The Chicago Public Media board voted Tuesday evening to move forward with its acquisition of the Chicago Sun-Times, combining the long-struggling daily newspaper with resurgent public radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM as one nonprofit multimedia newsroom.
The transaction is expected to close by Jan. 31, creating a potentially groundbreaking model for the future of local journalism, reports The Chicago Tribune.
“This is an important step to grow and strengthen local journalism in Chicago,” Matt Moog, CEO of Chicago Public Media, parent company of WBEZ, said in a news release.
The proposed merger was first announced in September, when Chicago Public Media and the Sun-Times signed a nonbinding letter of intent. The radio and newspaper would operate separately under the Chicago Public Media banner, while sharing content and resources across multiple platforms.
Both WBEZ and the Sun-Times will launch a nationwide search for executive editors to lead their respective newsrooms, Chicago Public Media said.
WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station, has beefed up its local news staff in recent years and bolstered its ratings. The station is tied for 3rd in Chicago with a 5.1 share in December, according to Nielsen.
The combined entities will have nearly 300 employees, with no plans for staff reductions post-merger, Betsy Berger, a Chicago Public Media spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
The pending merger comes as traditional news media struggle to navigate the digital age, and the Chicago market is roiled by ownership changes, downsizing and declining revenue. Moving the Sun-Times to a nonprofit model follows the path of the Salt Lake Tribune, the first major daily newspaper to make the transition in 2019.
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