WBSJ station will not return

WBSJ is off the air and won’t be coming back.

Anyone tuning to 91.7 on the FM radio dial will get nothing but static.

Part of the five-station network of Indiana Public Radio, WBSJ had been on the air since Dec. 31, 1997.

But on Jan. 4 of this year, the station’s transmitter — which boosted the signal from WBST at Ball State University — failed.

And that equipment failure led to a financial review over the past several weeks.

“It’s something the university looked at hard,” said Dan Lutz, acting general manager of both Indiana Public Radio and WIPB-TV.

With a replacement transmitter priced at $20,000 to $24,000 and annual tower rental expenses of $15,000, Ball State, which provides more than 60 percent of the funding for the network, was faced with a tough decision.

“We gathered the cost information,” said Kathy Wolf, BSU’s vice president for marketing and communications. “We reassessed our investment overall.”

Ultimately, said Wolf, the university came to the conclusion “the station’s not fiscally viable.”

Listener support from Jay County has never been sufficient to cover WBSJ’s expenses.

“It’s a disappointing thing,” said Lutz, who has been contacting local IPR members and donors to tell them the news.

Four stations remain in the IPR network: WBST (92.1) in Muncie, WBSB (89.5) in Anderson, WBSW (90.9) in Marion and WBSH (91.1) serving the Hagerstown and New Castle area.

Indiana Public Radio broadcasts commercial free public affairs programming such as “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Science Friday” as well as classical music programming such as “Performance Today” and “Morning Musicale.”