St. Louis gets 100kW signal for Joy FM

[CCMDJ]

It was announced this morning on Joy FM in St. Louis. Their long-rumored discussions with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod for the purchase of KFUO is a done deal. When the changeover happens (from their two current rimshot signals of 97.7 and 94.1 FM to the KFUO 99.1 FM) their coverage will grow from reaching a population of a little over half-a-million to 2.7 million.

What a blessing to have 5 times more people to tell about Jesus.

It's about an $18 million purchase, but between the sale of their existing signals and the excitement of listeners in St. Louis finally getting a signal they can really hear all over the market -- the station hopes to raise the $2 mil. for the down payment over the next 5 months.

More details on their website www.joyfmonline.org

I'm sure the Joy FM staff, board, and listeners would appreciate all your prayers.

 

[milton77]

It is rather appalling that the Lutheran church refused to listen to offers from the “Friends of KFUO” group, which wanted to purchase the station - after helping raise $$ for years. Not only that, why are they financing the purchase by “Joy FM”? St Louis won’t have a classical station after this. Defiantly a sad say for St Louis radio…

 

[anotherguyTN]

I hope this works out well for them. I can remember on trips to St. Louis listening to WCBW and being disappointed when it changed formats and the effort to get Joy FM on the air that took several years. I'm really surprised that they haven't been taken over by EMF. I haven't been to St. Louis in a few years but I hope to get to hear them on my next trip.

It's too bad Memphis can't do something like this. They have K-LOVE now and it appears that there is no effort to get a local CCM station back on.

As for classical music, what if anything are the public stations diong?

 

[Tyke]

There already IS a fulltime Contemporary Christian music station in the St. Louis market, with a great signal that covers the entire metropolitan area. It's The Spirit. It's KEZK-FM's HD2 station at 102.5-HD2. CBS Radio launched the station a couple of years ago as KEZK's HD2 station, and they have a great signal that covers the entire area. I've listened to The Spirit for over a year, and my car radio picks it up as far as 65 miles from St. Louis. It's really a great signal, in crystal clear digital stereo. The St. Louis market has the best HD Radio signals in the country.

The Spirit is also available ONLINE at KEZK.com!! It's one of the best online music players that I've heard. Their player includes a navigation bar that takes you to all the CBS Radio markets, tons of different formats, and Yahoo! and AOL stations. Very cool.

The Spirit sounds great, both in HD and online. It's a much wider music variety than JoyFM or the typical CCM station. It's sounds more like an adult hits radio station. I've heard them play stuff from the early days, like Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, Parable, DeGarmo & Key, and other artists, and they do a really nice job of mixing them in with today's music.

Keep in mind, regarding KFUO, that competitors can file a "petition to deny" with the FCC to stop the sale of a radio station. You can do an online search for "petition to deny" and you'll see the info that's available regarding such a legal move. You can also visit a site called STLMedia.net that includes more background information on the situation, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has also been covering the story over the past few days. Let's just say, it's not a done deal yet. Deals can be announced, and then fall through. I'm not saying that it'll happen this time, but those things do happen.

 

[w9wi]

Keep in mind, regarding KFUO, that competitors can file a "petition to deny" with the FCC to stop the sale of a radio station. You can do an online search for "petition to deny" and you'll see the info that's available regarding such a legal move.

The chances of a petition to deny succeeding are zero. Seriously, it's more likely the Church will give me KFUO as a Christmas present.



If you could show that Joy FM was unqualified to be a broadcast licensee, you might be able to stop the sale. A pattern of SERIOUS violations would need to be shown. To my knowledge 94.1/97.7 have never been accused of violations. Unless there's a serious "smoking gun" out there, you're not going to stop this thing.

I don't think Joy FM considers HD2 a suitable substitute for a full station. HD receiver penetration is miniscule.

I wonder what Joy is going to do with 94.1/97.7? (it would be nice if... they would use them to carry a satellite classical music service. It's probably the secular format most compatible with religious owners. Whether it could be financially successful is another story. I suppose Joy may need to sell the stations to finance the 99.1 deal.)

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The chances of a petition to deny succeeding are zero. Seriously, it's more likely the Church will give me KFUO as a Christmas present.

The FCC does not get into format issues. Although there has been movement to insure minority programming remains on the air in the interest of diversity - but no significant actions have been taken in that direction yet.

I feel that there has been a definite un-Christlike attitude on the part of the classical music fans. I sympathize with them because I like classical myself - but their interests would be better served by establishing good relations with the new owners, and possibly brokering a deal to put the classical programming on one or both of the vacated frequencies.

As for the HD-2 full time Christian CHR, it sounds really interesting. How unfortunate it is left to die on HD radio - probably the vast majority of listeners to it are streaming. Typical - putting a format station management is uncomfortable with on HD-2 to die. There is talk of doing that with a Christian rock station here. A lot of us would prefer to have it on a bunch of rim shot translators where it would have a chance of success in the marketplace. Oh well - Christian radio managers hate kids, that's been my experience in 25 years of Christian radio. Let the teenagers go to hell because they don't write checks to support the station.

 

[xmusicmatt]

Christian radio managers hate kids, that's been my experience in 25 years of Christian radio. Let the teenagers go to hell because they don't write checks to support the station.

