Questions from Dr. Erich Heidenreich

The recent letter from David Strand may appear to answer questions about why Issues, Etc. has been canceled. However, we must ask if we are getting the complete picture! Here are some questions from Dr. Erich Heidenreich that seek some real answers:

• Is the revenue generated by Issues, Etc. underwriters, church sponsors, ALL Reformation Club income and Bott Radio Network contributions included in Issues, Etc.’s total revenue figure?
• Why were the host and the producer made responsible for a $3.5 million loss since 2001 and not KFUO management?
• You have given statitistics for people listening live on the web. Why have you failed to release the on-demand listening statistics? How does the on-demand listenership of Issues, Etc. compare to the on-demand listenership of other KFUO produced programs in the past year?
• The official responsibility for raising financial support for KFUO lies with the LCMS Foundation. Is it true that LCMS Foundation President Tom Ries was strongly critical of Issues, Etc.’s on-air editorial positions, specifically its public critique of popular televangelist Joel Osteen?
• What was the total listenership for the weekly nationally, syndicated edition of Issues, Etc.?
• How many grant proposals were written for Issues, Etc. compared to other proposals for KFUO-AM and KFUO-FM?
• Why was Issues, Etc. the only KFUO-produced program required to raise and account for its own funds?
• Why was Issues, Etc. the only KFUO-produced program that generated major financial underwriters like Concordia Seminary-St. Louis, Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, Concordia Publishing House and LCMS World Relief?
• Why cancel all of Issues, Etc.? Why not first cancel the more expensive Sunday night nationally, syndicated edition of Issues, Etc. and continue to do the three-hour weekday local broadcast of Issues, Etc.?
• Why not make cuts at top-level, higher-paid management at KFUO?
• Why were the audio archives of Issues, Etc. initially removed? This doesn’t cost KFUO any salaries and benefits?
• Why fire the only Lutheran Pastor on staff, of the more than 20 full-time employees at KFUO?
• Does the LCMS Treasurer, Tom Kuchta, think that Issues, Etc. was the cause of KFUO’s financial woes?
• Does KFUO management think that Issues, Etc. was the cause of KFUO’s financial woes?
• Why cancel the show just as it was launching a major development initiative (Issues, Etc. 300)? This campaign had the potential to eliminate the entire fiscal year deficit for KFUO-AM.

We at Augsburg1530 would also ask these questions:

• We’ve heard about the “business” (or is it “stewardship”?) reasons. What are the “programmatic reasons”?
• If KFUO-AM is a radio ministry, why are we suddenly so concerned with the “bottom line”? Doesn’t ministry involve giving of and sacrificing oneself?

Continue to “stay tuned” for more information. More plans are in the works for addressing why Issues, Etc. has been canceled and a strong voice of the Gospel has been silenced.