Sale Price Said to be $8 million
By Katherine Long & Brendan Kiley, Seattle Times staff.
On Thursday afternoon, Seattle public-radio station KUOW announced its intent to purchase KPLU, pending a vote from the University of Washington Board of Regents.
The University of Washington station, at 94.9 FM, is best known for its National Public Radio news content, while the Pacific Lutheran University station, at 88.5, broadcasts both news and jazz. At a UW Board of Regents meeting Thursday, KUOW President Caryn Mathes said there are no short-term programming changes in the works, but that KPLU will eventually be moved to an all-jazz format.
Caryn Mathes, president and general manager of KUOW, (pictured above) said the two stations had been broadcasting 65 hours of duplicate news shows each week.Mathes said no decision has been made yet as to what will happen to KPLU’s news staff.
Mathes added that the $8 million deal was paid for by $4.5 million in KUOW reserves, $2.5 million from the UW’s internal lending program and $1 million in underwriting funds.
The deal also would require approval from the Federal Communications Commission, but Mathes said she did not expect that to be a problem.
READ MORE HERE AT THE SEATTLE TIMES WEBSITE
