PBS Needs New Primary Station In Central Florida

The future of programming for public television in Central Florida remains unclear after an Orlando station announced it will be sold.

According to a story by Deborah Circelli at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona State College officials said they are too busy trying to keep their own station going to consider taking on more programming from WMFE in Orlando.

WMFE announced it is exiting the public broadcasting business and selling its station to a not-for-profit affiliated with a faith-based broadcasting company.

Programming will continue for 60 to 90 days until paperwork has been filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

WMFE is the primary public broadcasting station for shows such as "Sesame Street."

Daytona State College's station, for example, has to wait eight days to air a show that appears on the primary station.

National PBS officials in Virginia said discussions are ongoing with PBS stations in Florida as to which one will take over the programming for the primary station. The decision, PBS spokeswoman Anne Bentley said, will be made by the stations in Florida, not PBS.

Frank Lombardo, interim Daytona State College president, said Daytona State has not been contacted by anyone about becoming a primary station. He said the college won't take on any additional responsibility until it knows about PBS funding from the state and federal government.

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