PITTSBURGH — The format of Pittsburgh’s first public radio station is changing, even as the Federal Communications Commission reviews the pending sale of WDUQ-FM.

Duquesne University has owned the 90.5 FM frequency since 1949, which it is selling for $6 million to Essential Public Media, a joint venture between WYEP, a 37-year-old independent public radio station, and Public Media Company, a nonprofit created by Public Radio Capital.

The station’s format officially changed at 11 p.m. Thursday.

The station will cut back from 100 hours of jazz programming it offered weekly, to about six hours — a change that has upset many listeners — though it will offer round-the-clock jazz on its companion HD Radio and online formats.

The FM station will have primarily a news format and continue to carry programming from National Public Radio.