Former WXEL exec says station deal "violates the wishes of the community"

Longtime pubcaster Fred Flaxman, a former vice president for development of WXEL in West Palm Beach, Fla., speaks out against the station's recent deal with Classical South Florida in a letter to the editor of the Palm Beach Post Wednesday (Jan. 5). "The community advisory board of WXEL opposes the sale of WXEL-FM to Classical South Florida," he writes. "As mandated by federal law, the board represents the community served by the public broadcasting station. Thus, selling to an out-of-state owner violates the wishes of the community the station serves and should not be permitted by the Federal Communications Commission, which has to approve any broadcast license transfer." Classical South Florida is owned by American Public Media, based in Minnesota. Flaxman's career in the system dates to 1970, when he was the founding manager of WETA-FM in Washington, D.C.