Appeals Court hears WCAL radio trust case

A group of classical-music lovers was back, arguing the St. Olaf station should be considered a charitable trust.

By JENNA ROSS, Star Tribune

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 11:37 PM

What does it mean to write a public radio station a check?

That was the question before the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The radio station in question was not Minnesota Public Radio, which is calling for donations this week, but WCAL, the one it bought from St. Olaf College in Northfield for $11.8 million in 2004.

For five years, a group called SaveWCAL has fought that sale through petitions, letters to the attorney general and a lawsuit. They say because thousands of listeners donated millions of dollars to support WCAL's operations, it should be considered a charitable trust, and the college should not have sold it.

"We're trying to wake up the courts and wake up the public about what donor intent means and what are the rights of donors," said Ruth Sylte, president of SaveWCAL and a St. Olaf alum.

The three-judge panel questioned that reasoning during oral arguments Tuesday.

Both sides agree that there was never any formal documentation of a charitable trust. But Michael McNabb, attorney for SaveWCAL, argued that "the act of writing out a check payable to the station ... creates the trust."

Judge Michelle Larkin pressed that point: "Your argument is that the mere fact that the check was written out to WCAL or for WCAL -- that is reasonable certainty that the donor intended unequivocally and explicitly to create a charitable trust?"

"Yes," McNabb answered.

"Are you telling me that every time, every year, I send a check for $100 to [my alma mater], that gives me a right to tell them whether to build or take down the science building?" Judge Francis Connolly later asked.

Yes, McNabb said, but only if the attorney general's office, as the overseer of charitable organizations, failed in its duty to enforce the charitable trust. SaveWCAL has argued that the attorney general should have stepped in to investigate the station's sale to MPR.

Those arguments failed in Rice County District Court, which in February dismissed the group's request to void the sale. Judge Bernard Borene found that the station was not separate from St. Olaf, the group filed suit too late, and the college and MPR acted properly.

St. Olaf agrees that if a donor gives money for a specific purpose, such as building a radio tower, it must -- and did -- use the gift for that purpose. But the kind of trust Save WCAL talks about could only be created through written documents, said Robert Harding, the college's attorney.

"They want to say that all gifts made over 60 or 70 years are aggregated into a single charitable trust," he said. "That's a remarkable claim."

The Court of Appeals will rule within three months.

After the hearing, members of SaveWCAL were optimistic. Although MPR has been broadcasting The Current over what was a classical music station for five years, they still hope to restore WCAL.

Why do they keep fighting? It's a question Sylte gets a lot.

"I think of the tens of thousands of donors over the course of 80 years who gave hard-earned money ... to make sure this station existed for the benefit of all of us," she said, choking up. "When you look at that cloud of witnesses behind us, how could you not be inspired to do the right thing on their behalf?"

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168

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