The attorney who handled the sale refused to deal with any other potential buyers and has steadfastly refused to make public the financials.
The LCMS intends to "hold the paper" on the sale, lending the purchasers almost the full purchase price of $18million, with a balloon payment due at the end of a ten-year term. Since the potential purchasers currently operate their JoyFM stations on an LMA (the frequencies are actually owned by a third party) who's to say that a few years down the road, with a recovering economy and revived station prices, the actual owner won't sell the station for a massive profit, killing off the newly-empowered JoyFM and giving the market yet one more badly operated corporate station?
Which, of course, is his absolute right and privilege.
There are several "administrative issues" within the day-to-day operation of KFUO that are questionable. More on these as stumbling blocks later.
This sale must be stopped or at least placed on hold until all issues can be resolved.
How to go about it:
If you are a listener to KFUO, or a sponsor or a contributor, you have standing before the Federal Communications Commission and may file as an interested party a Petition To Deny the transfer of the license. You may also file comments that outline or define relevant issues regarding the transfer. The information on how to do this and what form the Petition and comments should take is readily available at www.fcc.gov.
And, yes, there is a precedent for this. In the mid-to-late 1970's, RKO General, one of the most respected and successful broadcast groups in the United States attemptd to purchase Classical Music formatted WGMS in Washington DC. Their plan was to turn it into one of their highly rated FM Top 40 stations.
Enraged citizenry stood up to RKO's financial and legal might and quashed the deal, with the full backing of the FCC. Granted, Classical Music listeners in Washington DC were likely to have had inside-the Beltway clout that we who listen to KFUO don't have here. But the position is the same. And it clearly shows that the FCC will get involved in a bad sale when the programming is unique and desired by the market.
For 61 years, under the sole ownership of the Lutheran Church, KFUO has thoroughly weaved itself into the cultural and civic fabric of the St. Louis region. I have nothing against Christian radio. I'm a Christian myself. But destroying what KFUO has provided for their listeners, for all those years, is unconscionable.
There is at least one other group that would make an offer if allowed. That group intends to retain the Classical format and they must be given a chance to do so.
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