It looks like St. Louis may have a full-time classical music station soon. According to an article in the Post Dispatch, The Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, which provided considerable financial support to the old "Classic99," KFUO-FM, hopes to be on the air with a new FM station in early June, pending FCC approvals.
The same organization bid for KUFO-FM which was owned by the Lutherans -Missouri Synod. A Christian broadcasting company paid around $20 million for KUFO-FM which pretty much shut anybody else out of the bidding process.
Can a non-profit classical station sustain itself? I think the answer is yes. Sustainability is much more difficult public radio stations that mix the classical format with the public radio news format. Non-profit classical stations are having success in Minnesota, Denver, Tampa and Los Angeles to name a few.
