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Palm Beach County, Fla., Public Broadcaster Awaits Transfer to New Owner

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Doreen Hemlock, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Sep. 29--Public broadcaster WXEL of Palm Beach County is feeling a financial pinch, as it awaits state approval to transfer its TV and radio stations to new owners.

The broadcaster posted a nearly half-million dollar loss for the year ended June 30 -- its first loss in three years, partly because news of its pending sale prompted some contributors to hold back donations for now, finance chief Bernard Henneberg informed the board of directors this week.

Some major donors have put cash instead to the Community Foundation of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, a partner in the new non-profit group seeking to buy WXEL. And some individual members are postponing renewals, "waiting to see where their money will go," Henneberg said by phone Thursday.

"It's not a surprise," he said of a donations drop amid a pending sale. "But once the transfer is finalized, things should return to normal."

The $493,030 loss follows the April announcement that WXEL owner Barry University would transfer its license for TV-Channel 42 and FM radio 90.7 to a new non-profit partnership. New owners include public broadcasting powerhouse Educational Broadcasting Corp. of New York City, which owns WNET-Channel 13 in New York City and WLIW-Channel 21 serving Long Island. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Florida government, which has provided grants to WXEL, has not specified a timetable for its decision on an approval.

Barry University took over WXEL in 1997 and since then, has boosted the stations' net assets from about $350,000 to almost $6 million. Operations have been running at about break-even level in recent years, Henneberg said.

WXEL is a South Florida Sun-Sentinel news partner. Sun-Sentinel Publisher Bob Gremillion is a Foundation member.

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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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