The Roots Has Found a New Home
Our moving saga began when KETC TV decided to revitalize its Grand Center building. The new KETC plan did not include space for us, a total surprise. That means we will be forced to move this summer. We loved their building, the backup generator, tons of space, the Donnybrook set; we never wanted to leave.
Usually, this kind of move takes a year of planning and a capital campaign to cover the expenses. But we must move this summer, because the KETC construction starts on September first. We now have the perfect new location, in southwest St. Louis: a co-working space called Elevator St. Louis at 1230 Macklind Avenue. It fits us perfectly, with room to grow, and it meets our technical requirements. Construction is now underway. We know this transition will be complex and costly, and your support is vital to its success.
Please use this form to make your one-time donation to The Big Move Campaign. This donation is designed to supplement, not replace, your membership support.
Question? johns@therootsfm.org
The public spaces in the new building will take The Roots to new creative heights. We will connect the new spaces to our broadcast control room with "digital snakes" (technically, CAT6 VOIP connections), as we do with our current studios. The result is 2 additional studios at half the cost.
Below are some examples of what we are building.
- A conference room that transforms into a podcast studio.
- A new live broadcast studio that accommodates a host and 4 guests for interviews. Members will be invited to sit in.
- A public gathering space that transforms into a 100-seat musical live broadcast showcase.
- A new "technical hub" to house our servers, encoders, & 100 TB network-attached media storage. With an audio/video editing booth.
- See the actual public gathering space below. All we add is the audio capabilities.
Our Engineering Team is on the job. They are almost finished with the new tech hub space.
Our engineering staff has prepared detailed drawings for our new technical operations. But the racks and wiring will be installed now. The audio playout equipment will be connected once we are ready to move our operations to the new facility.
But the primary advantage of the new studios is that they offer our members opportunities to participate in our creative process. Members will be invited to members-only live concerts and meet-and-greets with the artists. As Danny Liston would say, "become a part of the family.
We are very lucky to have a chief engineer with experience in building and moving stations such as KMOX, KWMU, KSLZ, KSD-FM & KATZ-FM & KLOU.
Remember that backup generator at KETC? That would cost us $25,000, so we are investing $3,000 in a heavy-duty battery backup system that will power the playout operation for up to 24 hours during a power failure.
A lot of our older audio equipment will be updated, with the addition of three new digital audio boards. Our remote broadcast equipment will also be replaced with updated equipment.
The important part: how can we make this work?
Our budget for the entire moving project is $35,000. Why so much? This is a big job. We will need to disassemble everything we built at KETC and rebuild it on Mackland Ave. All of our old wiring will need to be replaced. We will need to modify some of the electrical service at our new facility to isolate our power from other tenants.
We are replacing most of our oldest equipment, including audio boards and computers. Our live DJ studio will be greatly expanded and will accommodate four studio guests, with others taking part by telephone.
Depending on the success of our fundraising effort, we have additional visual plans in the works.
Here is our plan.
If more of our current Roots members donate between $25.00 and $100.00, we can finish all this work by September. We ask that members who can donate more please do so to cover the shortfall for those who can't. Donations to The Big Move are not recurring and do not replace annual membership donations.
But your donation to The Big Move will enable The Roots to expand our programming and provide more opportunities for our members to join our Roots Family.
But I Would Like To Do More.
If some of you have been considering a transformative gift to make a major impact on The Roots' future, now is the time to do so. Some of our technical equipment, while functional, has reached the end of its useful life. Helping us to purchase replacements now, while so much rewiring work is underway, will save us money in the long run. If you have any questions about this project, our needs, or how you could get involved, please get in touch with me. My cell number is 314-303-1044.
The Roots FM.Org is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization. Your donations are tax-deductible. We also accept Donor-Advised Funds and donations from your IRA. Starting in the 2026 tax year, U.S. taxpayers taking the standard deduction ("short form") can deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 for married filers filing jointly) in cash donations to qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofits. This "above-the-line" deduction is a change from previous years, where non-itemizers generally received no tax benefit for charitable gifts.
Please consult your tax advisor if you have questions.
If you are interested in how you can take The Roots to even higher levels, please call me.