The crown jewel in a three-station sale involving two New York State non-profits is WBFO-FM Buffalo, and the buyer – Western New York Public Broadcasting Association – had to make its promise to take good care of it going forward a matter of contract with seller State University of New York.
The sale takes a small bite out of the SUNY portfolio of FMs, and leaves it with small 100 Watt WBNY-FM in Buffalo. Meanwhile, it adds to the portfolio of WNYPBA.
The deal is worth $4.5M, with $100K going into escrow, $3.9M paid in cash at closing and $500K provided in the form of $100K worth of underwriting per year for five years in favor of the seller.
Coming along with WBFO are WOLN-FM Olean NY and WUBJ-FM Jamestown NY.
WBFO is a full Class B on 88.7 MHz with 50 kW @ 384’. It is proud of its programming, and the contract notes that “…both buyer and seller recognize that WBFO is properly regarded throughout the United States as one of the originators of public radio broadcasting in American, and that its on-air personalities have gone on to national prominence in public radio.” The buyer is expected to preserve this legacy, as well as the station’s commitment to local listeners.
WNYPBA boasts its own blowtorch Buffalo FM, 100 kW Class B WNED-FM on 94.3 MHz. It also has WNED-AM and WNED-TV in Buffalo and WNJA-FM in Jamestown NY – the latter station will form a duopoly with incoming WUBJ, which like WOLN, is a Class A station serving an unrated portion of upstate New York.
