Duluth Public Media Merger Formally Filed with FCC

Posted on by Jon Ellis

Nearly a year after the first announcement of a plan to merge two Duluth public media organizations, formal paperwork to transfer a radio license has been filed with the FCC.

The application to transfer KUMD/103.3 from the University of Minnesota Board of Regents to the Duluth Superior Area Educational Television Corp. was filed on Monday, Feb. 1. The plan was first announced in February 2020 and received approval from the Regents in October.

DSAETC owns PBS member station WDSE/8 and Iron Range satellite WRPT/31 (Hibbing). The buyer plans to move the radio station into its building on the UMD campus but will be able to continue using KUMD’s existing studio space in UMD’s Humanities Building for up to three years after closing, according to the asset purchase agreement.

The previously-reported purchase price of $175,000 remains unchanged. After closing, the radio station will also broadcast a twice-daily ten-second announcement promoting the university for one year.

The university will retain the intellectual right to the KUMD callsign. However, it will not be allowed to use the KUMD callsign for any TV, radio, or streaming service for five years, and the university will not be able to run a radio station that competes with 103.3’s format during that time.

WDSE has previously indicated plans to hire KUMD’s current five employees and invest between $1.6 and $3 million into station equipment, planning, and marketing. The buyer plans to continue operating 103.3 as a public radio station but has not said if there will be any programming changes.

KUMD carries a broad mix of Adult Alternative, Folk, and student-produced programming. It’s the only station in the crowded Twin Ports public radio market that carries predominately local programming.

Nielsen Audio’s Fall 2020 12+ ratings showed KUMD with an average quarterly hour share of 2.3 percent of the radio audience, placing it 12th in the market, though Minnesota Public Radio’s three services are not included in the publicly-released ratings for Duluth.