Sports fans in Central Oregon who over the last few years have turned to KICE-FM Fox Sports 94.9 for national sports talk and Oregon State University sports will now instead find religious talk and music on that radio station.

“We’ve been getting lots of calls from distraught listeners,” said Chuck Wilkinson, president of Sunriver Broadcasting Corp. “We’re sad about it.”

Sunriver Broadcasting Corp. sold KICE to Medford-based theDove Media, which focuses on Christian talk and music, in June after advertising for the sports station dried up when sports were put on hiatus for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the station was sold in June, the changeover did not take place until last month, leaving some local sports fans frustrated in the middle of the NFL season and with Pac-12 football making its return.

“It takes awhile for the FCC to approve everything,” Wilkinson said. “It was just one of those things. By about June, it just looked like we didn’t know if sports were coming back. And so, it just kind of made it a difficult situation. The ratings hadn’t been kind to the station. And advertisers weren’t sure if they were ever going to advertise again.”

There are currently no other options for terrestrial sports radio in Central Oregon, although Oregon State football games are now being broadcast on KRCO-FM 96.9 out of Prineville, according to OSU sports information. (University of Oregon games air on KBND-AM 1110, but that is a news talk station when UO games are not airing.)

According to rbr.com, Sunriver Broadcasting Corp. won KICE in an FCC auction for a $53,000 investment and signed on the station in October 2015. TheDove Media acquired the station for $315,000, the website reported.

“It was the only sports station in town,” said Gary Conrad, 69, of Bend. “It’d be nice to have something back like that. I don’t know how many religious stations there are, but I’m not sure we need any more. I’m a Beaver fan, and I enjoyed the Dan Patrick and the Colin Cowherd shows in the morning, too.”

Wilkinson, though, said he has been working on “a couple of things” to try to bring sports radio back to Central Oregon.

“But there’s a limited number of channels around,” Wilkinson said.

“The sports format’s been great, and Central Oregon’s been great in their support. Hopefully we’ll be able to find something else and we’ll be able to bring sports radio back to Central Oregon.”

Conrad and other sports fans in Central Oregon hope that happens soon. In the meantime, he can listen to the Beaver football games on 96.9 FM. But what about Oregon State basketball and baseball, and the Patrick and Cowherd shows?

“Sometimes I almost enjoy the radio more than the TV,” Conrad said.

“It’d be nice to have OSU baseball games. That was nice, especially when they were doing well.

“It just seems to me, for Central Oregon, there’s room for at least one sports station.”