Central Pennsylvania’s public broadcasting station, WPSU, is officially separated from Penn State.
WPSU is now part of WHYY under an agreement the Philadelphia-based station and Penn State finalized this week, bringing closure to a two-year-long process and allowing WPSU to continue bringing public radio, television, community events and educational outreach to central and northern Pennsylvania.
The transaction received approval from the Federal Communications Commission Sept. 9. WHYY and Penn State announced the completion of the transfer Wednesday.
Bill Marrazzo, WHYY’s president and CEO, called it “both a continuation and a beginning.”
“For more than 70 years, WPSU has been a trusted resource for the people of central and northern Pennsylvania,” Marrazzo said. “Our responsibility now is to honor that trust while building an even stronger and more sustainable WPSU for the generations ahead.”
Under the agreement, the university transferred its public radio and television assets to WHYY for $1. WPSU will continue to operate under the same name and call letters.
The announcement notes that WPSU’s audiences will continue to have access to PBS and NPR programming, along with local television, radio and digital content.
“We are very pleased that the more than 1.5 million people across central and northern Pennsylvania will continue to benefit from this vital public media service,” Sara Thorndike, Penn State’s chief financial officer, said in the news release.
The transaction follows about two years of discussion and a period of uncertainty about WPSU’s future. In September 2025, a Penn State board of trustees' committee voted against a proposal that was similar to the final one, but that included transition funding from Penn State.
The university had said it was not possible to continue to subsidize WPSU, particularly with the loss of federal funding. And, the university administration said without the transfer, it would shut down WPSU.
In the end, the boards of both Penn State and WHYY approved the transfer.
With the deal finalized, Marrazzo said if anything is going to change, it will be an increase in local content, like news and radio, along with more events.
“This is not about changing what WPSU means to the communities it serves,” Marrazzo said. “It is about giving WPSU the foundation to grow, evolve and continue serving this region for decades to come. The call letters remain WPSU. The commitment to this region remains WPSU. And the future we begin building today will be shaped by the people and communities WPSU serves.”
