November 18, 2004, is the the 82nd anniversary of the founding of WCAL.

From: Rolf Erdahl
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 12:50 PM
To: The St. Olaf College Board of Regents

Subject: Thoughts of a third generation Ole on the sale of WCAL

Dear President Thomforde and members of the St. Olaf Board of Regents,
  
One of my most treasured memories of WCAL is seeing the pride and sense of enjoyment on my grandmother Borghild Roe Syrdal's t) face when she spoke of events coming up on "FM," on a radio station that was never tuned away from 89.3.
  
Up to the age of 101 this was something she treasured, took pride in as an alum, and bluntly needed as a contact to the world of ideas, faith, and culture that her aging body no longer permitted her to participate with in person.
  
Because of the values she and her husband, Rolf Syrdal '24 saw in the college, they sent their daughter Ellen Syrdal '57 and son Fred Syrdal to the college.
  
Ellen Syrdal connected with her future husband Arlen Erdahl '53 after graduation. Arlen and his twin brother, Lowell, had been sent to St. Olaf by their farmer parents, doubtless in part due to the respect for the institution their father, Christian Erdahl had acquired as a student (proud to the end of his days of the violin lessons he took from F. Melius Christianson) of the St. Olaf academy, now around a century ago.
  
Though I don't recall any coercion on my parents' part, I, Rolf Erdahl '82, attended and graduated from St. Olaf College, as did my brothers Eric '83, John '84, and Lars '87, and my sisters Laura Erdahl Weinberg '90 and Kari Erdahl Hagen '98.
  
I've listed names from my family to inform you we are more than statistics. We are three generations of people whose lives and values were shaped to a large degree by our association with St. Olaf College. While we were there and since we left, WCAL was in large part the voice of the college.  We've gone on to be missionaries, preachers, bishops, congressmen, musicians, architects, teachers, zoo administrators, graphics designers, mothers and fathers, and even a member of the St. Olaf Board of Regents; some pretty famous and influential, some relatively quiet and less-known.  A tradition developed that had such an impact on my family that it continued through my entire flock of six siblings, and beyond to the "rows and rows of Roes," Syrdal, and Erdahl cousins who also attended and cherished the school.  We believed St. Olaf to be a place where good traditions were valued and nurtured.
  
As things stand, I regret that it is highly unlikely our St. Olaf family tradition will continue with our daughters, Ada Roe Erdahl (2022), and Ella Nola Erdahl (2025).  Our family has never made and contributed the kind of money that turns administrators' and regents' heads, but I promise I will shut off the small trickle I've contributed over the years if the sale of WCAL goes through. If the clandestine deal-making of the administrators in pursuing this deal in the first place, their dismissal and exclusion of any form of reasoned dissent from the procedings, and the scornful, callous, arrogant tone of the board's letter of Oct. 29 refuting the good faith efforts of SaveWCAL are indicative of what the college now stands for, I can no longer support the school. I valued highly and am grateful for the education I got there, and for the role models then on the faculty and in the administration. I mourn what appears, at least in the case of the planned sale of WCAL, to be the loss of a sense of the college's purpose and mission in those entrusted to run it. Your first step in planning a banquet should not be to sell the fine china. Is it now finally true that St. Olaf is the school built on a bluff and run on the same principle?
  
I hope and still trust things can change, because, if they choose to attend there, I could be very proud to see my daughters Ada and Ella graduate from the same school, with the same focus on faith, ideas and immutable values, where their great-grandparents started a family tradition, roughly a century before.
  
Your choices in the coming days will have a lasting impact.  What will your legacy be?  I pray you choose wisely.
  
Sincerely,
  
Rolf Erdahl '82
Muncie, Indiana

On Thursday, November 18, 2004, former long-time WCAL General Manager, the Rev. Paul Peterson '56 sent an e-mail individually addressed to each of the members of the St. Olaf Board of Regents:

From: Paul Peterson
To: St. Olaf Regents - Sent Individually
Subject: From Paul Peterson
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 15:32:40 -0600
 
Dear [Regent's Name],
 
In the past week I have been made increasingly aware that the St. Olaf Board of Regents received inaccurate and misleading information at the meeting on August 5, 2004, concerning constituents of WCAL and St. Olaf College who had been informed, if not consulted, about the proposed sale of WCAL to MPR. As I now understand it you were told, or at least were given the impression, that I had been informed about the sale prior to your August 5 meeting, and also that the WCAL Board had been informed. This is not the case.
 
I met with President Thomforde, at his request, in Buntrock Commons at 8 a.m., Monday, August 9, 2004. He informed me at that time that St. Olaf would sell WCAL to Minnesota Public Radio. Prior to this time, I had heard nothing of the matter. Obviously in this meeting President Thomforde was not seeking my comment or opinion since the decision to sell had already been made.
 
