Buyers raising funds for KFUO purchase, responding to petitions

In a story published in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller writes that fundraising help for the purchase of radio station KFUO (99.1 FM) by Gateway Creative Broadcasting is coming from a couple of somewhat surprising sources: the families of former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes and current Cardinals star, first baseman Albert Pujols:

"After a significant fundraising campaign, the company has more than $350,000 in hand, over $1 million in donor pledges and, as of Dec. 1, a “commitment letter” from Cass Commercial Bank for a loan of $1.7 million. Much of the fundraising has been led by former Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes and his wife, Jennifer. Albert Pujols and his wife, Deidre, have also been involved."

In addition, "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is selling KFUO, and Gateway Creative Broadcasting, which as Joy FM seeks to buy it and change it to a Christian contemporary format, have filed their opposition" to two of the four petitions filed with the FCC by opponents of the sale. And in related developments, Miller wrote in two earlier posts of opposition to the proposed sale among faculty members at Concordia Seminary and of the formal response by the LCMS to a letter from church members questioning the transaction.

StLJN has been following the story because in addition to being the only St. Louis area radio station that plays classical music, KFUO also is home to Don Wolff's long-running program "I Love Jazz," which airs on Friday nights. We'll continue to recap significant developments as they occur...