Your favorite Columbia radio station is gone. Now what?

Listeners of 92.1 The Palm got an unwanted surprise earlier this month when, instead of handpicked alternative music, they heard contemporary Christian songs from the station.

That’s because The Palm was sold to His Radio, a Christian music station.

Hometown Columbia, the group that owned The Palm, also sold its country station, WWNQ 94.3 The Dude, and the online newspaper Cola Daily to Midlands Media Group, LLC.

Related: Midlands Media Group purchases 94.3 The Dude and Cola Daily

Here are three fallouts and questions following the sales:

How many Christian music stations are there in the area? Do we need another one?

The new contemporary Christian music station on 92.1 joins at least seven others in the Columbia market offering gospel or Christian contemporary, rock or talk formats.

The Midlands also picks up 106.3, another His Radio station from the Upstate, according to its website.

His Radio is operated by Radio Training Network, a not-for-profit organization that owns and/or operates Christian Radio Stations out of Lakeland, Florida. The network has at least 12 stations in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina.

How do you win in country music against WCOS?

The station WCOS 97.5, part of the iHeartRadio network, is the third most popular radio station in Columbia, according to Nielsen. How can The Dude compete?

“We’ll play country music that we think will work in Columbia,” Midlands Media Group co-owner Kirk Litton said. “So it doesn’t matter what’s popular in Oklahoma or other states. (WCOS) has a formula they do across the country no matter what state they’re in. The Dude will be programed to fit the needs and wants in Columbia.”

That will mean offering a combination of old and new country songs, compared to most country stations that either exclusively play older music or newer music, according to a Midlands Media news release.

Where else can 92.1 listeners go?

The Palm was a rare station in the Midlands, providing hand-picked rock and adult alternative music and a platform for local bands and solo artists to be heard. It played songs from Atlas Road Crew, Sol Driven Train and Luke Cunningham, among others. While it might not be exactly the same, listeners can try:

WUSC 90.5: Indie/alternative station run by University of South Carolina students. Will often play local bands, but programming varies depending on the DJ.

WXRY 99.3: Independent alternative radio run locally. No cookie-cutter corporate programming, but it can be hard to get a signal if you go too far outside downtown Columbia.

Steve-FM 96.7: Adult contemporary station part of the iHeartRadio network. Offers a variety of popular songs with a generous dose of classic rock.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 5:41 PM.