Western New York Public Broadcasting Association has entered into an asset purchase agreement to sell WNED-AM 970 toCrawford Broadcasting Company.
“Since WNED purchased WBFO-FM 88.7 in March, we’ve been able to consolidate the frequencies for our news and information service,” said Donald K. Boswell, WNED president and CEO. “We want to make the best use of our resources and don’t feel that it’s necessary to simulcast on both AM 970 and WBFO-FM 88.7 any longer.”
Under the purchase agreement, WNED will receive $875,000 from Crawford Broadcasting Company for the station. Proceeds of the sale will be used to pay down the debt incurred by the purchase of WBFO-FM 88.7, which was acquired from University at Buffalo in March for $4 million.
The sale is subject to regulatory approval and will have no impact on staffing, on-air programming on WBFO-FM 88.7 or the 24-hour jazz service, JazzWorks, on WBFO HD-2.
The stations have been simulcasting their program lineup, which originally offered many of the same NPR programs, such as “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered” and “On Point.” WBFO also retained blues programming on 88.7 FM and jazz programming on WBFO HD-2.
About WNED
Through WBFO-FM 88.7/WNED-AM 970, Classical 94.5 WNED, WNED-TV and ThinkBright and Well/WORLD TV, member-supported WNED Buffalo-Toronto provides high quality programming and services to local, regional and national audiences that enlighten, inspire, entertain and educate the Western New York and Southern Ontario communities. Additional information about WNED can be found at wned.org.
About Crawford Broadcasting Company
Crawford Broadcasting Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., currently operates 23 AM and FM radio stations in 10 markets nationwide, including WDCX-FM in Buffalo.