WRVU Now Part of Nashville Public Radio.

Vanderbilt Station Sold for $3.35 Million

In a move that will satisfy classical music fans and the NPR news audience, Nashville Public Radio cemented the deal to buy WRVU. The deal was three years in the making. Approval came in March from the FCC, but was delayed until Vanderbilt Student Communications received the $3.35 million purchase price.

Not Everybody is Happy

College radio advocates have been trying to play defense, though not with much success. Fans of WRVU hired attorneys and petitioned the FCC.

Jennifer Waits, who founded the website “Radio Survivor,” says it’s really a matter of convincing schools they shouldn’t sell.

“It’s still good to stand up for what you believe in,” she says. “People can change their mind.”
Waits and others are now focusing attention on Atlanta, where just this month, Georgia Public Broadcasting announced a deal to partially take over a powerful signal owned by Georgia State.

The Cost Can Be too High

There was also resistance when the station owned by Rice University was sold to Houston Public Media for $9 million. There was a bold prediction, at the time, that the purchase of KRTU would result in a doubling of listener sensitive in for Houston Public Media. In 2013, Houston Public Media ended up laying off its classical music staff at the end of 2013 instead.