FCC OKs WLIU sale to Peconic Public Broadcasting

After a year of negotiations and delays, Peconic Public Broadcasting has finally cleared the last obstacle to buying the broadcast license of WLIU-FM and is set to become the newest radio station on Long Island.

The East End not-for-profit group was formed last October, expressly to allow local residents to bid on the license of the 25,000-watt station, which is owned by Long Island University and had been the radio voice of the school's Southampton College campus.

But after the campus was sold to New York State, the radio license was viewed by the university as an income-draining asset it could no longer use, and bids were sought.

Peconic Public Broadcasting bid $850,000 and was selected as the highest of several bidders, but several delays held up the purchase.

Two weeks ago - at the end of the third and final deadline extension made by the university - a deal was struck, and PPB and the university set up a joint escrow account to pay for the license.

The Federal Communications Commission approved the sale, Peconic Public Broadcasting and the university announced Friday.

The station, which broadcasts at 88.3 / FM, can be heard in the Hamptons, on the North Fork and in parts of Brookhaven. WLIU-FM, which will become WPPB after the sale is completed, is a member of National Public Radio and Public Radio International.