Penn State is set to “wind down” operations of radio and TV public media operation WPSU after the university’s board of trustees declined the transfer of operating assets to Philadelphia-based WHYY.
The radio station is the only National Public Radio member station in central Pennsylvania. It is licensed to the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees. The station recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.
The board of trustees’ finance and investment committee had been presented with a plan to transfer WPSU’s broadcast licenses — covering 24 counties for television and 13 counties for radio across central and northern Pennsylvania — to WHYY. The transfer would include two full-power licenses (WPSU and WPSX) and five translators.
The proposal, which was ultimately declined this past week, included a total of $17 million in funding from Penn State over five years.
Board of Trustees Chair David Kleppinger said in a release that the decision to cease operations at the radio station was “incredibly difficult” but necessary.
“Given the significant headwinds facing higher education and public media, we could not support the proposed transaction,” said Kleppinger. “We know this is a deeply disappointing outcome and we are grateful to the dedicated WPSU employees whose work has enriched our lives and made our community stronger.”
According to its website, WPSU produces local television, radio and online content to complement the PBS, NPR and other public media programming the station licenses for its four television channels, three radio stations and online presence.
Penn State had been providing WPSU with about $3.4 million in annual subsidies to sustain station operations, according to the university. Penn State Chief Financial Officer Sara Thorndike previously said that a continued long-term subsidy from tuition to support WPSU was no longer feasible, especially since the $1.8 million in federal funding WPSU received last year and the $1.3 million it expected this year was “unfortunately reduced to zero.”
WHYY reports that Penn State’s committee board members took issue with the $17 million subsidy the university would have paid over five years, as well as what they saw as WHYY’s lack of commitment to hire WPSU’s staff, which numbers 44 full-time positions.
University administrators contend that, while the WHYY proposal would have allowed WPSU to continue broadcasting, “most WPSU staff would have likely been laid off from the university, with some being offered positions by WHYY.”
Following the passage of President Trump’s expansive recession bill, which effectively ended federal funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and, subsequently, public media stations, many broadcasters have faced uncertain futures.
In the eight weeks since Congress approved the president’s request to claw back $1.1 billion in previously allocated funding for public broadcasting, in some ways, it has been a waiting game to see which stations will find the means to rise to the challenge and which will be forced to turn in their licenses.
“Whether NPR and PBS programming will continue in WPSU’s listening and viewing area was not immediately clear,” wrote station reporter Anne Danahy in WPSU’s announcement. “WPSU(TV) reaches 515,000 households in 24 counties of central Pennsylvania, and WPSU(FM) serves more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties in central and northern Pennsylvania.”
Penn State will now develop a plan to shut down the radio station, which will stop broadcasting by the end of June 2026 at the latest, the university said.
