broadcaster KCSM-TV. In June, the college district said it was selling the station to end its predicted $800,000 structural deficit. Independent Public Media, a nonprofit consortium headed by WYBE founder John Schwarz and former WNET exec Ken Devine, has already signaled its interest in keeping the channel available for public media (Current, Oct. 17).
Development
With FCC’s eye on Daystar, WMFE-TV sale nixed
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The FCC has delayed decisions on two transactions involving sales of public TV stations to Daystar Television Network to examine whether the religious broadcaster meets its criteria for localism and educational programming by noncommercial broadcasters. The scrutiny scuttled a deal involving WMFE in Orlando, pending for nearly a year, and held up a decision on KWBU in Waco, Texas. Daystar, a Texas-based religious network, has been in the market for public TV stations since at least 2003, when it paid $20 million for KERA’s second TV channel in Dallas. It most recently bid on KCSM in San Mateo, Calif. The WMFE sale fell apart after the FCC sent queries to the local entities that had been set up to operate the Orlando and Waco stations.
System/Policy
Licensee sells Palm Beach’s WXEL-TV to nonprofit set up by its managers
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Two years after selling WXEL-FM in Palm Beach, Fla., for $3.85 million, Barry University has agreed to sell its public-TV sister station for $1.44 million. The buyer is the WXEL Public Broadcasting Corp., a nonprofit set up by the TV station’s present executives. WXEL’s 15-year custody by the Catholic university in Miami Shores began in 1997 when the school rescued the Palm Beach FM/TV combo from perilous fiscal condition. The stations attracted unsuccessful sale contracts, bids or at least inquiries from New York’s WNET, the Palm Beach County school board, competing Miami station WPBT and a longtime suitor, Community Broadcast Foundation of Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast. The latter lost interest when Barry University sold the FM station, says Bryce Combs, a group member and digital media consultant who managed Milwaukee Public Television in the 1990s.