2 weeks ago The FCC Approved controversial sale of Rice University’s radio station, KTRU, to the University of Houston and after 40 years of student-run broadcasting, KTRU’s FM signal was cut off promptly at 6 a.m. yesterday, leaving a sizable hole in Houston’s FM band.
Read the full post and comments here.
October 11, 2011 is College Radio Day, “a loosely organized event that encourages participating radio stations to tout their unique role in training students and helping unknown bands find an audience” [USA Today: Budget cuts could silence college radio stations]. Click here for more information.
I’m here to accept this award on behalf the KTRU alumni who founded and operate SaveKTRU.org. I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that they’re very happy to be recognized for their online activism. Yet, it seems to me that the idea of “online activism” is, today, redundant, because the speed and scope with which the internet allows people who want something to connect with each other and disseminate information make it a fundamental component of modern activism itself.
For evidence of this, we need look only as far as the Houston Press itself, whose music editor, Chris Gray, arguably kicked off the Save KTRU movement by breaking the news of the impending sale in a Monday afternoon blog post, nullifying the embargo that the Houston Chronicle had negotiated with Rice to hold news of the impending sale until after it had been approved by the UH board, and in the process coming close to wrecking the deal itself by alerting the public to the meeting at which UH voted on the purchase. If the news had broken just one day earlier, it’s entirely possible that KTRU supporters would have been able to muster enough attendance at the UH board meeting to swing the vote away from the purchase.
Because activism is an inherently social activity, as SaveKTRU is recognized, in turn it should recognize the contributions of other sites which aided in the effort to stop the sale. In addition to the Houston Press (especially the work of Gray, Craig Hlavaty and Marc Brubaker), this includes Spacecityrock.com (which deserves a special Houston Press Web Award for Lifetime Achievement), culturemap.com, the Texas Watchdog, 29-95.com (which, ironically, is owned by the Houston Chronicle), Burn Down Blog, Radio Survivor and probably many other sites that aren’t coming to mind at the moment. Even more important are the many, many individual KTRU supporters who wrote or signed letters or e-mails, made comments, posted on Facebook or Twitter, or simply argued with people online or in real life about the sale of the station. The action of individuals working toward a common goal is the substance of activism.
It’s true that SaveKTRU was not successful in its campaign to stop the sale of KTRU’s license and FM transmitter. However, the way in which people who were touched by this campaign will remember the sale is defined not by the press releases of an educational corporation, but by the voices of friends, neighbors and members of the community. In capitalizing on the ecology of the web to fight the battle over that definition, to expose the venality, apathy, arbitrariness and bad faith that drove the sale of the station by harnessing the voices of the community, SaveKTRU can consider itself significantly more successful. Perhaps we can take some consolation in that.
You can read the full post here.
Houston Press has named SaveKTRU.org the “Best Local Activism Site” in its first Houston Web Awards:
Despite ultimately losing the battle to keep KTRU’s alternative format and Rice campus location, the people behind the movement were organized and their Web site was a well-oiled extension of their effort
Read the full story here.
The letter requests both USF [University of San Francisco] and CPRN [Classical Public Radio Network] to provide extensive information about their working relationship and about the terms of the deal and PSOA [Public Service Operating Agreement]. It also points to some areas where FCC violations may be occurring. Specifically, it would appear that the FCC is concerned about USF’s loss of control of its broadcast studio (an issue which was raised in a letter to the FCC from Friends of KUSF in support of their Petition to Deny the license sale), has questions about the educational purpose of CPRN’s programming, and is curious to gain more information about whether or not CPRN is authorized to fundraise for itself over a station licensed to another entity.
Read the entire Radio Survivor article here, and the full FCC letter here.
From the Nashville Scene:
The Scene has received word that after months of speculation, the Vanderbilt college radio station WRVU 91.1 FM has apparently been purchased by WPLN 90.3 FM, the city’s National Public Radio affiliate. The new 91 Rock will be WFCL — Classical 91 One. It will offer classical music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, freeing WPLN to pursue all-NPR news programming.
Sound familiar to anyone? Please follow the Save WRVU website for further updates and information on how to help.
Rocks Off had arrived at the station at approximately 4:30 a.m. to sit in on the final moments of its storied FM history. It was a bittersweet atmosphere, part revelry and part funeral; in part the introspective reflection of a wake and part triumphant march to the finish. The station was abuzz with several DJs, frantically trying to play everything they could.
After 40 years of student-run broadcasting, KTRU’s FM signal was cut off promptly at 6 a.m. this morning, leaving a sizable hole in Houston’s FM band.
A national Minute of Silence will be held on Thursday, April 28 at 12:00 p.m. Central on college radio stations. College Broadcasters, Inc (CBI) is organizing the grassroots effort.
The goal of the Minute of Silence is to bring awareness of the deep impact that the sale of student radio stations is having on campuses and their surrounding communities. CBI, who represents over 200 student media outlets, has become increasingly alarmed at the sale of student stations.
