Its signal has been off the air since Friday, and operations manager Mike Calvin told StLToday Sunday that he doesn’t expect it to return until after the station is sold, and that almost certainly would be in a different format from the jock-talk approach it has had for all but one of the last 21 years.
KFNS parent company Grand Slam Sports is in the process of selling it to a religious group that would have church-related programming.
“It is off the air due to nonpayment of operational bills,’’ Calvin said. “I do not see it coming back on the air until the pending sale to the religious organization is finalized.”
He said the company’s debt is about $580,000 and the knockout blow came Friday when Ameren shut off power to KFNS’ transmitter because it is owed about $1,200.
Grand Slam’s other outlet — KXFN 1380 AM The X — operates out of the same building as KFNS but has a separate tower and has remained on the air, with Calvin saying that side of the business paid its bills this month.
KFNS, which at many times over the years was home to the market’s biggest names in sport talk, was down to two local shows — Charlie “Tuna” Edwards in the morning, Kevin Slaten in afternoons.
KFNS has suffered since WXOS entered the format in 2009 and benefited from a strong FM signal, at 101.1. And 590 gained stiff competition on AM from WGNU 920 AM. It moved into sports on weekdays after Tim McKernan was ousted at KFNS last year and his company bought control of 920’s weekday programming. WQQX 1190 AM also has sports, mostly national.
Read More Now
No comments:
Post a Comment