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.
