With building preserved, radio station still expected to move

Parent company of local NPR station has sold the historic Woods Hole headquarters to community association. 

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The Captain Davis house on Water Street in Woods Hole. GBH is selling the building that has housed CAI radio for 25 years.

A nonprofit in Woods Hole has purchased the historic building that has housed the local Cape and Islands NPR radio station for the past 25 years, but the radio station still seems poised to move.

On Thursday, the Woods Hole Community Association released a statement saying that it had finalized a deal with GBH, the Boston-based public media powerhouse which owns CAI radio, to purchase the Captain Davis house for $1.8 million, money it said was raised through 350 different donors. 

With the goal of keeping CAI in the building, the community association had said that if the purchase was completed, it would offer to rent the space to GBH for free for a period of time to allow the Cape and Islands station to remain in the building.

But in a statement on Thursday, GBH stated that it is still looking for a new location for CAI.

“The sale of this building, where CAI has based its radio operations for 25 years, will enable us to continue to invest in our local journalism at a time when many local news organizations are shutting down or reducing their reporting,” GBH said in a released email statement. “We’re continuing to look for a new home nearby, and will provide uninterrupted service during the move.”

Responding to a follow-up question, GBH said that free rent was not part of the sale. “However, an offer of free rent would be generous, and appreciated as we look for a new home for the station that will better suit its needs into the future.”

The issue was publicized in October when GBH announced it was selling the building on Water Street in Woods Hole — known as the Captain Davis House, originally built in 1840 — to a private resident. GBH’s president and CEO Susan Goldberg at the time said that the local station was operating at a deficit, and proceeds from the sale would go to continuing its journalism. 

In a statement released in November, Goldberg stated that CAI was losing about $500,000 every year, and has lost more than $2 million in the past five years. Goldberg noted that there was a need for a new studio “not only because we cannot afford to stay where we are, but for operational reasons as well, including the need to upgrade our studio to meet specific broadcast standards.”

But after some pushback from the public, the Woods Hole Community Association, less than a week after news of the sale first broke, announced that it had launched a fundraising campaign to make a counteroffer on the building. If the association was able to purchase the property, officials said, they would work with GBH to reach an agreement to keep CAI in the building, noting they could find another use if not.

On Thursday, announcing the new purchase, the association noted that it would continue to work with GBH to keep the station in Woods Hole.

“We hope that WGBH will take the time to thoroughly consider the value of staying in the Captain Davis House under Community Association ownership,” the statement reads. “Whatever the final outcome, we envision the Captain Davis House as providing a key element to the unique mix of Woods Hole village: Amid the world-class science institutions and colorful local businesses, the Captain Davis House can now continue to be a home to creative endeavors that reach outward into the world and enrich the widest possible community.”

Sam Houghton, reporting this story, was previously employed at CAI.