Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007
Columbia Union College is in negotiations to sell its Christian radio station’s license in a more than $20 million deal, but the school’s students and loyal listeners say the college should consider more than the best price from the highest bidder.
‘‘I’m really disappointed. That station has been my friend,” said Connie McCalop, a Silver Spring resident who came across WGTS-FM (91.9) on the dial five years ago while driving to visit her mother, who was seriously ill and living in North Carolina. McCalop began writing letters to the stations’ board of directors when she heard the station could be changing ownership.
‘‘When you listen to it, all the depression goes away, the anxiety is gone. ... All the music they play, it’s as if they pray over it,” she said.
The college’s board of trustees voted July 8 to look at the highest bid from American Public Media Group, the parent company of ‘‘A Prairie Home Companion” broadcaster Minnesota Public Radio. The board met again July 25 to discuss the progress of negotiations and where profits from the sale would go.
Brad Robideau, a spokesman for American Public Media Group, would not confirm the amount of the bid, but said the station would focus on ‘‘global government issues” and public affairs programming if the deal went through.
Columbia Union College spokesman Scott Steward said the board had voted to negotiate the sale in the ‘‘$20 million-plus range.”
Most of the funds will be used to bolster the college’s savings account, fund scholarships and improve the school’s facilities, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dave Weigley said in a press release Thursday. Steward said a portion of the profit of the sale would go to pay off the school’s $7 million debt.
The station, which was to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, raises more than $2 million annually to pay for operating costs, said Sharon Kuykendall, WGTS program director and a member of the station’s board of directors.
‘‘Obviously, we’re disappointed. A sale to any other entity is the end of WGTS,” Kuykendall said.
More than 1,200 listeners have sent e-mails and letters of support to WGTS staff, she said, including Columbia Union College junior Collin Haynes, who urged the school to allow the station’s board of directors to purchase the license.
Doug Walker, a member of the station’s board of directors, said the board had approached the school with an offer of several million dollars in cash to buy the station’s license. Steward said ‘‘the station’s offer was not on par with other offers,” and that the college owed it to ‘‘all of its constituents to maximize whatever offer they get.”
Steward said one stipulation of a deal with American Public Media Group was that the school would have use of one of the station’s three high-definition signals, which could give the college a continued broadcast. Robideau said the specifics of the deal were still under negotiation.
But Walker, a Columbia Union College and WGTS alum, said the college was being disingenuous.
‘‘It would be like me selling my house to you, and saying, ‘We’ll do the deal, but you have to allow me use of the deck,’” he said.
Steward said it was ‘‘too hard to say at this point” what would happen to the station’s building or its equipment after the sale of the license, or from where the new buyer would broadcast.
The potential decision to sell the school’s radio license comes at a time of continued uncertainty at the college. Earlier this year, the board of trustees raised the possibility of selling the school to Adventist HealthCare as a potential solution to its financial problems. The board decided instead to keep the college’s academic focus but create a school of Nursing and Allied Health.
And the school has yet to name a permanent replacement for former president Randal Wisbey, who accepted an offer to take over the head spot at La Sierra University in California in March. Dr. Gaspar Colon, a professor of religion and director of the college’s Center for Metropolitan Ministries, was chosen as the school’s interim leader. A permanent replacement should be officially named in September, Steward said, along with the final decision about the radio license.
‘‘The radio station is a stronger entity than the college,” Walker said. ‘‘It doesn’t make sense to me that you’d cannibalize the stronger for the weaker.”
About WGTS-FM (91.9):
WGTS stands for ‘‘Washington’s Gateway to Service,” the motto of the college.
The station raises more than $2 million annually and has more than 250,000 listeners in the Baltimore⁄Washington, D.C., area.
WGTS began airing programming with a mostly classical music format in 1957.
WGTS was the first noncommercial station to air in the Washington, D.C., area.
The station began operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week in 1982.
Source: www.WGTS.org
