Christian KCPW?
Blogging from Library Square...
In a perplexing show of arrogance, the managers of Salt Lake's public radio station KCPW appeared to have turned their back on the community that has supported them for two decades.
"I feel betrayed," says former general manager Ed Sweeney. "I feel pissed off."
A non-profit organization that Sweeney represents made a $2.4 million offer last Friday for the FM license, only to learn that Park City-based president Blair Feulner already had reached a package deal with a Christian radio group for the FM and KCPW's money losing AM band.
Now, Sweeney and his group have 30 days to raise $3.7 million to match that offer or Salt Lake will lose one of its two National Public Radio affiliates and an important outlet for in-depth radio news.
Update: The Tribune's Paul Beebe reported on the KCPW deal making.
About 35 vol
unteers and KCPW supporters (including Utah composer/singer Kurt Bestor) gathered at Library Square to support the station remaining a community affairs and NPR outlet. (Unidentified supporter, left.) Sweeney recently left the station to put together Wasatch Public Media to buy KCPW from Community Wireless of Park City.
For details on the station's troubles, go here.
Even more perplexed by Feulner's machinations is Stephen Eccles Denkers, who has funneled large contributions to KCPW. In fact, the Library Square studio is named for the Denkers family.
Denkers says he'll be part of any plan to save the station as an NPR affiliate, but he hasn't been able to reach Feulner or the board. He was under the impression that the community would have a few months to put a offer together. "I don't understand the disconnect."
I don't need to point out that Denkers, who went as far as to carry a placard at the rally, and the foundations he represents are not lightweights in charitable giving:
In a perplexing show of arrogance, the managers of Salt Lake's public radio station KCPW appeared to have turned their back on the community that has supported them for two decades."I feel betrayed," says former general manager Ed Sweeney. "I feel pissed off."
A non-profit organization that Sweeney represents made a $2.4 million offer last Friday for the FM license, only to learn that Park City-based president Blair Feulner already had reached a package deal with a Christian radio group for the FM and KCPW's money losing AM band.
Now, Sweeney and his group have 30 days to raise $3.7 million to match that offer or Salt Lake will lose one of its two National Public Radio affiliates and an important outlet for in-depth radio news.
Update: The Tribune's Paul Beebe reported on the KCPW deal making.
About 35 vol
unteers and KCPW supporters (including Utah composer/singer Kurt Bestor) gathered at Library Square to support the station remaining a community affairs and NPR outlet. (Unidentified supporter, left.) Sweeney recently left the station to put together Wasatch Public Media to buy KCPW from Community Wireless of Park City.For details on the station's troubles, go here.
Even more perplexed by Feulner's machinations is Stephen Eccles Denkers, who has funneled large contributions to KCPW. In fact, the Library Square studio is named for the Denkers family.
Denkers says he'll be part of any plan to save the station as an NPR affiliate, but he hasn't been able to reach Feulner or the board. He was under the impression that the community would have a few months to put a offer together. "I don't understand the disconnect."
I don't need to point out that Denkers, who went as far as to carry a placard at the rally, and the foundations he represents are not lightweights in charitable giving:
"I love this station. It's a great voice. We need time to raise the money. [Community Wireless] needs to be fair with us. They shopped this around without giving us a chance. We can raise the money but we need a fair amount of time to do it."
posted by gwarchol @ 12:27 PM |
9 Comments:
Thank you for covering this story. I am a KCPW member who has given time and money to this wonderful community asset and I am pissed off. It is not moral that this station could be sold at a profit without consideration to the donors who have helped to build it into something of value. Community Wireless of Park City needs to acknowledge the all the KCPW stakeholders in their decision and sell the station to those who will continue its proud tradition of local, national, and global news coverage.
KUER is laughing all the way to the bank!
motherfucker feulner
Shame on Community Wireless. Shame on the Board of Trustees of Community Wireless. Shame on Blair Feulner of whom I had the highest respect.
This station is my home, where I listen to local news and get my news. To not listen to Ed Sweeny and take his offer is to purchase the station despicable. After he did his best to work towards meeting your requirements to maintain a Salt Lake institution.
Blair Fulner made tons of cash on te charitable contributions of the "public". he made $200k/yr and his wife was making $125k/yr. I stopped listening then and am not suprised by this turn.
Denkers you're a sap... sorry bro.
I knew Blair Feulner was a greedhead when it was revealed that he was paying himself and his wife six figures and then begging the public for support every six months. As soon as I heard that I said I was never giving them another penny. Now we learn that he's an arrogant jerk as well. I hope this guy is ostracized from the progressive community in Utah. I know, he's laughing all the way to the bank, but still, the disservice he's done to this community just so he can have a fancy house in Aspen or somewhere is terrible. He should run for the Utah legislature as a Republican; he's proven he's just about as heartless as Gayle Ruzicka.
Thanks for covering this story. KCPW is not allowed to talk about this on the air (their hands have been tied by Mr. Feulner (who will be making money on this no matter what). It kind of makes me sick to think that I have been donating money and time to KCPW just so wealthy people in Park City can make more money. Non-profit… yea right.
I urge everyone to tell loyal KCPW members about this so we can keep KCPW on the air and local, if not, well I hope people like choir music.
I'm outraged at the way this situation has been handled by Blair Feulner and the board of directors at Community Wireless of Park City. What's even worse is that many people mistakenly think that Blair and KCPW are one in the same.
Blair is the excessively compensated head of non-profit organization that happens to own KCPW. From what I know of the situation, not only has he not had day-to-day responsibilities since the station's move to the Denkers studio at Library Square, he has a producer who handles most of his Midday Utah writing. It seems to me that he has become a glorified reader who is coasting on his laurels from decade-old accomplishments that are no longer notable.
I am a long-time contributor to KCPW. EVERY encounter that I have ever had with the Salt Lake staff has been professional and welcoming. It saddens me to see people sully the names and reputations of people who are doing their best to babysit Blair's bad business decisions.
It appears that KCPW is being hung out to dry because of the poor choice made in Park City to purchase the AM station for too high of a price. I think Blair and the board of directors are trying to save face before people realize what a financial miscalculation that was. Ironically, if he had acted with integrity and even just said, "Whoops... ok now we'll try to fix this", the community would probably have been forgiving. That opportunity has passed.
I suspect at that point that, short of a miraculous change of heart, Blair's reputation will obliterated. In one way this saddens me, because he brought a number of new ways of seeing the world to the local community. When ego and greed intercede, however, my sympathies are not as generous.
KCPW supporters that I know personally are already looking into the propriety of every aspect of CW's dealings with this matter, including their filings and fiduciary responsibilities. They have begun contacting sponsors who jointly support KCPW and KPCW (the Park City station operated by CW) to express their extreme displeasure with the situation.
Hopefully Blair realizes that stepping out of integrity basically picked a personal fight with the 50,000 listeners of KCPW. To think that it will all go away if he manages to unload the station is pure folly. He (or at least his reputation) will inevitably be held accountable if there is no change of heart from Park City.
This is such an utter betrayal of KCPW and our loyal community of supporters by Community Wireless. I have no argument with the decision to spin off the station, but CW's handling of the sale has been atrocious. Wasatch Public Media has been given virtually no time to come up with the funds to match the offer made by EMF. Obviously CW does not give a rip whether the station is owned locally and kept in its original NPR format, as they claim to prefer.
The last thing Salt Lake needs is yet another Christian propaganda station. What we need is the unique mix of news, thoughtful dialogue and quality entertainment that KCPW has brought to the Valley. This station is part of what makes living here bearable for me.
Please, save KCPW!
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