In the afternoon of August 9, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the WCAL Board was told of the sale for the first time. VP Jan McDaniel made the announcement in an executive session following the open meeting at which business was conducted with no awareness by most present that the meeting was meaningless. It is my understanding that the President of the WCAL Board, the WCAL General Manager and new appointees to the WCAL Board were told in confidence of the decision to sell prior to the August 9 meeting but were bound to say nothing prior to the executive session. The new appointees were apparently given the courtesy of this information in case they would not want to spend their time in a make-believe session. One of the new appointees nevertheless attended – perhaps out of curiosity about such an extraordinary situation. Members of the WCAL Board can verify this account concerning the WCAL Board’s exclusion from any consultation prior to August 5.
 
In my meeting with President Thomforde on August 9, I was told that [Senior Regent] Leonard Hoeft and [former Regent] Walter Ringer, two of the most generous donors to WCAL in the station’s long history, had been informed of the sale of WCAL. I called Leonard Hoeft on October 3 to let him know that SaveWCAL was sending a plan for saving the station and addressing the St. Olaf endowment objectives to the Board of Regents. I expected him to report that President Thomforde had consulted him and that he was supportive of the sale. I was surprised to learn that he had not been informed or consulted and learned of the sale from newspaper articles. I have had four conversations with Leonard Hoeft in the past six weeks. In each of these he has expressed his opposition to the sale and his anger over the secrecy surrounding all proceedings leading to the Board of Regents decision on August 5. Leonard does acknowledge that several months before August 5 he received a call from the chair of the Regents Finance Committee [Regent Addison "Tad" Piper] in which his opinion concerning possible sale of WCAL to MPR was solicited. Leonard responded that he thought it was a bad idea. No further consultation with Leonard took place. I have had no communication with Walter Ringer.
 
I was a member of a delegation representing SaveWCAL that met with President Thomforde and Vice President McDaniel from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, September 13, 2004, in the president’s office. In that meeting, President Thomforde said that the major donors to St. Olaf were one hundred percent behind the decision to sell WCAL to MPR. As I recall, he set the number of those donors at either 113 or 130. Perhaps this is by and large correct. It could hardly be entirely correct, at least if it was meant to include Leonard Hoeft. You are also well aware that  [long-time, generous WCAL donors and St. Olaf alumnus] Gerald ['50] and Lorraine Williams were not consulted and will feel great alienation from St. Olaf if the sale to MPR is completed. Perhaps someone can still establish the validity of the claim that the top donors to the college solidly endorse the sale if there are only two exceptions. As of now, a question remains for me and, on the basis of a recent conversation with one regent, I suspect for you and other regents as well.
 
With many other alumni and supporters of St. Olaf, I am puzzled and disappointed at the secretive way in which the proposal to sell the station was planned. The process by which those most knowledgeable about the station, its history, its reputation and its on-going significance--for alumni, an appreciative audience in a major market and thus St. Olaf College--were excluded from the discussions leading to a decision.  Indeed you also as a regent, as I understand it, were excluded until August 5 when a recommendation accompanied by inaccurate information led the Board of Regents to a breathtaking decision after scant consideration lasting little more than 30 minutes.
 
So I refer you to the SaveWCAL document sent to you yesterday and join in asking you take what will be courageous and urgent action to reconsider the August 5 decision, now taking into account the opinion and convictions of thousands who have had great affection and loyalty for St. Olaf, who are supportive of building the resources of the college through all acceptable means but who strongly believe that selling WCAL is an unacceptable means of adding to the endowment.
 
Should you wish to discuss with me any matters pertaining to the sale and related issues, please free to contact me at [e-mail address]. You may also reach me at xxx.xxx.xxxx. I will be away from home from [dates]. Please leave a voice mail message if you call my home number or call me at xxx.xxx.xxxx.
 
With thanks for your attention –
 
Sincerely,
 
Paul Peterson, ‘56
General Manager of WCAL (retired ’99)

November 18, 2004

St. Olaf College cannot allow its president, its Board of Regents, and all its loyal supporters to be so betrayed by the sale of WCAL to MPR. St. Olaf should never have allowed something as its college radio station - so successful in its own right - to be lost to it and to all of us through such callous indifference to the sale.

I am a third generation Ole, having among my predecessors my grandparents H. T. Ytterboe and his wife Elise - early founders; the Mohn family - first president of the college; Edel Ytterboe Ayers, my mother's sister; my parents Evelyn Ytterboe Tetlie and father Joseph Tetlie, St. Olaf's first Rhodes Scholar.

Their spirit would never have allowed such betrayal of our college. They held St. Olaf in such high regard that our radio station WCAL could never have been used as a bargaining tool in the life of St. Olaf today.

Fram, Fram, St. Olaf.

Brunhild (Bunny) Tetlie Yetterboe Sather '40
Salem, Oregon

On November 18, 2004, SaveWCAL received the following in an e-mail from a SaveWCAL supporter:

[On a recent] evening a student called from St. Olaf asking for money. We told her we would probably give...but not right now. Wanted to see how the WCAL question was resolved. Asked her if others were telling her of their concern about WCAL ...and she said "oh yes, a great many people are."

SaveWCAL ALERT: November 18, 2004 (1 of 2)

SaveWCAL has discovered that on October 27, 2004, the members of the St. Paul City Council, in their role as Commissioners of the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), gave preliminary approval for issuance of $22 million in conduit revenue bonds for the MPR Project. MPR has designated $12 million of the bond proceeds specifically for the purchase of WCAL/KMSE.

