Portland-based radio station WCYI (93.9 FM), which has been a commercial-free blues station since last October, is going to be sold to a California-based Christian music broadcasting company.

EMF Broadcasting has entered into an agreement to buy WCYI from Last Bastion Station Trust LLC, said Keith Whipple, EMF's vice president for communications. Whipple said he could not say yet when the sale would become final, but he did say the company plans to run WCYI as one of its Air 1 network stations.

EMF also operates the K-Love network of stations, which Whipple said are aimed at a slightly older adult audience than Air 1 stations. EMF already has one station in Maine, a K-Love station in Bangor.

Until last June, WCYI had been owned by Citadel Broadcasting, owners of Portland rock station WBLM (102.9 FM), among others. WCYI had been used to simulcast the modern rock format of WCYY (94.3 FM). But when Citadel acquired ABC radio last year, FCC rules required that Citadel give up some of its Portland signals. WCYI was placed in a trust and stopped simulcasting WCYY.

Instead of trying to sell a station with no programming on the air, Citadel programmers decided to broadcast a commercial-free blues format until the sale of the station was finalized.