There are quite a few people who are "less than pleased" with Kilgore College's decision to sell the station, especially to EMF. One other possible suitor was Red River Network, which is based in Louisiana. Unfortunately, with the aftermath of the hurricanes, it is a little awkward for a state supported organization to ask the Louisiana Legislature to vote to approve a public bond so they can bring classical music radio to East Texas. At the moment, I think it would be viewed as “politically incorrect.”I wish the protesters in Tyler luck. Maybe they can come up with the funding to persuade the KC Board to cancel the sale. I can't see that happening, but I wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised.Another alternative is for a community group to get together and up the bid for the station, buying it for themselves. I think you could find enough people to come up with the $400,000 down payment, but when you add the cost of paying off the note with existing operating expenses, you'd probably need an annual operating budget in excess of $1.5 million to keep it on the air. I think that would be very hard to do with a noncommercial station in this area. How EMF plans to pay for it is a mystery to me, but I understand they are well funded. I guess they are masters at getting donations. WRR in Dallas is a commercial classical station that is located in a city with a very active arts community. They have reasonable ratings, decent cash flow and a good staff of well qualified people. Even they have a great deal of trouble avoiding being sold to the highest bidder by the City Council. East Texas doesn’t seem to have that kind of dedication to the arts. KTPB is at quite a disadvantage when it comes to community support.Although the article mentions writing in protest to the FCC during the Public Comment period, I doubt that will do much good. I wish it would. Since the Communications Act of 1996, when the major consideration became "who is the highest bidder?" community service and localism have taken a back seat to the checkbook. It used to be that licenses were awarded to the most qualified applicant who promised to serve the public interest and need. That no longer seems to be a requirement. From the current rules, I really can't see the FCC denying the transfer, since they have a willing seller and a willing buyer. That's about all it takes these days.
