I've held off making any personal observations about KFUO's cancellation of "Issues, Etc." because I don't like to speculate. We now have some information you may have read on the LCMS website from Mr David Strand, chair of the BCS. I have no grounds to say the end came for any other reason than financial considerations, so let's go with that for now. From the times I listened, I can tell you that the number of callers wasn't anything like the more popular talk radio shows. How could it be? KFUO's live broadcast range is pretty limited. But the show obviously got a lot of downloads for later playback on Ipods, etc. Now over 4000 people have signed a petition protesting its cancellation. I think it would be good for folks to consider that KFUO might be facing the same dilemma that the recording industry faced when people began to "share" tunes via the Internet: how do we deal with those who want something for nothing? "Free radio" depends upon having enough advertisers who think they can sell their products to your market. I would be worried if my advertisers were seminaries and an in-house publisher. It's not sustainable. So what do you do? That takes me back to all those who faithfully downloaded the programs for later enjoyment. How about subscriptions at, say, 50 cents a program? If there are as many weekly downloaders as some have claimed, KFUO's financial woes would end in a flash. If the 4000 protesters downloaded five programs/week at 50 cents each, well, that's an additional $104,000/year. I've heard the number of weekly downloads far exceeds 4000.

     So how about it? Instead of writing a protest or signing a petition, why not offer a proposal: return Issues for six months for a download subscription and see what happens. Just how much is Issues, Etc, worth to you?

- President Cripe