Providence Radio: WBRU On Stairway To Heaven

At 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31, the modern rock of WBRU 95.5 FM, will be replaced by the adult contemporary Christian music of newcomer WLVO. About five paid employees of WBRU will lose their jobs.

WLVO is owned by Educational Media Foundation, a California-based company that runs two big Christian music radio networks, K-LOVE and Air1. WLVO will be a K-LOVE station. Its daily programming will come not from Rhode Island but Rockland, Calif., and Indianapolis.

EMF agreed to purchase the broadcast license and transmitter of WBRU for $5.63 million. Art Norwalk, spokesman for the board of Brown Broadcasting Services, said that figure was the high bid “by a wide margin.”

Joe Miller, director of signal acquisition for EMF, said the company already owned a station in the state, at 104.7-FM in Warwick. But he said that is a relatively weak signal, and EMF was looking for a stronger presence in the Rhode Island market. EMF is a nonprofit that owns about 400 radio stations around the country.

WBRU 95.5 FM (26 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

The money from the sale will establish an endowment to create what WBRU student staffers call “an advanced media workshop” at WBRU.com. The expanded website will include streaming music, mobile phone apps, a research and development team and at least three new audio projects.

One, still untitled, will be devoted to local news, while “Sound Wave: Rhode Island” will explore the past and present of the Rhode Island music scene. A third show in development, “The Amplifier” will focus on people of color in the state.

“WBRU is not going away,” said general manager Kishanee Haththotuwegama. “We are moving to a 21st century platform with greater potential for creative expression and community service.”