Penn State Trustees approve path forward for WPSU
For more than 60 years, WPSU has proudly served Penn State and the Central Pennsylvania region, providing free access to PBS and NPR programming, local news and music, educational outreach, and a wide range of community services.
Today, the Penn State Board of Trustees took a big step to ensure that these services to the community will continue by reconsidering a proposal from WHYY in Philadelphia to acquire and continue WPSU’s local operations. Their decision allows the university and WHYY to work toward a final agreement and reverses a September decision to close the station. We are grateful that university leaders and WHYY continued in recent weeks to work toward a deal that we believe is the best outcome for both WPSU and our audience.
Most of all, we are grateful for the extraordinary outpouring of public support from viewers, listeners, community groups, Penn State faculty and staff, and others who deeply value the trusted journalism, educational programming, and cultural enrichment that WPSU provides. After the September vote to close WPSU, these collective voices were heard by Penn State leadership, elected officials, and community members alike. Your advocacy helped ensure that a potential path forward remained open.
On October 13, the board was presented with a revised proposal from WHYY that addressed concerns raised by the board’s finance committee in September about the size of Penn State’s subsidy and the future of WPSU employees in a version of the proposal rejected by the committee last month. Today’s vote opens an exclusivity period of 30 days, during which WHYY will work to secure funding to support WPSU’s operations. The board unanimously voted in favor of the new proposal, which allows continued work toward a final deal. The acquisition is also subject to approval by WHYY’s board and the Federal Communications Commission.
The Penn State Board of Trustees approval represents a meaningful opportunity for both Penn State and WPSU.
For Penn State, it allows the university to prioritize resources toward its core, student-centered educational mission. For WPSU, it opens access to the infrastructure and expertise of WHYY, a leader in the public media space that has expressed a strong commitment to maintaining WPSU as an independent, vibrant local public media presence. There are still challenges ahead, but this is promising first step.
Your advocacy and support are crucial in preserving public media for Central Pennsylvania.
WPSU is proud to have educated, informed, and entertained the people of Central Pennsylvania for more than 60 years, and thanks to you and WHYY, we hope to continue that mission well into the future. As Mr. Rogers once said, “Often when you think you are at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” We look forward to the beginning of something new with all of you. We will continue to share information on our future as we learn it.
