An anonymous donor has emerged to save pubradio KCPW in Salt Lake City from a loan default on Nov. 1, reports The Salt Lake Tribune. The $250,000 gift came just as Mayor Ralph Becker threatened to block a second attempt by the City Council to loan the money to the struggling station. Attorneys for the city’s Redevelopment Agency deemed the aid inappropriate (Current, Oct. 17).
The donation "came as a complete surprise," said Ed Sweeney, president of the station’s owner, Wasatch Public Media, in a letter to members and supporters, "and was offered because of the inability of the city to provide the short-term funding."
KCPW needed between $200,000 and $250,000, depending on the success of its pledge drive, by Nov. 1 to pay off its loan. That would allow the station to restructure $2.4 million in loans taken out in 2008 to buy the station’s license (Current, June 9, 2008).
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