tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12394500.post3928468225784845363..comments2023-10-20T13:19:18.355-05:00Comments on St. Louis Jazz Notes: Arch City Chronicle story says sale of KFUO will happen in OctoberDean Mindermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13849119270850790787noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12394500.post-77316160867281094042009-10-12T14:53:17.204-05:002009-10-12T14:53:17.204-05:00Used with the express premission of Dr. Paul L. Ma...Used with the express premission of Dr. Paul L. Maier<br /><br />Paul L. Maier, Ph.D., Litt.D, LL.D.<br />Department of History<br />Western Michigan University<br />Kalamazoo, MI 49008<br /><br /> (269) 387-4816 maier@wmich.edu Fax: (269) 387-4651<br /><br /><br />STATEMENT REGARDING KFUO<br /><br />October 8, 2009<br /><br />Selling KFUO-FM was a clear violation of Christian ethics. Primed with wrong information, the LCMS Board of Directors that authorized the sale ignored an appeal by 41 principal church leaders not to sell KFUO-FM, disregarded crucial ethical issues involved in betraying the trust of KFUO’s founders and supporters, and has now sold a vital mission of our church, gaining proceeds to which it was legally but not morally entitled. This was not Synod’s investment, but that of listeners across 85 years who prayed, worked, and gave sacrificially to support KFUO. Did the matter of basic ethics ever occur to board members, the obligation to do right rather than wrong? And in a church board, no less? <br /><br />And all this while destroying one of our country’s great, pioneer radio stations and alienating the cultural community of St. Louis -- and the world. <br />Moreover, radio experts wonder why the Board relegated so important a decision to a small committee (one which avoided other options for Lutheran ownership), and are mystified that it would sell such an asset at the worst possible time economically. They deem the sales agreement “dead on arrival,” since the millions claimed in the sale have little chance of reali- zation. Joy-FM, the purchaser, is non-commercial and already owes $600,000 on its two “rim-shot” stations. One cannot escape the conclusion that this was one of the worst decisions ever made by any board in the history of our church body.<br /><br />Paul L. Maier<br />Second Vice-President<br />The Lutheran Church—Mo. Synodfromwishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08622091076043053797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12394500.post-82626293739561502792009-09-25T00:16:13.252-05:002009-09-25T00:16:13.252-05:00One more thing: the request for a link was not bec...One more thing: the request for a link was not because I doubt your veracity; the notion that the FCC would be format-neutral in determining licensing eligibility makes sense, in terms of both free speech and basic fairness. <br /><br />However, I would be interested in seeing the precise wording, how they define "programming" and "format," and so on.<br /><br />As for the public interest being "broadly defined" by the FCC - well, maybe it's matter of semantics, but any definition that can be satisfied by a few PSAs and a Sunday morning public affairs show that no one actually listens to actually seems rather narrow to me. There's much more to the actual "public interest" than that, or there ought to be...Dean Mindermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13849119270850790787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12394500.post-29137837959158706302009-09-24T23:45:10.056-05:002009-09-24T23:45:10.056-05:00Hey, this is Dean, "the writer," replyin...Hey, this is Dean, "the writer," replying to your comment. You can tell I'm "the writer" because my name is over there on the right sidebar, and at the bottom of pretty much <i>every single post on this site for last 4.5 years</i>. I sign my stuff because I've found that people take it more seriously when they know who's written it. :) <br /><br />Snark and/or sarcasm aside, I am aware that the FCC rarely, if ever, challenges license transfers or renewals and that, after the 1996 communications reform law, it's basically a rubber-stamp process. <br /><br />The part about them being forbidden by charter to consider programming when granting or revoking licenses was unknown to me, though. Got a link? <br /><br />And yes, I did go to FCC.gov to research the question of what, if anything, might cause them to deny a license transfer. In about 90 minutes of poking around, I couldn't find anything that lays out general conditions or criteria for approving or denying license transfers or renewals - there are lots of individual station filings, most written in impenetrable legalese, but nothing like an overall statement of policy that a layperson could understand. (If you know of such a thing, please point me toward it.) <br /><br />I also did a general search of the Web, but the only recent accounts I could find dealing with a challenge to a radio license transfer had to do with one party in the transaction being a convicted felon, which obviously doesn't apply here.<br /><br />Getting back to the specifics of the KFUO sale, though, the other relevant question would seem to be: Does the FCC take into account the financial condition of potential buyers - that is, their ability to actually pay the purchase price (or make loan payments) and to operate the station once they own it? <br /><br />And if not, why not? Seems like demonstrated financial stability would be a necessary quality for any license holder...The FCC wouldn't want a license to be repossessed or lost in bankruptcy, would they?Dean Mindermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13849119270850790787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12394500.post-54114251731578324492009-09-24T22:10:51.608-05:002009-09-24T22:10:51.608-05:00The writer's hope that the FCC will intervene ...The writer's hope that the FCC will intervene is in vain. The FCC is forbidden by its charter and precedent from granting or revoking licenses based on programming. The "public interest" a station is supposed to serve is very broadly defined and really boils down to airing the occasional public affairs program and public service announcements. There's no chance to FCC will challenge the sale based on KFUO's classical format being changed. Sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com