Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure how that works. So if the School Board "wins" and the money can't be used, the sale just never closes, and the FCC cancels the transfer?
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Palm Beaches 104.7 The Flame to be purchased by WLRN group
- Thread starter strangelove
- Start date
The tensions between the parties in this suit are spilling over into the Mainstream. I don't see how the School Board renews its deal with SFPMG after this.
Initially,when I read this thread, I sided with SFPMG over the school, thinking that the district was being too stingy and unwilling to expand WLRN northward. However, after reading the Axios article, I have changed my mind, at least about the Board's leadership. The Board chair, like the Chair of the Board that controlled the former KDHX in St. Louis, MO, needs to back away from this. Now! He is emotionally way too involved with this deal to care who he hurts in the process. And, remember, it's the school district that holds the license, not the Board.
To make things even more muddled, this week WQCS was awarded the CP to move south and cover a lot of the area that 104.7FLM was attempting to add for NPR anyway.
Another Axios article:
Sounds like the School Board will want the license if the sale is to go through. The article frames it as a first amendment fight (which is kind of silly, a lot of colleges and universities have licenses without independent media boards), but you have to think the School Board is just saying, "C'mon, it's our money, you can buy the station but you are using WLRN money so we own it!"
I was in the Jupiter area over the weekend, and it again reminded me that the WFLM signal is really bad to the North. They must be on the South leg of the Eiffel Tower, which makes sense if you moved from the North and wanted more coverage in West Palm and points south, where the population is.
But for WLRN, they already have good coverage to the South and the translator downtown. They need coverage to the North, but that's exactly where WFLM is not good. I guess this was the only stick that they could get, but it doesn't really do what they wanted for $6.45 million. WFLM booms South and overlaps WLRN a ton from Lake Worth all the way to Pompano. I wonder if SFPMG just looked at the coverage map or if they did a serious drive-around to hear the actual 104.7 coverage.
Sounds like the School Board will want the license if the sale is to go through. The article frames it as a first amendment fight (which is kind of silly, a lot of colleges and universities have licenses without independent media boards), but you have to think the School Board is just saying, "C'mon, it's our money, you can buy the station but you are using WLRN money so we own it!"
I was in the Jupiter area over the weekend, and it again reminded me that the WFLM signal is really bad to the North. They must be on the South leg of the Eiffel Tower, which makes sense if you moved from the North and wanted more coverage in West Palm and points south, where the population is.
But for WLRN, they already have good coverage to the South and the translator downtown. They need coverage to the North, but that's exactly where WFLM is not good. I guess this was the only stick that they could get, but it doesn't really do what they wanted for $6.45 million. WFLM booms South and overlaps WLRN a ton from Lake Worth all the way to Pompano. I wonder if SFPMG just looked at the coverage map or if they did a serious drive-around to hear the actual 104.7 coverage.
Lucky for Palm Beach County, the CP for WQCS/88.9 -- which moves their transmitter from Fort Pierce to Okeechobee -- will put a strong NPR signal into north county!
I am not so sure. Okeechobee is pretty far west of the most populated areas of North County.
It looks like they are using one of the towers by Martin Highway and 95, not Okeechobee. This is where Wild 95.5 and WCNO are.
In that case, yes, North County will be covered very nicely.
Thank you, Ron. Yes, my bad.
Axios reported the Board Chair of SFPMG is out:
He was one of the most vocal supporters of the WFLM purchase, so where this leaves the deal is anyone's guess. This could be a condition of the sale being approved by the School Board. The previous article said they might be okay with the purchase if the station was transferred to their ownership after closing.
https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2026/04/07/wlrn-richard-rampell-out-miami-dade-schools-legal-fight
He was one of the most vocal supporters of the WFLM purchase, so where this leaves the deal is anyone's guess. This could be a condition of the sale being approved by the School Board. The previous article said they might be okay with the purchase if the station was transferred to their ownership after closing.
Might iHeart swoop in and buy it?
I'd bet against that right now. The company is currently doing too much cost-cutting, especially among its personnel.
I'm glad for both his sake and theirs. He was becoming too emotionally involved in the deal to allow for compromise and the ideas of others to proliferate.
Looks like a settlement has been reached. As was reported as a possibility upthread, the sale will go through, but the license must be transferred to the School Board for $1.00. I'm a little surprised the School Board was good with the $6.45 million price tag. SFPMG will retain management. I'm wondering if this means it will operate more under the WLRN umbrella than SFPMG had wanted (WYNI), since the School Board might want a greater connection to the content.
www2.miamidadeclerk.gov
Miami-Dade County OCS
www2.miamidadeclerk.gov
I wasn't aware that the school board had any connection to the content. How many station employees are paid by the school board?
Probably some religious broadcaster. They seem to be taking over everything these days.
Well supposedly that's what the former board chair was trying to argue. That they wanted more control of the content and that was first amendment violation and something something Trump.
I read what the Board wanted more as "Hey, if this ends up being owned by us, we don't want it to be completely detached from our main brand." The agreement seems to suggest the school board will have more seats on the SFPMG board and more supervisory power, no doubt to make sure this doesn't happen again.
From the document:
The agreement outlines SFPMG’s broad operational responsibilities, including programming, staffing, fundraising, compliance, and day-to-day management, while preserving the School Board’s authority as FCC licensee and its right to oversee and engage in key decisions. The agreement requires that all funds, endowments, donor lists, and revenues, including those tied to the Educational Broadband Service License WHR-866 trust and used solely for the benefit of the stations, with strict accounting, audit, and transparency obligations.
The Amended Management and Program Service Agreement imposes non-compete restrictions, governance provisions (including expanded Board representation), and detailed requirements for programming standards, educational services, and community engagement. Finally, it sets a seven- year term (with a possible three-year extension) and includes extensive legal provisions governing compliance, indemnification, records, and transition of operations upon termination.
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Follow-up:
radioinsight.com
South Florida Public Media Group & School Board Of Miami-Dade County Confirm Settlement Over WFLM Purchase
After a nearly year-long battle through the FCC and in court over their purchase of Hip Hop “104.7 The Flame” WFLM Palm Beach Shores FL, South Florida Public Media Group and The School Board of Miami-Dade County have reached a settlement.
radioinsight.com
As I said last week, the agreement mentions "simulcasting WLRN for greater reach" which sounds a lot less like 104.7 is going to have its own identity, at least in the beginning. We'll see if the "WYNI" calls survive or if they want something that is closer to "WLRN". It will also be interesting to see if the translator goes Classical or something else or be sold, and what WQCS chooses to do now.