KLDH wins request for operating funds By DON SKINNER Capital-lournal staff writer Television station KLDH, beset by an ownership dispute and the collapse of its transmitting tower in the March 18 ice storm, won an agreement from a bankruptcy judge Thursday which will allow it to continue in business. Lawyers for the beleaguered station, which went on the air in June, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James A. Pus- ateri in Topeka that the station, which has been off the air since the ice storm, expects to be back on the air by Monday with a temporary tower but that it desperately needed an infusion of cash to meet its April 13 payroll and other operating expenses. Charles R. Hay, lawyer for Mid America Broadcasting Co., which op erates the station, told the judge the station has only $8,000 in the bank and another $3,000 in receipts at the mo ment. He said it experienced a short fall of $50,000 in March and expects a combined shortfall of $110,000 for April and May. “The bottom line is we have to have money. We expect to be on the air April 9 even if we have to jury-rig an antenna." The critical point comes at 9 a.m. April 13, he said, when the next station payroll has to be met. But the picture that developed dur ing several hours of wrangling in court was that the half-dozen shareholders in the station were reluctant to pump more money into KLDH until a state court case, which begins Tuesday in Chanute, determines which of the own ers will have ultimate control of the station. The question of control grew out of an ownership dispute between brothers Cale and Larry Hudson and the other four owners, all but one of whom are southeast Kansas businesspeople. The issues to be decided at Chanute include which of the brothers will end up with controlling interest in the sta tion as well as whether Larry Hudson is personally liable for monetary dam ages in connection with work done for the station by companies owned by him. Allegations were made in the suit that Midwest Telco, one of Larry Hud son’s companies, was overpaid by hun dreds of thousands of dollars for work performed during construction of the station and that Hudson may have made misrepresentations in gaining a Continued on page h < olumn -I