Franklin College selling station to Catholic Radio Indy

The campus radio station at Franklin College will soon be under new ownership, the school announced Wednesday.

Pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission, WFCI-FM 89.5 will be sold to Indianapolis-based not-for-profit Inter Mirifica Inc., which does business as Catholic Radio Indy, the college said.

WFCI will carry Christian programming after the sale is approved. Franklin said WFCI will remain on the air during the transition, providing public broadcasting.

Franklin College President Kerry Prather said the station has recently been used to broadcast the college’s athletic events and provide public broadcasting through a partnership with WFYI in Indianapolis.

“Now, our athletic events are broadcast via digital live stream as a component of our sports communication major, also making them accessible to our alumni across the nation,” Prather said. “Additionally, with public broadcasting now reaching the county directly from WFYI, we realized the continuation of the radio station had become duplicative.”

Pending FCC approval, the sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Franklin College is the latest higher education institution in Indiana to sell its radio station.

In February, Purdue University signed an agreement to transfer control of its WBAA AM and FM licenses to Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media. In 2019, the University of Evansville completed the sale of its station to national not-for-profit radio broadcasting network WAY-FM.