I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.

So MPR did it--they got their big, corporate hands on teensy-weensy WCAL, silencing another independent voice, once that can never be brought back. They tried doing it by getting loans from the city of St. Paul in the amount of ~$10 million. Now, the funny thing about those loans is that they were exclusively for low-income development--basically anti-ghetto money. There was a hearing, and whomever was in charge of the money realized that this was somewhat blatent. Giving earmarked funds to a pair of big feet is somewhat obvious. So St. Paul took the loans back, and did this:

The council agreed, on a 6-0 vote, with Harris again abstaining, to approve about $10 million in conduit bonds to help expand MPR's corporate headquarters in downtown St. Paul.

--From the Star Tribune

I am outraged. I am beyond words. There is something bigger, something downright sinister in all of this.

My prediction: in the next 5 years. 89.3 will become MPR's primary classical station in the Twin Cities. 99.5 will be sold off for millions of dollars. Not 10. 70+.

Minnesota "Public" Radio, eh?