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Peconic Public Broadcasting to keep operating 88.3 FM

Peconic Public Broadcasting, the group that runs Long Island’s only NPR
affiliate, has raised the money needed to purchase
the radio station’s license and equipment from Long Island University.
The group will make the final $637,000 payment through a combination of grants,
donations and a loan from Bridgehampton National Bank, the station and
the university announced in a statement Tuesday afternoon. The money to
pay the loan will be raised through the station’s capital campaign.
The
university, which has owned 88.3 FM for more than 20 years, had given
the group until Sept. 28 as the final deadline to make the payment. The
previous deadline was June 30, which was then extended three more times.
The deal is pending the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.
“We
are pleased that this transaction may now be completed and are
heartened to know that the rich tradition of community-based public
radio on Long Island’s East End, which the University has proudly
cultivated for decades, will continue to flourish,” said LIU president
David J. Steinberg.
“We have reached an important milestone in the
community’s effort to save local public radio,” said station manager
Wally Smith.  “This is one more example of the East End community
working together at every level to preserve an important community
resource.”
LIU had run the radio station from its Southampton
campus, which it sold to SUNY Stony Brook in 2006, for more than two
decades. The school announced its intention to sell the station last
year, citing $1 million in annual losses, including rent the school has
been paying to Stony Brook.
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