Regulators Focus Eye on the Sale of KUSF

When KDFC, the popular commercial classical radio station, was sold to the University of Southern California in January and bumped down to 90.3, the nonprofit end of the dial, hundreds of thousands of classical music fans lost the ability to hear the station’s offerings, thanks to the downgraded signal strength. But that was not the only local effect of the sale.

For over three decades, 90.3 had been home to the much-loved University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which was yanked off the airwaves to make room for KDFC when USF sold its license to USC for $3.75 million. In the days and months after the abrupt sale, fans of KUSF gathered support and started an ad-hoc streaming service called KUSF-in-Exile. But even with the public interest, most people thought the Federal Communications Commission would approve the sale; that regulatory agency rarely blocks transactions and makes it a point not to weigh in on the content of the programming. Now, though, more than six months after KUSF went off the air, that easy approval is not such a sure bet.