I disagree with that as a Christian Broadcaster myself. but your right to feel how you choose. Not every Christian broadcaster has been called to "play" Christian rock. It's all a matter what the goals of that ministry is. Just like a Mainstream Country station is not called to play Rap music.

Maybe it's time the churches step up to reach the youth. My church does an afterschool program, they tutor kids, have a safe place kids can come play ball, video games etc... We also do community outreaches thru a community center we bulit that does classes on dance, computers, has sport activities, medical clinics..

Maybe its time for us Christians to go out and walk like Jesus and reach the lost with some old fashion love towards our neighbours and fellow brothers and sisters.

Christian radio is one tool to reach the lost but we can't count on Radio to bring masses to Christ.

 

[almaniac27]

I really don't see the need for this format to be on such a huge signal. The original poster mentioned "5 times more people to tell about Jesus", but I don't think anybody will be converted to Christianity from hearing mediocre "Jesus is my girlfriend" songs. I'm pretty sure most people in the St. Louis area have heard about Christianity by now, so I think a more effective strategy would be to feed the poor and other community service. My theory on this has always been that people will be turned on to Christianity by seeing Christians behave like Christ. It's what Jesus Himself did and it seemed to work. This KFUO situation just makes me think that most people are just in it for the money.

 

[CCMDJ]

I really don't see the need for this format to be on such a huge signal. The original poster mentioned "5 times more people to tell about Jesus", but I don't think anybody will be converted to Christianity from hearing mediocre "Jesus is my girlfriend" songs. I'm pretty sure most people in the St. Louis area have heard about Christianity by now, so I think a more effective strategy would be to feed the poor and other community service. My theory on this has always been that people will be turned on to Christianity by seeing Christians behave like Christ. It's what Jesus Himself did and it seemed to work. This KFUO situation just makes me think that most people are just in it for the money.

You obviously don't know much about Joy FM. The number of people being converted to Christ by the station on their somewhat mediocre rimshot signals is already measurable. They don't play "Jesus is my Girlfriend" songs (whatever those are), and their monthly "Project Joy" outreach program feeds, clothes, educates, and blesses the disadvantaged of St. Louis by partnering with some of the most well known (secular and Christian) organizations in the community.

So, I wouldn't discount what God may do with even more reach, since He's already making quite a difference with what Joy FM has already been given.

 

[almaniac27]

I really don't see the need for this format to be on such a huge signal. The original poster mentioned "5 times more people to tell about Jesus", but I don't think anybody will be converted to Christianity from hearing mediocre "Jesus is my girlfriend" songs. I'm pretty sure most people in the St. Louis area have heard about Christianity by now, so I think a more effective strategy would be to feed the poor and other community service. My theory on this has always been that people will be turned on to Christianity by seeing Christians behave like Christ. It's what Jesus Himself did and it seemed to work. This KFUO situation just makes me think that most people are just in it for the money.

You obviously don't know much about Joy FM. The number of people being converted to Christ by the station on their somewhat mediocre rimshot signals is already measurable. They don't play "Jesus is my Girlfriend" songs (whatever those are), and their monthly "Project Joy" outreach program feeds, clothes, educates, and blesses the disadvantaged of St. Louis by partnering with some of the most well known (secular and Christian) organizations in the community.

So, I wouldn't discount what God may do with even more reach, since He's already making quite a difference with what Joy FM has already been given.

You're right, I don't know much about Joy FM. I admit I was basing my opinion on companies like EMF who gobble up the spectrum with canned programming, so I apologize for shooting my mouth off about a subject I'm ignorant about.

As for the definition of "Jesus is my girlfriend", I'm referring to songs where if you replace mentions of Jesus with a girl's name it sounds like your run-of-the-mill pop love song.

 

[CCMDJ]

Almaniac27,

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Tyke]

The real issue with this deal is on the financial side, not the formatic side. The financials just don't make sense. They don't add up. This smells like the type of wacky, backroom Wall Street deal that got this country into economic trouble in the first place. This is NOT a done deal.

Here's a link so you can check out the various articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding the situation, including insights on the financial side of things (that's the side that the FCC should focus upon before they authorize the license transfer):

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/culture-club/

Look for all the stories labeled KFUO, LCMS, or KFUO/LCMS together. You might be very surprised at the overall lack of funds on the side of JoyFM/Gateway, when you compare it to the final amount of the deal, which is around $24 million by the time it's all done a decade from now.

From my viewpoint, there's something's very fishy about this deal, and it all starts with Mr. Brashear and the secret negotiations. Kudos to Sarah Miller and The Post-Dispatch for staying on top of the story.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Joy FM is Southern gospel!

At least that's the case in North Carolina. I suppose no one trademarked the name.

I would go along with the classical music listeners. I don't really choose to listen to it, but some days I leave the radio on after "Car Talk" and there's some good stuff there. That station pretty much ignores classical music during the week, but they think they're doing people a favor with HD-2. Everyone else has to settle for an out-of-market station with an iffy signal.

 

[Ai4i]

Saint Louis will be losing the most spiritual music there is for a cheesy, or should I say Jeezy, pop station:
Mass in B minor, by JS Bach
Resurection Symphony, by Gustav Mahler
Requiem Mass, by Gabriel Faure
George Frederic Handel and the great JS Bach both signed their manuscripts with SDG.