“The recent sale of stations like KUSF at the University of San Francisco, KTRU at Rice University and WNAZ at Trevecca Nazrene University indicates that college broadcasters need to do a better job of explaining their value and purpose to the schools and communities they serve,” said Candace Walton, President of CBI. “This minute of silence is just the first step in a broader effort to make the nation aware of how critical student stations are to localism in broadcasting.”
The nationwide Minute of Silence on stations is not merely symbolic. When KTRU-FM goes silent on April 28, 2011, it’s license will transfer from Rice University’s student station to the University of Houston’s NPR affiliate KUHF and the silence will be real. KTRU’s signal will go off-air. The frequency will remain silent until KUHF takes over broadcasts.
The license transfer means one of Houston’s local voices will go silent and KTRU won’t be back. This loss of hyper-local programming has been seen in other markets where student stations have been sold. Too often the results are local content is replaced by programming from out-of-market sources.
KTRU is not alone. Recently, other student stations have been sold, and with them the loss of local voices and content. Texas Tech University, Trevecca Nazrene University, Augustana College, Deerfield Academy and pending sales at The University of San Francisco and Vanderbilt University are all examples of student stations transferred or being transferred to non-educational operators.
“Many Americans, including members of Congress, have complained that consolidation, voice tracking, syndication and automation have left communities without a true local radio station. Student stations are often the last locally-focused radio outlet in their community,” Mark Maben, Development Director of College Broadcasters, Inc pointed out. “At a time of expressed alarm about the demise of localism in broadcasting, noncommercial stations with a high percentage of locally produced programming need to be considered open green spaces of the air that should be preserved, not bulldozed over in favor of programming from faraway sources.”
“Those who have benefited from college radio, including alumni, commercial broadcasters, and the music industry must step up and call on the Federal Communications Commission to reassess what it means by localism in content. These stations are invaluable and when the frequency is gone, it will not be returned,” added Walton.
The minute of silence is a first step as part of a broader effort to build awareness of the selling of student stations. College Broadcasters, Inc, will also host a variety of sessions regarding this issue at their national convention in Orlando, Florida in October 2011. There is more information available online at www.askcbi.org including an update list of stations that have been sold and transferred from student stations. Additional efforts to champion the importance of student stations will take place in the months and years ahead.
Read the original article here, and the press release in PDF format here.
College Broadcasters, Inc. is organizing a national minute of silence on April 28th at noon (central). We call on our membership and those who have benefited from college radio to join us in the effort.
On April 28, 2011 at 6:00a, Rice University’s KTRU’s signal will transfer to the University of Houston. KTRU has a long history of providing alternative programming to the Houston metro. The new owner intends to program classical music and arts information on KTRU’s frequency.
United States college radio stations have been sold as fundraisers for their parent colleges and universities. Examples of stations include KTXT at Texas Tech, KAUR at Augustana College in South Dakota, and pending sales of KUSF at the University of San Francisco and WRVU at Vanderbilt.
See the original article here. Read more coverage at Radio Survivor.
KTRU student management has received word that KTRU’s broadcast on 91.7 FM will go off the air at 6:00 AM on Thursday, April 28, 2011.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kevin Bush, KTRU Station Manager
Tel: 832.588.4700
Email: kevin.r.bush1@gmail.com
HOUSTON, April 17, 2011— Friends of KTRU, a group of students, alumni and community members devoted to stopping the sale of KTRU’s non-commercial (NCE) FM license, notes with disappointment the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the transfer of KTRU’s FM license from Rice University to the University of Houston System (UHS). The decision shows a lack of commitment on the part of the FCC to its own public statements regarding the importance of localism and diversity in American broadcast media.
If the segment of the FM radio dial reserved for noncommercial stations is now also subject to the unobstructed machinations of the free market, it is highly likely that local voices will increasingly disappear from American broadcast radio. Indeed, evidence of such a trend is already overwhelming, and it is quite clear that market forces are promoting uniformity at the expense of diversity. Only through protection by a government agency properly enforcing its mandate to regulate this resource on behalf of the public, and thus maintaining sources of relevant locally produced programming, will such stations continue to exist and enrich the public cultural discourse of their communities.
The degree to which a station serves its local community can be evaluated independently of its particular format. We propose that in the future, the FCC not hold itself hostage to outmoded precedents running contrary to its stated goals, but instead consider and base its regulations and actions on what is truly in the public interest, to spare other communities the fate of a media bereft of meaningful local voices.
Regardless of FCC sanction, the short-sighted and unnecessary sale by Rice of a culturally important student-created asset without the assent of its students or alumni would be a terrible betrayal, while the purchase by UHS of an additional radio station for $9.5 million would be fiscally irresponsible for a state institution at a time when the state’s budget is in a state of crisis.
“We are extremely grateful for the thousands of supporters who stood by KTRU when we filed our Petition to Deny,” said KTRU Station Manager Kevin Bush. “Although we are disappointed with the FCC’s decision, we continue to hope that either Rice or UH will withdraw from the deal. KTRU will continue broadcasting on 91.7 FM until further notice, and we will provide updates as soon as they become available.”
