By: Kevin Thomas ~Staff Writer~

Joining Xavier as a university with now non-existent college radio waves, Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is selling its radio station, WNKU-FM, to Bible Broadcast Corp. for $1.9 million, according to a report from Cincinnati.com.

In 2005, Xavier sold WVXUFM and the X-Star Network to Cincinnati Public Radio Station for $15 million, leaving the university without a radio program and rendering students with an interest in the medium without a place to train or learn the craft.

“That happened at the high school I went to,” first-year Emma Presar said. “We had to sell our radio station. It hits home for me. My brother always wanted to do stuff like (be a radio host), and it was taken away when he was a senior in high school. Like, that’s a job, they’re taking away an opportunity for someone to train for a job.”

NKU’s deal with the Bible Broadcast Corp. will not be finalized for several months as it first needs the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.

NKU spent $4.4 million over the past six years to keep the station afloat and running, with $1 million of that coming in the last year alone.

“I think it’s kinda crappy just because like, you’re not gonna benefit from it all,” Presar said. “Schools just aren’t going to, but the benefit is that students will have the experience. The drawback is that there aren’t going to be a lot of viewers. Schools aren’t going to make a lot of money, but it’s still important.”

WNKU-FM, which can be found at 89.7FM, was a radio station that commonly played unknown musicians and local artists in the hopes of showing off musicians that might never be heard on more mainstream radio stations.

WNKU also promoted local events and activities, which was often an effective technique in advertising on campus events. As a result of the proposed sale, many students, listeners and musicians showed up to a board meeting that was to authorize the president to sell the station.

“You’re not just selling a radio station, you’re selling off the wellbeing of our music community,” said Ian Bolender, one of the organizers of the rather small demonstration. “Without WNKU, a lot of artists would’ve never broke in this market.