We have some news of our own to share with you today.
St. Louis Public Radio announced today that it is in the process of buying the public radio station in Quincy, Ill.
WQUB 90.3 FM is currently owned by Quincy University, but St. Louis Public Radio General Manager Tim Eby says the school indicated last year that it could no longer handle the operations of the station, and wanted to focus, instead, on educational priorities.
“So we started a conversation with them and felt it was important to maintain a public radio service in Quincy," Eby said. "And that we could step in and provide that service to continue bringing NPR and PRI and APM programming to the people in and around the Quincy region.”
The cost of acquiring WQUB is expected to be less than $100,000.
Eby says in addition to keeping public radio alive for Quincy area residents, the acquisition of WQUB is a plus for St. Louis Public Radio listeners, as well.
“People who are traveling north up to Hannibal, or some of the other arts areas – I think Clarksville is a place that a lot of people travel to because there’s a lot of arts in that community – or all the way up to Quincy, they’ll be able to basically have a continuous service of public radio programming now," Eby said. "Going from 90.7, our station, until our signal goes away and then they can flip down the dial to 90.3 FM and pick up WQUB.”
The sale of the station to St. Louis Public Radio must be approved by the FCC, which could take three to four months. St. Louis Public Radio (90.7 KWMU) is licensed to the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
- For more on the acquisition and Quincy Public Radio, see our FAQ page.