Donors’ group demands AG act to void deal that created MPR’s The Current
Friday, June 13, 2008 at 6:13 pm
- 8 Comments
UPDATED Bolstered by strong words in a June 10 Rice County District Court order, a nonprofit group representing donors to the former WCAL-FM has demanded in a June 12 letter to Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson that she seek the reversal of St. Olaf College’s 2004 sale of the public radio station (now known as The Current) to Minnesota Public Radio.
St. Olaf spokesman Steve Blodgett had no comment on SaveWCAL’s letter, but said the school was satisfied that Judge Gerald J. Wolf left restrictions in place for only two of six categories of contested station funds that the college controls. He said St. Olaf would not appeal the ruling.
In his ruling, Wolf confirmed that WCAL’s sale required judicial approval because of its status as a charitable trust. He faulted St. Olaf for not getting a court’s OK before selling the station, he but saved his harshest criticism for Swanson as well as former Attorney General Mike Hatch — in terms that SaveWCAL attorney Michael McNabb told the Minnesota Independent constituted a "scathing indictment of the attorney general."
In its letter, SaveWCAL quoted passages from Wolf’s order in which he wrote that he "is absolutely mystified as to why the State Attorney General did not become involved in a sale of trust assets valued at $12 million when it is its statutory obligation to do so. … [MPR's deed to WCAL assets] is void and subject to cancellation upon application of proper parties." SaveWCAL then asked the attorney general "to commence a proceeding requesting the Court to declare that the sale of the assets of the charitable trust to Minnesota Public Radio is void."
The attorney general’s office did not return calls for this story. Deputy Attorney General Ann Biemdick Kinsella, who oversaw the office’s charitable trust responsibilities, is no longer employed there, a staffperson told the Minnesota Independent.
Ben Wogsland, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, told the Pioneer Press the judge was wrong about contributions to WCAL: Donations weren’t put in a separate trust, he said, and in any case moving money from one nonprofit to another doesn’t need the AG’s OK.
Those statements prompted renewed protest from Save WCAL. In a June 15, 2008, letter McNabb reminded Swanson of a June 20, 2007, court filing in which the attorney general’s office repeatedly asserted that donations collected for WCAL do constitute a charitable trust and as such "may not be diverted from the uses and purposes for which the assets have been received and held, or from the uses and purposes expressed on intended by the original donor."
8 Comments
Comment posted June 15, 2008 @ 10:22 am
I don’t know if it’s a comment on some reader’s intelligence, their reading comprehension, their failure in logic, or some combination of the three when they focus on the merits of Current, rather than on the merits of the actions by which the station was created.
As heinrichvs, nihilix, and the article’s author point out, the issue lies in the “how,” as the court ruling pointed out.
In simple terms, the money that was diverted was given with the “trust” that it was for the existing station and format. That trust was betrayed, as the judge has noted.
The relative merits of the Current are simply irrelevant.
Comment posted June 14, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
That’s the problem with the Minnesota Public Radio empire – on the one hand you love it, on the other you go WTF?
Yes, there’s a bigger group of people who would like a decent rock/alternative station than wanted a grassroots, kicka$$ classical station. Not gonna argue that.
But Heinreichvs nails it – built on stolen land. The sale of the station was a load of crock, the FCC of George Megacorporations Are Us Bush stood idly by – and the establishment liberal Mike Hatch got bought out by the reasoning of the establishment liberals of MPR.
This is the same MPR that sunk the low-power FM licenses, that kept the real radio that would have been in town (three new stations) which, frankly, probably would have been like the Current with lower advertising budgets.
YES the Current is better than corporate radio, but there’s a big stinky turd that you can’t deny and that’s the way the Mega Public Radio nailed the station in the first place.
Comment posted June 13, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
Jeez, got their radio station stolen and now dare to complain. What whiners!
WCAL was a truly dj-powered radio station that played far more avant gard music than the Current does and 1000 times more than KSJN. No computer selected music and their was very very little repetition. In a way, it was the most punk major radio station in the state.
Even though the Current has a great deal of its lineup selected by a computer and has increased repetition recently it is still a good station….it just happens to be built out of stolen property.
Comment posted June 13, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
My lord what a bunch of whiners. 10 people care about WCAL. Many more thank the powers that be that gave us The Current. I listen to all kinds of music (my presets include everything from 88.5 to 107.9, with everything in between), but The Current is my station of choice. It’s about time we had something other than the repetitious and overplayed fare given to us by 92.5, 93.7, etc.
GO CURRENT GO!
Comment posted June 13, 2008 @ 2:34 pm
My lord what a bunch of whiners. 10 people care about WCAL. Many more thank the powers that be that gave us The Current. I listen to all kinds of music (my presets include everything from 88.5 to 107.9, with everything in between), but The Current is my station of choice. It's about time we had something other than the repetitious and overplayed fare given to us by 92.5, 93.7, etc.
GO CURRENT GO!
Comment posted June 13, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Jeez, got their radio station stolen and now dare to complain. What whiners!
WCAL was a truly dj-powered radio station that played far more avant gard music than the Current does and 1000 times more than KSJN. No computer selected music and their was very very little repetition. In a way, it was the most punk major radio station in the state.
Even though the Current has a great deal of its lineup selected by a computer and has increased repetition recently it is still a good station….it just happens to be built out of stolen property.
Comment posted June 14, 2008 @ 8:41 am
That's the problem with the Minnesota Public Radio empire – on the one hand you love it, on the other you go WTF?
Yes, there's a bigger group of people who would like a decent rock/alternative station than wanted a grassroots, kicka$$ classical station. Not gonna argue that.
But Heinreichvs nails it – built on stolen land. The sale of the station was a load of crock, the FCC of George Megacorporations Are Us Bush stood idly by – and the establishment liberal Mike Hatch got bought out by the reasoning of the establishment liberals of MPR.
This is the same MPR that sunk the low-power FM licenses, that kept the real radio that would have been in town (three new stations) which, frankly, probably would have been like the Current with lower advertising budgets.
YES the Current is better than corporate radio, but there's a big stinky turd that you can't deny and that's the way the Mega Public Radio nailed the station in the first place.
Comment posted June 15, 2008 @ 5:22 am
I don't know if it's a comment on some reader's intelligence, their reading comprehension, their failure in logic, or some combination of the three when they focus on the merits of Current, rather than on the merits of the actions by which the station was created.
As heinrichvs, nihilix, and the article's author point out, the issue lies in the “how,” as the court ruling pointed out.
In simple terms, the money that was diverted was given with the “trust” that it was for the existing station and format. That trust was betrayed, as the judge has noted.
The relative merits of the Current are simply irrelevant.
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