Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Death of a St. Louis Icon

Yesterday marked the last day of the last broadcast of KFUO 99.1 FM, AKA Classic 99, one of the few private classic radio stations. KFUO was owned by the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, LCMS, and had been operating as a classic music station, one of the best in the country, for 62 years. Then LCMS sold it to some funko Jhesus group. (You have to put the "h" in Jesus because it's the first letter of the word "holy.") I guess they did not see it as important to their mission any longer, and I think I heard that they were loosing money on it. As my father noted, I want to hate the LCMS for this, but I wasn't contributing to keep the station going, and they can sell their property if they want to. Still, I will miss it.

So my wife and I sat in the living room last night and listened to the last hour of Classic 99. They went out, flags flying, playing Beethoven's 9th, Ode to Joy.