On June 28, a group of noncommercial Christian Contemporary stations announced that, among the new songs it would be airing, was “Dead Man Walking!” from Jeremy Camp.
Perhaps it was a priestly premonition. The network appears to be nearing its death, thanks to the sale of all of its associated FMs and FM translators to another broadcast ministry.
A donation agreement has been struck that will see the Daniel Hatfield-led Refuge Media Group of Duluth, Minn., transfer the following Minnesota-based facilities to University of Northwestern-St. Paul:
- KRFG-FM (formerly KMFG-FM) in Nashwauk
- KRGM-FM in Marshall
- WJRF-FM in Duluth
Additionally, 13 FM translators spread across the region are being donated to the university.
What the University of Northwestern-St. Paul plans to do with the network is not known at this time. Hatfield was out of the office on July 3; a university spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
However, the addition of Class C3 WJRF gives the school a third signal serving Duluth and nearby Superior, Wisc. Here, the university already operates KDNW-FM 97.3 as a Christian AC, and operates KDNI-FM 90.5 as a Christian Talk & Teaching station.
Refuge in September 2016 acquired what is now KRFG directly from Midwest Communications in a spin-off deal tied to Midwest’s five FM/three translator Hibbing, Minn., deal with Red Rock Radio Corp.
University of Northwestern-St. Paul owns 44 licenses, 20 of which are full-power stations located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Connecticut, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
