A contract is in place for the transfer of WNKU(FM) in Highland Heights, Ky., to Bible Broadcasting Network, and the application is being filed with the FCC. The signal has 12 kW on 89.7 MHz, according to Kalil & Co., the broker handling the transaction.
A separate contract was signed for transfer of sibling signal WNKE(FM) in New Boston, Ohio, to Educational Media Foundation. That 100 kW signal is at 104.1 on the FM dial.
The university has long aired a Triple A format on those signals. But this is the next step in a process that has been public and generated lament among station listeners. Northern Kentucky University earlier made public its plans to sell the signals after three decades of broadcasting: “In these challenging financial times for higher education, NKU is no longer able to subsidize the operations of WNKU,” it wrote on its website in February.
The Cincinnati Business Courier reported last summer that the radio operation needed a multi-million dollar subsidy from the university over several years and that the school also was going through job cuts because of a budget deficit. This winter, Cincinnati.com reported that WNKU would sell to BBN for $1.9 million, including license and transmitter site, though not the studio or personnel. Meanwhile the license, equipment and tower of WNKE would go to EMF for $700,000 plus 75 percent of the net proceeds of a third signal in South Webster that is to be shed.
Related: Listen to the Final Episodes of WNKU’s Weekend Programs
