Seven years after it was put on the selling block, WXEL-FM finally sold to Classical South Florida after the Federal Communications Commission approved a deal with Barry University May 16.
The 40-year-old station, started to educate migrant workers and home to local public affairs broadcasting as well as national radio programming, will be known as WPBI.
It becomes part of radio empire American Public Media, which owns Classical South Florida and operates 43 stations in seven states and produces, among other shows, A Prairie Home Companion.
The sale had been bitterly fought by local supporters who opposed the sale to a national group, arguing the station would lose its local flavor. In announcing the sale and change in call letters, Classical South Florida said it will “concentrate the program schedule on classical music while continuing to provide news and information programming.”
The deal was applauded by Miami Shores-based Barry, which bought the station in 1997 and over the years poured $5.3 million into both the radio and television stations. It had been trying to unload the cash-strapped station since 2004. An earlier deal with a New York television station fell through and when bidding was reopened in 2009, CSF emerged the winner with a $3.85 million offer.
“We are very pleased that the FCC approved the sale of WXEL-FM to Classical South Florida,” Barry spokesman Michael Laderman said in an email. “They are an excellent local organization with a very strong backing, one that the listeners of the radio station — from Broward County through the Treasure Coast — will be thankful for.”
WXEL Channel 42 will remain as a PBS television affiliate, offering its lineup of public broadcasting shows, according to a letter from WXEL to supporters.
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