Texas Watchdog: “University of Houston practiced deception, cooked up ‘cover story’ as it closed deal to acquire Rice University’s KTRU radio station“

The University of Houston plotted to keep its acquisition of Rice University’s student-run KTRU radio station secret as long as possible — going so far at one point as to encourage lying to Rice students about why an engineering consultant needed access to the station, e-mails obtained by Texas Watchdog show.

“The underlying paper work is being drafted to mislead people or throw the effort off the track of the public,” said Larsen, the public records lawyer.

Huffington Post: “University Of Houston Deceived Students As It Closed Deal To Acquire Rice University’s KTRU“

“The longer we wait (for an agreement) the higher the likelihood of one of the ‘campus constituencies’ causes a problem for Rice, which could disrupt the transaction,” reads an April 5 e-mail to UH officials from an agent at Public Radio Capital

Houston Press: “Texas Watchdog: U Of H Covered Up KTRU Purchase Plans“

Published this morning, Steve Miler’s report cites emails from employees at Public Radio Capital to both U of H officials and the consultants hired by Rice that appear to recommend both universities work together to avoid tipping off KTRU’s staff, the student bodies and the public to the impending sale. One recommends Rice create a “cover story” relating to why an engineer was visiting KTRU to evalute its assets.

Texas Watchdog: “University officials plotted, bickered as KTRU sale to University of Houston finalized“

As the sale of Rice University’s student radio station KTRU to the University of Houston was finalized this summer, public relations teams from the University of Houston and Rice worried over possible leaks of the news and an ensuing “press frenzy.”

The deal didn’t get out for another week, and UH’s effort to keep the $9.9 million sale from the public until the last possible minute succeeded. At one point, an agent of the school encouraged Rice to concoct a “cover story” to keep students from guessing the real reason a consultant needed access to the KTRU station, Texas Watchdog reported Thursday.

The meeting of the finance and administration committee included some testy moments, although it was not covered by any media outlet. … “The vote was not unanimous,” Bonnin wrote to Thrane. “One of our regents opposed the proposal and asked very pointed and probing questions. It’s fortunate that no media attended.”

Houston Chronicle reporter Jeannie Kever had been told of the deal, according to an e-mail to everyone from Bonnin, and had agreed to withhold the information until Aug. 17, the day of the Board of Regents meeting. … We will not distribute the release until after the [UH Board of Regents] vote,” Bonnin instructed.

Houston Press: “Rocks Off Threw Wrench Into U of H & Rice’s Secrecy Plan“

These emails encouraged U of H to concoct a “cover story” to mask its intentions to purchase the largely student-run station, whose staff was kept completely in the dark about the ongoing negotiations.

… it turns out, they already had an agreement with the Houston Chronicle to “embargo” the story until the day of the regents’ vote …

Houston Press: “Rice, UH Officials Made Embargo Agreement With Chronicle On KTRU Story So They Could Have ‘A Quiet Weekend’“

… the Houston Chronicle’s initial reporting on Rice’s controversial sale of KTRU to UH was glowingly positive, at least in part because of a deal where the paper agreed to hold the information until the schools wanted it released.

[Thrane] suggests keeping the lid on internally as much as possible until the board meeting to approve the deal. “That way we don’t risk the KTRU folks going into full roar, and triggering a press frenzy, ahead of your regents’ action.”

Keeping the Public in Public Radio: “‘Because I Said So’“

Such, then, is the final word of the ham-fisted bureaucrats at Rice University in the ongoing public relations disaster that has been the impending sale of KTRU, the student-run 50,000-watt radio station in Houston. Bumbling from one mealy-mouthed rationale to the next …

The Rice Thresher: “Public information request reveals Rice-UH KTRU email correspondence“

Recently the Thresher was given access to a collection of email correspondences pertaining to the sale of KTRU’s transmission tower, broadcasting license and frequency [obtained by] filing an open records request. The information below will update throughout the week, and a succinct overall analysis will appear in next week’s print and web issues.

Burn Down Blog: “Growing opposition to the KTRU sale OR Know Your FCC Commissioners“

The fact that someone with direct experience serving as an FCC commissioner shows that KTRU has a chance. Someone whose job it was to regulate license transfers expressly opposes the KTRU sale.

Where are the blessings of localism, diversity and competition here? I see centralization, not localism; I see uniformity, not diversity; I see monopoly and oligopoly, not competition.