Listeners of "The Oasis" format on Middletown's powerful WNKN-FM (105.9) on Thursday asked: Where did the music go?
The 1970s and '80s rock format, promoted as "Where The Music Went," was replaced Thursday by Catholic programming from Relevant Radio after the Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of the Middletown FM station for $4.5-million by Grant County Broadcasters.
"The Oasis" format remains on sister WNKR-FM (106.7) in Dry Ridge, Ky. Owner Jeff Ziesmann dropped country music after more than 20 years in favor of the rock favorites on WNKR-FM last month to continue making "The Oasis" available to Northern Kentucky and most of Hamilton County.
However, the Dry Ridge signal does not reach Butler and Warren counties. Those fans of the format will need to listen over the internet at 1067theoasis.com.
"The Oasis" format on the Middletown station had been slowly building its audience, according to monthly Nielsen radio ratings. It was ranked 14th in September for Greater Cincinnati with a 2.6% audience share. Listenership has grown last summer from 2% in June, 2.1% in July and 2.4% in August.
Ziesmann's Grant County Broadcasters bought the Middletown station for $4 million cash in 2017 from Northern Kentucky University as the school was selling off its WNKU stations and getting out of broadcasting. Relevant Radio's unsolicited offer "allows us to pay off 100 percent of our debt," Ziesmann said.
Ironically, the new Catholic programming on FM 105.9 will compete with Catholic programming on Cincinnati's Sacred Heart Radio broadcast on Middletown's AM station (910 mHz) from the same tower on Rosedale Road. Sacred Heart Radio also simulcasts Catholic programming on 740 AM.
Relevant Radio, founded in 2000, "has been bringing Christ to the world through the media, providing informative, entertaining and interactive programming 24 hours per day, seven days per week," according to its website. It owns and operates 200 stations coast to coast. Programming can also be heard worldwide via streaming audio at relevantradio.com and on a free app.
Relevant Radio broadcasts a daily Mass at noon and 7:30 p.m., and the Family Rosary Across America daily at 7 p.m. Other programs include Morning Air, the Patrick Madrid Show, Inner Life, The Faith Explained and Father Simon Says.
The Middletown AM and FM stations operated as WPFB-AM/FM until 2011, when Northern Kentucky University bought them to expand the WNKU-FM adult album alternative (Triple A) format throughout Southwestern Ohio.
