After months of uncertainty, Lehigh University and Lehigh Valley Public Media have reached an agreement to sell radio station WLVR.
The National Public Radio affiliate, which broadcasts at 91.3 FM, has been sold outright to LVPM by the university, which announced the transfer on Thursday. LVPM, which has operated the station since entering into a partnership with Lehigh in 2019, will purchase the Federal Communications Commission license.
A sales price was not disclosed.
In a news release, Lehigh officials said “the agreement signals the shift in student learning outcomes related to digital content creation.”
“Lehigh’s collaboration with Lehigh Valley Public Media has provided students with valuable professional experiences and enriched our community with essential local news,” said Nathan Urban, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “As we move forward, we are excited to evolve this partnership to focus on the next generation of content creation.
“Our priority is ensuring that Lehigh students graduate equipped with the advanced digital fluency, AI-readiness, and multimedia skills necessary to lead and succeed in a rapidly transforming media landscape,” Urban said.
Under the partnership, LVPM converted WLVR from a student-run college station into a multi-channel HD broadcast station that included an NPR affiliation.
During this period, the student-run programming moved to the HD-2 signal. The university said it had “observed a sustained shift in student engagement away from traditional broadcast radio and toward on-demand, digital-first media” such as podcasts.
Bethlehem-based LVPM, which also includes PBS39 and the Lehigh Valley News website, cut about half of its workforce in January after losing federal funding and seeing a decline in revenue.
“We value the relationship we’ve had with Lehigh University to operate WLVR and the talented students who have contributed through our internship program,” said Hasanna Birdsong, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Public Media. “We remain supportive of opportunities that help students gain meaningful real-world media experience through our multimedia platforms.”
The ownership transition is pending regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
WLVR traces its history back to 1946, when The Brown and White, the university’s student newspaper, first created a campus radio station known as WLRN that operated on AM. With a change in format and the growing popularity of FM radio, that station eventually became WLVR-FM, which went on air in 1973.
In the decades that followed, WLVR gained a popular following across the Lehigh Valley, and was noted as one of the few college stations that was run primarily by students.
This story will be updated.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.