Update 10/30: Tim Owens, VP/GM of KDB comments below that there were inaccuracies in the Santa Barbara Independent story we quoted.

Owens writes,

KDB has NOT been incurring an annual deficit of $400,000 per year for the past few years. KDB has received a planned subsidy of $400,000 from the Santa Barbara Foundation the past four years to enable the station to get on the road to financial self-sufficiency. The Santa Barbara Independent, which Mr. Venta quotes, got it wrong too. What was not reported in the Independent’s article was that KDB was on track to be in the black in 2013, before the decision to sell — a result of changing priorities at the Foundation. The other two paragraphs are basically correct.

We are very sad that Santa Barbara’s oldest radio station will be leaving the Foundation in search of a new home that will hopefully preserve the integrity of the format.

Original Report 10/28: After running more than $400,000 in deficits for each of the last three years, the Santa Barbara Foundation is placing Classical 93.7 KDB Santa Barbara up for sale.

The Santa Barbara Independent reports that the station has less than 1000 of the station’s 20,000 daily listeners have become donors to help fund the station. KDB is a commercial station, but uses donations and grants to supplement its ad revenue.

The Independent reports that Public Radio Capital has been retained as a broker with three serious inquiries already made. The Foundation will lower the price it is seeking for a group seeking to retain the station’s Classical format “because of the continuing community benefit it’d offer”.