Big Changes in Public Radio

[Specwriter]

They already do this; my roommate has done performances on KUHF several times. I can't imagine why they would stop now that they've got all this additional air time.

Correct, Niche. I should have said, "now with two frequencies I hope KUHF takes the opportunity to expand the number of local performances it airs." The station not only broadcasts performances on the U of H campus but has aired performances from other venues around the city. An example is those of the Houston Bach Society which holds performances at Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church directly across Greenbriar from Rice University.

[Fringe]

I wonder why KUHF is pulling "Pulling Strings" off the air?  They won't be getting any more annual donations from me until it returns. 

[brucesw]

Yes. What s/he said. When discussing the Houston public radio landscape it's important to remember KTSU. "Jazz in all its Colors."

I could be wrong, and please correct me if I misremember.

My memory of the history of "fine arts" radio in Houston since 1980 was that there was once:

A Classical Station: KLEF 94.5, commercial, with ads for high-end retailers like Cadillac dealers. Local radio personalities like John Proffitt and Ira J. Black worked there.

A Jazz Station: KUHF 88.7, public, with a strong commitment to jazz and public radio programs.

This was before a lot of the more famous current programs like This American Life.

A Radical Station: KPFT 90.1. Proud of its hippie anti-establishment cred, home to folk music and a lot of specialized international music shows as well as minority-themed shows.

A couple of "college stations." Run by students, not really very powerful, playing whatever the students were interested in. KTRU 91.7 and KTSU 90.1

By the mid-80s KLEF was dead; it's absentee owners impatient with its tiny audience and equally tiny ad revenues. If I recall correctly, some local devotees got the rights to the call letters and played a non-DJ classical jukebox on a different frequency for a little while (this would have been about the time that CDs had become universal so this was fairly easy to do.) You all know what's been on 94.5 since then; it's a little jarring to old-timers like me.

KLEF's owners gave the KLEF classical music library to KUHF and this prompted the switch to almost entirely classical music for KUHF. Again, this would have been 1987 or so. I remember that the late Bob Claypool, longtime jazz critic for Houston newspapers, wrote a blistering editorial attacking this move, saying it was tantamount to telling jazz fans to "move back to the back of the bus."

I am pretty sure that KUHF gave their jazz library to KTSU and this solidified KTSU's focus on jazz. This is the part, however, that I am least familiar with.

This takes us to about 1988 or so. Local philanthropist Mike Stude decided to create a commercial classical station similar to what KLEF had been. They sought out upscale advertisers and made a big effort to play music at times when KUHF was playing their spoken public radio programs. They also had an extremely conservative approach to selecting classical music and this did not always go over well with the city's classical music community. They made a big effort to record the Houston Symphony and to present other local performers. I knew most of their staff personally. It was their desire for a more powerful transmitter which caused them to fund the transmitter move and upgrade for KTRU. At the time it looked like a win-win situation.

Even with the best of intentions, though, KRTS couldn't make the money work and they finally pulled the plug in 2004. With the sale of the station to Washington, DC-based Radio One, that was the end for the last locally-owned commercial station in Houston. (according to the Houston Business Journal at the time.)

Through it all, KPFT and KTRU soldiered on, sounding not all that different today than they did in 1980.

Sorry for any errors, if any of you can correct me please do (brucesw?)

You are substantially correct. KLEF-FM became KJYY in March, 1986. Didn't John Profitt become GM or PD or KUHF? KLEF had been a classical station since Oct, 1964, when it took over the frequency from KARO, a sweet music station that had struggled for 4 years. At the time, KRBE was also a full-time classical station (The Key To Radio Broadcast Excellence) but switched to Top 40 ca. 1968.

When KRBE first came on the air in late 1958, every FM in town except KFMK (97.9) was airing at least some classical music and several continued into the early 60s. There was also classical on AM - KPRC had been airing the Houston Symphony concerts for decades. In it's first 2 decades, FM was the medium of high brows.

