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Officials from local National Public Radio affiliate WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting said on Friday afternoon that the station has reached an agreement to sell the Southampton-based radio station to WNET, the owners of New York's PBS television stations.
Dr. Wallace Smith, the president, operations manager and program director for WPPB, and John Landes, chairman of WPPB's board of directors, both confirmed that the a deal to sell the station and all its assets has been reached, but said the Federal Communications Commission and New York State Attorney General's office must still approve the transfer of the 88.3-FM channel.
The transaction for Long Island's only NPR member station is for $944,834, according to broadcast industry news outlets that cited FCC documents.
Mr. Landes said the FCC approval could take 60 to 90 days.
WPPB is based in Southampton Village. Previously, as WLIU, it was on the former Southampton College campus in Shinnecock Hills.
WNET owns two PBS televisions stations, WNET “Thirteen” based in Newark, New Jersey, and WLIW 21 based in Garden City. It also operates a PBS network in New Jersey.
WPPB would be WNET’s first radio station.
According to Current.org, a website that focuses on news about public media, the agreement will allow WNET to begin operating the WPPB station prior to the sale being approved by the FCC and finalized.
on Nov 1, 2019