If you tuned the radio to KUHF 88.7 FM this past week you might have discovered that UH will buy KTRU 91.7 FM, a Rice University run radio station. If you tuned into 91.7 FM, you might have listened to the student disk jockeys implore you to “save KTRU” from this fate.
This information does not seem too important; Rice loses a radio station, UH gains one. But then I realized why the student-run station was protesting: no more strange and obscure underground music on 91.7 FM. UH would take its programming and split it into two, implanting half on 91.7, erasing it’s previous style of hypnotic, bizarre and otherwise impossible to find music.
What makes this all the more interesting (and slightly upsetting) is that the students at Rice weren’t aware this was going to happen, and they didn’t hear it from Rice. UH gave a press release breaking the information about the deal (which began in the spring under close confidentiality), yet when a Houston Press article hinted at the deal most passed it off as idle gossip from a less than credible source. The next day the Houston Chronicle printed an article about the UH governing board voting for the purchase, and Rice students started protesting and petitioning.
Since KTRU is a student-run radio station this really comes as a shock. But Rice students who work at KTRU are being told that they aren’t losing anything since the station will be able to exist on the Internet as KTRU.org. The main reasoning behind this is that the FM station is overkill for the minor amount of people who tune in. So yes, if you don’t count control of the station and the broadcasting tower, students working at KTRU haven’t lost anything. Now I have to wonder, will UH students gain anything?
What will UH get out of this deal, other than a $9.5 million bill for a station and tower? In essence, KUHF 88.7 FM will switch to an all-news format and KTRU will be known as KUHC and broadcast the art scene and classical music. So in essence, nothing new. No jazz or alternative music station, no UH student broadcasting, nothing that KUHF wasn’t already giving us. Just a radio station looping NPR every 24 hours and a sister station broadcasting what KUHF had been broadcasting all along, sans news.
Still, like many of the proponents have pointed out, this will be a victory of sorts for the Houston community. It’s not uncommon for large metropolitan cities to have an all news radio station and an all classical one. Those who love classical won’t have to endure the morning commute listening to NPR or BBC news, and those who love to be informed won’t have to sit through Beethoven’s “9th symphony” before hearing the weather forecasts. But I still don’t see this as a victory for the UH community. Not the students, at least.
Does the University really need two radio stations in order to be a Tier One institution? If you have to compare, Texas A&M does indeed have KAMU and KANM as broadcasting stations, but the University of Texas broadcasts through only one station, KVRX. And as many have pointed out, Rice will have zero radio stations as a result of this purchase. Two stations doesn’t make UH an automatic Tier One candidate. Tier One schools don’t have to have two radio stations.
Perhaps increased exposure is what drove UH to purchase KTRU from Rice; since UH will control both, it can advertise to two different audiences. KTRU was a student-managed station, and as it’s already been pointed out, KUHF has little to no UH student affiliation. If the students at Rice haven’t lost anything, then students at UH definitely haven’t gained. I don’t feel like bragging about that.
David Haydon is a Political Science junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
Rice students are not the only ones that will lose a voice. The Houston community will lose in this bad deal. No other station comes close to KTRU.
I am a UH alum and I strongly support KTRU to remain on the public's airwaves to serve its various constituencies.
Dear fellow UH alums and students, please inform yourself about how we got here, read about the secret deal-making between UH and Rice, follow the Houston Press coverage, go to savektru.org, and take action. Speak out.
Rice students actually do lose substantially from this deal. KTRU-FM was started in a dorm room in 1970 and built completely by students. The transmitter was donated to the student-run station in the early '90s. Rice University never invested a dime of capital in KTRU and now they're seizing it to create a slush fund for new construction. In addition to nullifying all of the work that Rice students put into building and maintaining the radio station, this deal also calls into question the permanence of any student contribution to Rice University: if the pieces that any student adds to the institution become too valuable, they can simply be liquidated without warning or consultation.
Finally, KTRU does have a substantial number of FM listeners, contrary to the claims of the Rice administration in justifying the sale. For more on this issue: http://www.nonalignmentpact.com/2010/08/ktrus-fm-… http://ernestoaguilar.org/um-well-about-those-ktr…
The University of Houston should not be concerned about buying another radio transmitter to obtain "Tier One" status. Tier One status is about high academics and seminal research, not about having another radio tower. I think if UH is spending $9.5 million on something as random and trivial as a radio tower instead of improving abysmal graduation rates or raising admissions standards, it doesn't deserve Tier 1 status.
I agree with Steven; does UH want to be a tier one university or clear channel u? KTRU is fine where it is. UH should not be buying more radio stations.
I am a native Houstonian who attended the University of Houston from 1995-1996. I was also a DJ at KTRU at Rice University from 1995-1997. I moved to Boston, and then continued DJing at WMBR (MIT's radio station) and WZBC (Boston College's station).
I began listening to the KTRU at the age of 15, and it changed my life in many ways.
KTRU is a great station, and a rare breed of radio. It is a resource to all who can listen within its broadcasting range, and/or online. KTRU's programming is very unique and deserves a voice in the spectrum.
I am also an independent musician (with a classical background), and there are fewer and fewer stations broadcasting so much independently made music, such as KTRU does. It is more than refreshing to have a station not playing commercials but rather exposing people like myself to new music, with no pressure from advertisers or corporate executives.
I find it dishonorable and unfortunate that negotiations between universities were done behind closed doors.
There are petitions going around I will be signing them, and spreading the word.
I just have one honest question? If KTRU meant as much to Houston as all of you say, then why didn't they even register on the ratings scale this past year? They sure could've used all this support back then. Just saying……..
If the radio station have some 80's music’s I will worship you….some jazz once awhile too. I got nothing against students operate the radio station. I might not like their taste in music but that what on/off and radio scanner all about. The operation cost is a concerned of the University and the student body. Who will pay it? I doubt the student want to pay it out their tuition.
There's now a petition for everyone who wants to register their disapproval of this secret deal with the UH administration: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/UH-for-KTRU/
Whether you care about the future of KTRU, or you just want a university administration that is open and honest with its students and the public, please consider signing.
KANM is not a broadcasting station really, it has an AM signal that isn't on most receivers and can't be picked up on campus, at least not to my efforts. They 'broadcast' is on the internet and in the dorm rooms that have a cable hook, up on the very buried channel 89 I think (not something that is advertised or well known). KAMU is like U of H's NPR station and has negligible if any student involvement