There are more details on Mike Stude's involvement with the huge upgrade in KTRU facilities in the thread on Radio-Info linked to by Filio above but essentially, Rice never set out to operate a 50,000 watt Class C2 FM station as a student run station and there's no reason they should be expected to fund such an enterprise unless they're just rolling in cash and don't know what to do with it. As it is they're reaping a huge financial return on a minimal investment.

The first 'educational' station in town was WRAA, licensed to Rice Institute from December, 1922, to mid 1925. Before that, Rice students had been among the forefront in experimenting with the new 'science' of radiotelephony, active in amateur radio, working with the oil companies in developing their use of radiotelegraphy to keep in touch with their widespread operations and operating the big amateur station that had it's antenna on top of the Carter building.

Radio has been on the downward side of the growth curve for decades and consolidation of signals and frequencies in the hands of a few operators has been going on for almost as long. The best engineering and entertainment minds haven't been attracted to the medium for years. It's time for Rice students to get creative and inventive and see what they can come up with to distribute their programming. Maybe they can come up with something to trump HD and Internet radio.

[marmer]

I didn't know this but there are 60 current (well, last year, anyway) KTRU DJ's. Sixty! There are a lot of campus organizations at Rice that don't have that many people. And saying that KTRU's reach will somehow magically be expanded by the miracle of internet radio and this will somehow compensate for the loss of over-the-air broadcast is particularly galling to KTRU staff who were among the earliest adopters of internet streaming, several years ago. As one staffer said, "we're just one among thousands of internet radio stations and there's no reason for anyone to pay attention to us." What local bands are interested in, and what KTRU has provided, is FM broadcast airplay. Not internet airplay, that's not really any different than Myspace. Not HD Radio. Try finding a car with a factory HD radio.

I can see how it looks like a good financial decision for Rice, and I can see how it's attractive to KUHF to be able to substantially expand its programming.

But I have known several KTRU DJ's over the years, and they are dedicated and passionate about finding and sharing music that doesn't otherwise get much attention. Not just experimental stuff, but jazz, blues, folk, children's music, and contemporary classical music. Forty years worth of Rice students and community members have given lots of their time out of love and commitment to the medium and the mission. Their dedication is not substantially different from that of intramural athletes, amateur musicians, or campus journalists. They have every right to be upset without being called spoiled children.

[mkultra25]

I didn't know this but there are 60 current (well, last year, anyway) KTRU DJ's. Sixty! There are a lot of campus organizations at Rice that don't have that many people. And saying that KTRU's reach will somehow magically be expanded by the miracle of internet radio and this will somehow compensate for the loss of over-the-air broadcast is particularly galling to KTRU staff who were among the earliest adopters of internet streaming, several years ago. As one staffer said, "we're just one among thousands of internet radio stations and there's no reason for anyone to pay attention to us." What local bands are interested in, and what KTRU has provided, is FM broadcast airplay. Not internet airplay, that's not really any different than Myspace. Not HD Radio. Try finding a car with a factory HD radio.

I can see how it looks like a good financial decision for Rice, and I can see how it's attractive to KUHF to be able to substantially expand its programming.

But I have known several KTRU DJ's over the years, and they are dedicated and passionate about finding and sharing music that doesn't otherwise get much attention. Not just experimental stuff, but jazz, blues, folk, children's music, and contemporary classical music. Forty years worth of Rice students and community members have given lots of their time out of love and commitment to the medium and the mission. Their dedication is not substantially different from that of intramural athletes, amateur musicians, or campus journalists. They have every right to be upset without being called spoiled children.

+1. Very well said. It's been extremely disappointing to see KTRU's musical and cultural value minimized and ridiculed in this thread. I will readily admit that not everything I hear on KTRU is my cup of tea, but over the span of close to 30 years, there's no other station I've listened to or appreciated as consistently.

If there's one good thing that's come out of the current brouhaha, it's that it seems to be focusing attention on some of the decisions made by President Leebron and his administration regarding the direction of Rice as a whole, not just KTRU. As an alum, those are decisions I have a vested interest in.

[TheNiche]

Their dedication is not substantially different from that of intramural athletes, amateur musicians, or campus journalists. They have every right to be upset without being called spoiled children.

Sucks to be them.

