Talks between WLRN and the Miami Dade County School Board continue, but the outcome should be clear.
As a growing part of Florida, Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast have a lot to offer. The region remains a growth magnet, attracting residents from outside of the state who see the area as a vibrant place to live, work and play and new businesses and industries that are drawn to what still is a robust economy with room for growth.
The region deserves the news and public affairs coverage that matches the potential foreseen by the region’s movers and shakers. A highlight of any major metropolitan area should be its media outlets that best showcase the communities they serve. WLRN wants to acquire The Flame 104.7 in West Palm Beach, which would extend its signal deeper into Palm Beach and Martin counties to include Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Stuart and Port St. Lucie.
Again, for anyone attracted to a community that bills itself “Wall Street South,” extending WLRN’s signal shouldn’t be a problem. Big communities have major news outlets that keep its residents aware and informed about cultural happenings, local news and sports. In a region that is growing as rapidly as ours, such developments often go uncovered. Palm Beach and Martin counties shouldn’t see themselves as small. That ship, as they say, has sailed.
Money isn’t the issue. WLRN has the $6.45 million to seal the deal. In fact, the South Florida Public Media Group, which manages the station, has an eight-figure endowment raised over the years from an Educational Broadcast License the group leases to commercial companies. The station is well-managed and it continues to raise donations from individuals and businesses throughout South Florida in spite of recent federal and state budget cuts to WLRN.
So, what’s the holdup? The inexplicable, maybe parochial, thinking of the Miami-Dade County School Board, which holds the station’s broadcast license and has fought tooth and nail to derail WLRN’s expansion.
Not only has the board filed a lawsuit to stop the sale but it also petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to block the potential extension of WLRN’s signal. They assert WLRN can’t afford to expand since it has “no independent sources of funding” beyond its ability to raise grants and donations. That allegation seems bogus as the group running WLRN has managed to maintain operations and now has the chance to gain even more financial security.
Why a smart group of individuals in Miami Dade County representing one of the nation’s largest school districts would stand so fiercely in opposition to expanding a highly regarded public radio station is, well, dumbfounding to us.
Miami-Dade shouldn’t thwart metropolitan progress
Before National Public Radio, the federal government gave Miami-Dade and other school boards across the country licenses for educational broadcasts, which ultimately was used to broadcast WLRN, South Florida’s local NPR station.
But, in 2017, the school board proposed changing the original operating agreement by forcing WLRN journalists to become school district employees. The community backlash was both critical and immediate. Amid concerns of editorial independence, the school district backed off. They did change the station’s management in 2019 but three years later returned to South Florida Public Media Group, apparently ending the earlier conflict.
Maybe the board’s current opposition is politics. The Trump administration has gone after its perceived enemies in both public and mainstream media, and in Florida, school districts must rely on state government benevolence to offset the loss of state funding because of decreasing school enrollment — $119 million so far in Miami-Dade public schools.
Talks between WLRN and the school board continue, but the outcome should be clear.
Palm Beach County remains one of Florida’s wealthiest counties. Its reputation as a potential financial hub has spread beyond its borders, and Martin and St. Lucie counties are also seeing the effects of the region’s growth as more residents and jobs move to the Treasure Coast. WLRN should be a part of our region’s future.
There’s no reason a school district at one end of our metropolitan area should curtail progress at the expense of the other end.
