It has often been said that lightning never strikes twice. Try telling that to the campus radio station. Fans of KNSU may be disappointed when they turn their dials to 91.5 FM for a while.

The station went silent following a loud crash around 9 p.m. last night.

Station manager Mark Menard said a lightning bolt may have struck either the station’s tower or Talbot Hall, shorting out the computer and possibly the transmitter.

“There was a loud kaboom. Suddenly, everything smelled like it was burning and the computer went out, causing us to go off the air,” he said.

“The fire marshals said there are no fires, that everything looks safe and nothing should burn down,” Menard said.

“He said most towers have a ‘lightning arrester,’ which is like a fuse. When lightning strikes, the fuse burns out to save the rest of the equipment.”

This is the second time in less than one year that this has happened.

In September, the tower was struck by lightning, also causing the computer to short out.

The computer is a substitute DJ, playing music while no one is available to do so.

The transmitter was fine, but without the computer, the station was unable to broadcast 24 hours a day. The broadcast day existed so long as DJs were available to manually operate the CDs.

Menard said the station will most likely have to resort to this broadcasting method again.

“We have to wait until the morning to see what’s wrong,” he said. “Everything is closed right now, so if there are any repairs that need to be done, they’ll get looked at tomorrow.

“If the transmitter’s broken, then we can’t go back on the air. But if it’s okay and only the computer was hurt, then we’ll broadcast so long as we have DJs.”

The Arrakis computer will need to be sent to its manufacturers for repairs, Menard said. The amount of time it will take for it to be returned is uncertain.

“Last time, we didn’t get it back until the day Christmas break started, and we shipped it shortly after it was struck,” he said.