[sevfiv]

From Rice University President David Leebron:

I am writing to update you on the status of the sale of the KTRU radio tower, frequency and license to the University of Houston. An agreement has been signed with UH and the matter now goes to the Federal Communications Commission for approval, which may take several months. As you know, the tower will be used by public radio station KUHF as a second station serving the greater Houston community, with one broadcasting 24-hour news and information and the second station, with call letters KUHC, broadcasting 24-hour classical music and entertainment.

We will consult with KTRU’s student managers about the timing for turning the tower over to KUHF, but we expect that to occur by the end of the semester or calendar year. In the meantime, KTRU will continue to deliver its programming on 91.7 and online through www.ktru.org. In my conversations with the student managers, although we have disagreed about the sale of the tower and broadcasting rights, I have been encouraged by their commitment to explore ways to make KTRU of even greater value to the Rice community. We are also working with KTRU leadership to explore some alternatives in addition to the online station. We will dedicate some proceeds from the sale to KTRU for improvements now and ongoing support in the future. KTRU has played an important role at Rice, and we expect it will continue to play an important role in campus life in the future.

We are also working with leaders of the Student Association and Graduate Student Association to formulate a process for gaining student input on how to best use proceeds from the sale. Some will go toward the new east servery and to KTRU, but we will not make any other decisions until we have heard from students about their priorities. Funds from the sale will be available when FCC approval is obtained.

I know the decision to sell the tower was controversial, as was the need to conduct those negotiations confidentially. This was clearly an exception to our usual process for undertaking major decisions at Rice, and we have emphasized that this was a result of unique aspects of this sale and not a precedent for future decisions. As a whole, members of our community expressed their opinions with great civility and thoughtfulness, and the KTRU leadership and staff were appropriately strong advocates for their viewpoint. We look forward to working with them and others in putting the sale proceeds to work for the benefit of our students and university.

Sincerely,

President David W. Leebron

[sevfiv]

...from the Save KTRU blog:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Joey Yang, KTRU Station Manager

j.yang@rice.edu

(614) 423-9264

Friends of KTRU retains law firm to battle proposed sale of KTRU 91.7 FM

Law firm of Paul Hastings pursuing next steps

HOUSTON, October 13, 2010– Friends of KTRU, a group of concerned students, alumni, and community members dedicated to stopping the sale of KTRU’s FM frequency, license and tower, has retained law firm Paul Hastings.

Rice University announced today that it has completed the sale of the station to the University of Houston and that the FM frequency will be shut down by the end of calendar year 2010 at the latest.

“It is shameful that the Rice University administration has not heeded the thousands of voices asking to stop the sale of KTRU,” said KTRU station manager Joey Yang. “Instead, Rice has chosen to throw away more than 40 years of student-run tradition in favor of a new cafeteria for the campus. For this reason, we must pursue legal avenues for stopping the sale. The fight has only just begun.”

To learn more about KTRU and how to help stop the sale, please visit www.savektru.org.

[Firebird65]

They're are wasting their money - and just what America needs, yet another lawsuit - but at least it keeps them off the streets.

[Fringe]

I bet they are just posturing. I doubt the Friends of KTRU have the kind of money needed to go up against Rice's team of lawyers. Hell, Leebron is a lawyer. Maybe he will take them on himself. 

[editor]

I don't see anything in their statement which states a legal reason to block the transfer. I don't think sentimentality counts as a legal argument.

[sevfiv]

Willy's statue was packaged and "sold" to the MFAH overnight

[Fringe]

I wonder if his remains were included?

[sevfiv]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today approval for Rice University to sell the KTRU tower, license and frequency to the University of Houston. The FCC noted that the grant of the application is “consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity.”

http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=15658

[Original Timmy Chan's]

The FCC noted that the grant of the application is “consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity.”

ABSOLUTELY! We NEED to get (some) of that KTRU crap off the air!!!

I say this tongue in cheek as a loyal listener of Blues in Hi-Fi, and sometimes listener of Funk What You Heard and the Afro-Pop shows...some of that other stuff was just bad, though.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Original Timmy Chan's

[Fringe]

Chron