Statement from the University of San Francisco:
The Federal Communications Commission today approved the sale of radio station KUSF to Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN). The sale will be finalized immediately.
A consent decree between the FCC, the University of San Francisco and CPRN allowed the sale to move forward. The FCC did not object to CPRN broadcasting on 90.3 while the sale was pending, but found that CPRN’s payments to USF (similar to rent) under the Public Service Operating Agreement violated a Commission rule.
“The sale provides the University of San Francisco with funds that will directly benefit our students, and support our mission of offering an outstanding education in the Jesuit Catholic tradition,” said Gary McDonald, associate vice president of communications. “We are pleased that the FCC has completed its review in a manner that allows the sale to close and for USF to focus on its core mission of education and service.”
Here's the FCC statement, which says that "USF and CPRN will collectively make a $50,000 voluntary contribution to the United States Treasury" because of its violation of the agency's rules.
Just last week, the Bay Citizen reported that FCC approval of the $3.75 million sale was taking unusually long. KUSF and CPRN inked the deal in January, 2011.
“It’s extremely unusual,” Michael Couzens, an Oakland-based communications lawyer and former FCC staffer told the Citizen. “The mentality of the staff is shaped by the fact that commercial entities lose their financing if they dink and dunk around for months and years.”
The sale was part of a complicated series of transactions that shook up the radio dial in the Bay Area last year. The KUSF deal set off vociferous protests by the station's staff and fans. Many of the DJs and programmers moved to the online-only KUSF in Exile (listen here), an effort to keep the music playing while KUSF's sale of its license awaited FCC approval. In February, 2011, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging USF to back out of the deal.