A Christian music radio station foundation spent $10 million to buy the University of Houston's classical music station with plans to relaunch the signal later this year with its Christian pop/hip-hop format.

KSBJ Educational Foundation, which owns and programs noncommercial Christian music radio stations, acquired the 50,000-watt KUHA (91.7 FM). Subject to Federal Communications Commission approval, the station could switch from its current classical format to NGEN by late May or early June.

UH in 2010 acquired the station for $9.5 million from Rice University, where it was known for years as KTRU, and aired classical music on the signal before deciding last year to put the station on the market and move its classical programming to digital formats.

"It's a good result for Houston because classical service continues and the station stays in the hands of local owners and experienced broadcasters," said Lisa Shumate, general manager of Houston Public Media. "It enables us to continue to provide multi-platform arts and culture coverage and use our resources for continued focus in news and other local content initiatives."

Tim McDermott, president of KSBJ, said 91.7 FM will be the fourth frequency in Greater Houston to carry the NGEN format, which was developed by KSBJ to reach a younger generation of listeners than its traditional contemporary Christian music audience.

"It's a group that no one is reaching," McDermott said. "A lot of the formats are going older, and we are going to go for this unreached and very important group."

McDermott said NGEN has averaged about 35,000 to 50,000 weekly listeners through its current three signals at 89.5 FM in Bay City, 91.1 FM in the Pearland-Lake Jackson area and 99.5 FM in Sugar Land plus 89.3 HD-2. The 91.7 FM signal will enable the station to extend its reach across Houston and into the Conroe area and eventually quadruple its audience, he added.

According to Nielsen Audio, KSBJ, the foundation's primary station at 89.3 FM and 96.9 FM, ranked fifth in Houston during January with an average listener share of 5.2 percent among persons age 12-plus. KUHA had a 0.6 percent listener share in January.

McDermott said the purchase price was a "good, fair price" for a non-commercial signal. Houston Public Media, meanwhile, essentially will break even on the 2010 purchase of 91.7 FM from Rice.

Classical music will continue on 91.7 FM until the sale is approved and also can be heard at KUHF (88.7 FM HD-2), the Houston Public Media mobile app, at HoustonPublicMedia.org, on over the air television at Channel 8.5 and through iHeartRadio and TuneIn and other free mobile applications.