Revenue bonds would provide MPR a less expensive way of borrowing money to purchase WCAL. The interest rate on the bonds is less because the income payable to the bond holders is not subject to income taxation. State law authorizes an HRA to issue revenue bonds "for the purpose of preventing the emergence of blighted and marginal lands and areas of chronic unemployment." (Minn. Stat. 469.152) There is no way that the purchase of a radio station in the city of Northfield (together with transmitter towers in Dakota County and Olmsted County) would prevent the emergence of blighted and marginal lands and areas of chronic unemployment in the city of St. Paul. The use of revenue bonds for the purchase of WCAL would violate state law.

The lead underwriter for the bonds is Piper Jaffray. Note that of the seven Piper Jaffray board members, three are members of the MPR Board of Trustees (Addison Piper, Michael Francis, and Frank Sims) and two are members of the St. Olaf Board of Regents (Addison Piper and Kristine Johnson '73).

The current HRA preliminary approval is in addition to previous HRA approvals, including one in 2002, for the issuance of $10 million in conduit revenue bonds for the same project, a $3.3 million forgivable loan, conveyance of the "triangle site" to MPR, and the closure of a portion of 9th Street. At the last MPR Board of Trustees meeting, MPR indicated that this would bring MPR's total long-term debt to about $32 million. The HRA staff report indicates MPR's stated intention to pay back the loans on the $22 million bond issue through the use of capital campaign funds.

On November 16, SaveWCAL contacted the St. Paul HRA to inquire whether a draft copy of the proposed HRA application for the MPR project was available for public inspection prior the public hearing conducted by the HRA on October 27. State law requires that a copy of this application must be available for public inspection before the HRA conducts a public hearing on the project and prior to the submission of the application to the state Commissioner.

On November 17, the St. Paul HRA informed us that, after speaking to their bond attorney, the HRA has decided to hold another public hearing on December 8. They apparently determined that the failure to have the proposed application available for public inspection prior to the hearing on October 27 would render the process vulnerable to effective challenge.

The hearing on December 8 is open to the public, giving people an opportunity to address the HRA Commissioners. The HRA Commissioners will be especially interested in the comments of St. Paul residents.

SaveWCAL is urgently seeking volunteers with experience in public funding issues. We are also seeking residents of St. Paul to testify at a public hearing. Please email savewcal@hotmail.com if you can assist us.

-----
Ruth Sylte '82
President, SaveWCAL
for the SaveWCAL board and volunteers
http://SaveWCAL.LiveJournal.com
SaveWCAL@hotmail.com

SaveWCAL ALERT: November 18, 2004 (2 of 2)

Today is the 82nd anniversary of the St. Olaf College physics radio experiment that became the radio station Classical 89.3 WCAL. Happy Birthday, WCAL!

In honor of the occasion, SaveWCAL is pleased to announce a Concert in Thanksgiving for WCAL!

To our knowledge, St. Olaf College has not given any official sign of thanks to WCAL and its staff as the college has planned the shutdown of its radio service. SaveWCAL continues to fight hard to save the station -- most recently by delaying MPR's planned financing of the station purchase. See our web site for details. Whatever the outcome, we believe it is important to gratefully acknowledge the service of WCAL and its employees to our community.

Please consider submitting the following announcement to your house of worship's newsletter or bulletin, a community newspaper or any appropriate media outlet.

-------------------------------

For more information, contact:
SaveWCAL@hotmail.com

SaveWCAL presents

A Concert in Thanksgiving for WCAL
Celebrating 82 years of public radio service

Sunday, November 28, 2004
3 p.m.
Central Lutheran Church
12th Street and 3rd Avenue
Downtown Minneapolis

A concert celebrating the history and public service of radio station Classical 89.3 WCAL and its listeners will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 28, at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis. The concert is being presented by SaveWCAL, the nonprofit orgnization that has been opposing St. Olaf's sale of WCAL to Minnesota Public Radio.

Guest artists will include:

• Pianist Butch Thompson
• Minnesota Compline Choir under the direction of Charles Parsons
• Organists Maria Bucka and David Cherwein
• St. Olaf Student String Quartet performing a composition by Carl Schroeder '05
• Violinist Shirley Lillehaugen Santoro '52 and Michael Santoro
• Massed choir performance by "A Chorus of Listeners" (Massed choir volunteers are requested to be at a rehearsal at Central at 2 p.m.)

Other surprises are in store.

The concert is free and open to the public. There will be $3 parking fee for the use of the Central Lutheran parking ramp. A free-will offering for SaveWCAL will be received. A SaveWCAL Q&A reception will follow the concert.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS THE CONCERT:

For detailed driving directions to Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis, please see the directions page on their website: http://www.centralmpls.org/directions.htm

-----
Ruth Sylte '82
President, SaveWCAL
for the SaveWCAL board and volunteers
http://SaveWCAL.LiveJournal.com
SaveWCAL@hotmail.com