Over the weekend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller published a story and two blog posts detailing the possible sale of KFUO (99.1 FM), the area's only classical music radio station, by its longtime owners, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
"On Feb. 19, its (board) members appointed a special committee with authority to sell St. Louis' only classical music station," the story said. "A sale would almost certainly mean the end of classical music broadcasting in this region. Most buyers would convert such a purchase to a more-profitable format, like sports, rock or country."
The news is relevant to jazz fans in St. Louis because KFUO last year became the home of Don Wolff's long-running weekly program "I Love Jazz," which airs at 10:00 p.m. on Fridays.
Miller's story goes on to say that the board committee has acted in near-secrecy in its plans to sell "Classic 99," even refusing to share terms with at least one group of potential buyers, and is reportedly asking $20 million for the FM station. It also says that while most members of the Synod who live within KFUO's broadcast range in the St. Louis region seem to be opposed to selling, thirteen of the 15 voting members of the board of directors live in other parts of the country.
Read the initial story here and the two follow-up blog posts here and here.
Ronny, Dionne and Merle
2 hours ago
1 comment:
It's becoming more difficult for music lovers to find anything on the radio these days. When I moved from the East Coast to San Francisco I was relieved to find 102.1 KDFC, a very decent classical station. Thank goodness it's available online, I don't know where I would listen to when I go back home.
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