The steep challenges faced by traditional media were underscored yesterday by the announcement that WKLU 101.9 FM will be sold to Christian broadcasters Educational Media Foundation (EMF).

What a difference five years makes; in 2004, owner Russ Oasis purchased the station and immediately made an impact with its classic rock format, challenging some of the bigger stations with a (relatively speaking) fresh music mix and limited commercial rotation. Things were looking good and the station still did well with listeners after competition forced them to slide from classic rock to modified oldies format.

Owning a single station in a market is now a thing of the past, it so appears. Oasis wasn’t able to compete with the station groups who–hungrier than ever–are able to package wide swaths of audiences that a single station operator cannot do.

It wasn’t all that long ago that local Christian radio stations were selling out to secular broadcasters. WXIR 98.3 FM, following decades of service to Indianapolis, sold to Disney in 2003 for a similar price–$5.6 million.

Now, Mr. Oasis is likely pleased to be able to get his $6 million back and got it from where there is still lots of money–Christian broadcasting.

Yikes, what a long time it’s been since the last post. Got hit with a very nasty sinus infection/laryngitis combo last month and have just now started to feel like the brain is firing on some cylinders.

Today is the first day of the new digital-only broadcast television world in the USA.

Were you ready?

How long do you think it will take Comcast and other cable providers to transition their customers to digital-only service? During the past several years, cable operators have moved their pay channels to a digital-only tier, and gradually they have relocated many basic cable networks to the digital-only realm. Just recently, Comcast moved the local weather services provided by WTHR and WISH off of the analog band.

I hope this was due to either technical reasons or station negotiations; otherwise, it seems like a cynical move to deprive analog-only customers of local weather information.

I’m guessing that savvy cable operators will keep their analog services for a year or so, as they’ve picked up many subscribers due to the broadcast/digital switchover.

But it’s coming. Just a matter of time.