SaveWCAL petitions court to void station sale to MPR

Originally published in Current, Sept. 29, 2008

Supporters of a classical music station near the Twin Cities that taken off the air four years ago and sold to Minnesota Public Radio have asked the Rice County Circuit Court to void the sale of the FM channel. The court set a hearing on the petition Oct. 25 [2008].

SaveWCAL had urged Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and her predecessor to intervene on behalf of donors to the defunct WCAL-FM (Current, June 23), but Swanson did not.

So the listener group stepped up its direct involvement in the long-running dispute Sept. 24, accusing former licensee St. Olaf College of breaching the trust of WCAL donors and asked the court to consider removing the college as trustee for the station’s assets.

The college had solicited donations to operate WCAL for more than 80 years — asking supporters to “help guarantee the future of Classical 89.3 for generations to come,” in one appeal, according to SaveWCAL. But the college surprised them in 2004 by closing and selling the station for a reported $10.5 million.

Web page posted Sept. 30, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Current LLC

EARLIER ARTICLES

Florida, Minnesota donors question sales of their favorite stations, 2007.

Donor intent: battle cry for grieving fans, June 2008.

LINKS

New web address of SaveWCAL, with many documents from its conflict with St. Olaf College, including its Sept. 24 breach-of-trust petition.

The former WCAL, purchased by Minnesota Public Radio, is now the successful MPR contemporary music station known as The Current.

In the case of the WCAL classical music listeners, Beethoven just won't roll over, reports Michael Metzger of the Twin Cities news site MinnPost.com, Sept. 30. A St. Olaf College spokesman contends that a court has not yet ruled that the WCAL donations had created a charitable trust, Metzger writes. MPR spokeswoman says the station purchase was "completely on the up and up" and MPR does not intend to see the license taken away.


 

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