The Community Advisory Board of WXEL has a seat on the bus for anyone willing to help show the state Board of Education that there’s local opposition to the public radio station’s sale to Classical South Florida. The Board of Education is set to consider the sale at its Dec. 17 meeting at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave. It’s a required step before the sale can be closed.
A small group of loyalists gathered last month in the parking lot of WXEL studios and held a subdued rally to get the word out to the community about the impending sale of the station to Classical South Florida.
“Our purpose today is to see who’s interested in taking a bus to go attend the meeting and let them know what the community wants,” Citizens Advisory Board President Pablo Del Real told the group of about 20 people.
Del Real said he’s asked for 20 minutes on the Board of Education’s agenda, but was given no assurance he’d be allowed to speak. Nor was there a definite time for the issue to be addressed on what is expected to be a daylong agenda, Del Real said.
Originally desiring a meeting to determine the community’s interest, the morning event became an outside rally when the CAB was denied meeting space inside WXEL studios, where it always has met for its regular board meetings, Del Real said. The idea of a rally came from station listener Mike Paschkes.
“I though wouldn’t it be something if a bunch of us could descend upon the Board of Education and tell them how we feel,” Paschkes said. “I was hoping it would draw a number of people. Most people here already are involved.”
It drew support for the bus, though.
“I’ll pay for the bus,” said Joe Ferrer, president of Sunset Entertainment Group Inc., which provides classical programming for several area venues, including Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Theatre. “We have classical art programs dying in this county because we can’t get people to pay attention. We’ve got to stop that.”
“WXEL is a community asset. We need to be there if for no other reason than to show our concern,” Ferrer said.
Barry University, the Coral Gables-based Catholic school that owns WXEL, signed an agreement to sell WXEL to Classical South Florida in April — without getting input from the community, Del Real has said.
The CAB held two public forums over the summer, then delivered the results of those forums to the WXEL board at its meeting in September.
The Community Advisory Board questions the legality of Barry to profit from the sale of the station, and objects to a sale that would split WXEL-FM 90.7 from WXEL Television.
The CAB also says selling to Classical South Florida, which already operates a classical music station out of Miami, would eliminate local programming from WXEL.
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