Short(ish) and sweet(ish), since self is both lazy and pressed for time right now. But this is sort of a happy(ish) follow-up to several past SNLC's, about the willful destruction of the local area's only full time classical station by a lethal combinations of wingnut religious thugs and corrupt Republicans back in 2010. Namely, after almost 3 years without a full-time classical station in STL, the city now has such a station, albeit at nothing like the reach of the old one. However, these days, given the marginality of classical music in society overall, one takes what one can get. More including the explanation of the odd diary title) below the flip....
Just to recap, my previous SNLC's on this topic are from:
(1) September 18, 2010
(2) May 21, 2011
(3) August 20, 2011
(4) April 7, 2012
Giving credit where credit is due, the indefatigable P-D reporter who's been covering the whole KFUO 99.1 FM sale saga and the aftermath is Sarah Bryan Miller, the paper's classical critic. All the past SNLC's on this have relied on her reporting, and the same is true again now. Her newest report on the story is on the P-D's "Culture Club" blog here. She notes:
"The Radio Arts Foundation is officially set to start its broadcasts on Monday, April 8; this week, they're quietly working out the bugs and getting everything set for a smooth start. But you can listen in if you're within the analog broadcast area."
Miller visited the station HQ earlier this week, and then turned on the signal in her car on the way home, of course. Her report:
"On my way home, I tuned my radio to 107.3 - and there was RAF, clear as a bell."
However, as she traveled further along:
"Well, it was clear inside I-270. West of it, I got some static."
I tried tuning in today from my place. I got the signal pretty clear, but an underhum of static was apparent. (For the record, the selection that I heard was
The Planets of Gustav Holst. Very top 100 classical.)
Just to give an idea of how "underground" this set up is, per this earlier P-D blog post, the call letters of the new station are: K297BI. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? (But hence the title for this SNLC.)
In addition, the new station is apparently 250 watts. The old KFUO 99.1 was 100,000 watts. You can do the math. The static becomes understandable. Regarding the static, again per Miller:
".....I'm hoping that the static is one of the bugs now being worked out. They may not be operating yet at full power.
People outside those 20 miles will need to listen on HD or online."
The website for the station is
here. But if nothing else, at least now I can set one of the preset buttons on my car radio to a classical station again. That's some small cause for celebration.
(Now if we can only get Kermit Brashear, the slimebag lawyer who brokered the corrupt deal that destroyed the old KFUO 99.1 FM, disbarred and publicly humiliated, that would be a real victory. No chance of that, though.)
Hmm, a mostly nice(ish) SNLC, for once. With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week......