Kate Murphy

kmurphy@enquirer.com

Northern Kentucky University President Geoffrey Mearns says he will "explore the possibility of a sale of WNKU-FM and its assets," a move that comes in the wake of recent and potential state budget cuts to higher education.

WNKU's assets include simulcast stations in Middletown and Portsmouth, Ohio that could be attractive to commercial broadcasters.

The university said its review of WNKU is in an early stage and no decisions have been made, but officials believe they have a responsibility to take a look at selling the station.

"In these difficult economic times and in the face of significant budget cuts from the state, we have a responsibility to align our efforts around our core mission: the education of our students," NKU spokeswoman Amanda Nageleisen told The Enquirer.

The university launched the WNKU-FM (89.7) broadcast in 1985. In 2011, it bought two Southwest Ohio signals, WNKN-FM (105.9) in Middletown and WPAY-FM (104.1) in Portsmouth for $6.75 million. Together, the three stations reach a potential audience of 3 million people.

When NKU purchased the additional signals, the idea was to attract enough new listeners and sustaining members to reach financial sustainability, according to Nageleisen, but the station still requires a substantial subsidy.

The stations feature an "adult album alternative ("Triple A") format; their signals extend to Dayton, Ohio and Charleston, West Virginia.

Universities pulling the plug on their radio stations to save money is nothing new, former Enquirer radio and TV writer John Kiesewetter notes on his WXUV-FM.com blog. Georgetown College sold its full-power station to K-LOVE in 2003. Xavier University sold WVXU-FM to Cincinnati Public Radio in 2005. Cincinnati Public Radio has operated Miami University's WMUB-FM (88.5) since 2009.

In a campus-wide email Tuesday afternoon, Mearns said a question arose during campus budget forums of "whether the university should continue to subsidize the operations of WNKU."

Mearns blamed the potential sale to "very real prospect" of significant budget cuts from the state.

Last week, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin announced an immediate 4.5 percent cut to higher education funding.

Nageleisen said that amounts to nearly $2.2 million for NKU, and additional cuts appear likely over the next two years.

Over the past five years, the average annual subsidy to WNKU's operations from the university has been $600,000, according to NKU. Last year, the subsidy was $900,000.

"We have a responsibility to explore whether that subsidy is one the university can continue to afford, in light of our state funding picture," Nageleisen said.

After consulting with members of the Board of Regents, Mearns decided NKU should issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a broker to look into the possibility of the sale.

"This step is one that I do not make lightly," Mearns wrote in the email. "WNKU has been part of our university and our community for more than three decades."

WNKU-FM reported its staffers heard the news at a meeting Tuesday, "and we’re working it through it. For now, it’s business as usual: We’ll remain on the air with our same commitment to great local music, and our operations will go on as normal," said Sean O'Mealy, general manager.

The station dropped some long-time personnel in the winter of 2015 after O'Mealy arrived. In the fall of 2015, the station changed its format in a move that O'Mealy said was "to appeal to and engage with a larger/wider group of music lovers in the Greater Cincinnati region who otherwise are ignored by mainstream radio.”

Enquirer archives contributed.