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Collector Donates Broadway Collection to KEDM

The footlights will shine brighter on The Best of Broadway on KEDM after the generous donation by a local collector.

Charles Freeman Stamper presented KEDM with a collection of 215 Broadway soundtracks, many of them rare. Stamper recently returned to the Monroe area after more than fifty years of living and working in California. 

"At one time I had a huge collection of soundtracks on vinyl, well over a thousand, and started to replace them with CD's. As I got ready to move my things from California, I realized I don't listen to them that often, and started thinking of a place that they could do more good," says Stamper.

The University of Louisiana at Monroe Foundation accepted the gift on behalf of KEDM. The collection will become a permanent part of the KEDM music library housed in Sandel Hall.

Stamper has made other notable gifts to the University. He is a member of the Kitty Degree Bell Tower Society, and in 1992 endowed the Frances Morris Memorial Scholarship in memory of his Caldwell Parish High School English teacher.

A past guest on Vocal Vibes with Dr. Deborah Chandler on KEDM, Stamper is also an expert on the life and career of opera soprano Beverly Sills.

Jay calls himself a "media producer" in a world of diversification. Jay earned a Bachelor of Arts in Radio/TV/Film Production from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and worked in video, feature film and television production for over 10 years before joining KEDM full time.