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By Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff  |  November 18, 2009

Boston is following a trend in radio that’s taking place in other cities across the nation: Its only 24-hour classical music station now depends on listeners - not advertisers - to keep it afloat.

Last week’s Federal Communications Commission approval of WGBH’s $14 million purchase of WCRB-FM (99.5) means the classical musical station is now a public broadcaster, with a business model that draws revenue from donations and corporate sponsorship instead of relying on advertising.

Because classical music fans tend to be older, and advertisers typically want to court a younger crowd, WGBH sees listener support as a better way to ensure that the 60-year-old classical music station is financially healthy enough to continue to play Chopin and Mozart.

“This allows us to really build a more vital and robust classical music service for Boston,’’ said Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH.

Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP, which had owned WCRB since 2006, decided to sell WCRB to help pay down debt from the chain’s overall operation, which includes 51 radio stations along the East Coast, said Tristram Collins, Nassau’s senior executive vice president. Collins would not name WCRB’s other bidders, who numbered fewer than 10, but said that WCRB was profitable.

“It’s a very loyal listener base,’’ said Collins, adding that the classical music demographic attracts high-end corporate sponsors, such as luxury car makers and financial services. “I think ’CRB is synonymous with the Boston arts community. It’s in good hands with WGBH.’’

WGBH officials said the sale will enable them to keep 99.5-FM classical full time, while converting WGBH-FM (89.7), which has a mix of news, classical, jazz, and blues shows, to an all-news talk format. WGBH plans to implement several changes on Dec. 1, including shifting some of its classical programming to WCRB and moving the staff and play lists of WCRB from Waltham to Brighton, where WGBH is based. Eventually, the folk and blues programming will be dropped.

Among other benefits, WGBH said, consolidating operations to Brighton will allow the public station to maximize use of its Fraser Performance Studio, where classical artists can perform live broadcasts on WCRB. The classical station currently has 15 employees in Waltham; WGBH officials have not determined which jobs will be preserved in the shift to Brighton.

WGBH’s shifting of its classical music programming to WCRB raises the question of how some listeners will be able to hear the shows they regularly listen to on WGBH: WCRB is a 27,000-watt station whose signal does not reach as far as WGBH’s powerful 100,000 watt-station. WGBH spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins said the station will review whether it can boost WCRB’s signal, but listeners can tune in to WCRB online when the new programming is launched.

The move of WGBH’s classical programming to WCRB also will result in a net loss of classical music options in the Boston area. There is only one other station in the Boston area with classical programming: In Cambridge, WHRB (93.5-FM) plays a mix of classical, jazz, blues, and sports and is run by Harvard Radio Broadcasting, a nonprofit group run by Harvard College student volunteers.

Companies in cities such as New York and Washington, D.C., recently have sold classical music stations to public broadcasters because it’s difficult to run those stations as commercial entities that depend on advertising dollars, since marketers typically target younger listeners. But classical music’s older audience is a plus for listener-supported public radio stations: It provides more revenue streams, from donor memberships to sponsorships from companies looking to attract older, more wealthy customers.

“As that [classical music] format has disappeared from the commercial landscape, people more and more have turned to and depended on public radio stations to remain as home and stewards of that format,’’ said Marc Hand, managing director of Public Radio Capital, a Colorado-based nonprofit agency that helps public radio stations in acquisitions and represented WGBH in its purchase of WCRB.

Scott Fybush, who writes a radio industry newsletter called Northeast Radio Watch, said WGBH’s purchase makes good business sense because WGBH has an opportunity to tap an affluent, loyal following. WCRB averages about 340,000 listeners a week, and its audience is mostly between 35 and 64 years old, according to the station.

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