MPR/APM in talks to buy D.C. station

American Public Media Group, parent of Minnesota Public Radio, is negotiating to buy WGTS-FM, a noncommercial station in the Washington, D.C., area, MPR's newsroom reported yesterday. APMG would launch a station focusing on "global government issues," said President Bill Kling, noting that APMG had a good track record from its stewardship of KPCC, a Los Angeles-area station it has managed for several years. The Washington Times, citing unnamed sources, said the price could be around $25 million. The station, which now airs Christian contemporary music, is owned by a small, financially pinched Seventh-day Adventist school, Columbia Union College, here in leafy Takoma Park, Md. A group fighting to keep the station's format, Save WGTS, says the college rejected a proposal by the station's board.