From Alumna Maggie Large
Ever since I heard the news this morning, I have struggled to articulate my thoughts on the recently announced sale of KTRU. Shock, horror, confusion, disgust and rage– especially rage– have washed over me in ever-growing waves.
I am 34 years old. Half a lifetime ago, as a 17-year-old high school senior, the idea of working at KTRU helped sell me on attending Rice. The fact that students were given free rein to manage and staff a volunteer radio station (in addition to organizations like The Thresher) appealed to me. I was a music nut then. Still am. (I’m listening to Spoon’s “Transference” as I type– a band I first heard via the KTRU Local Show.)
My romantic vision of being able to reach an audience of like-minded music lovers quickly fused with practical reality during my first DJ shift at Rice, 4 a.m. – 7 a.m. Sunday mornings. My love for music broadened and grew with each successive shift. I became increasingly involved with the station– reviewing dozens of releases, attending meetings, getting to know the staff, going to local shows. Soon I became an assistant music director, then music director.
At KTRU, I learned to manage, multitask and maintain relationships with record labels and publications. I wrote reviews constantly and viewed each DJ shift as an opportunity to create a new musical collage. (What can I say– I was a pretentious English major.) Working at KTRU allowed me to indulge my creative whims while nurturing my budding business acumen. These skills have proved invaluable in my career as a journalist and marketing professional.
Did I mention KTRU’s people? Working for the station forged lasting bonds between Rice students of all stripes, majors, and residential colleges. Some of my closest friendships to this day came from KTRU.
I know this evidence is merely anecdotal. It doesn’t fit neatly in a spreadsheet cell. It has no meaning when one is considering assets and liabilities and how to fund an additional college servery. But it is my firm belief that the thousands of experiences like mine, coupled with KTRU’s status as a Houston cultural institution, add up to a hell of a lot more than $10 million.
For Rice’s administration and trustees to trade more than four decades of goodwill, volunteer labor, and cultural landmark status for a kitchen, without consulting the student body or greater community, is more than a slap in the face. It’s a systematic denial of what formerly made Rice University a great institution: its trust in its students.
President Leebron and the Board of Trustees have broken that sacred trust, and I can never forgive them for it.
Maggie Large, Hanszen ’98, KTRU Music Director, 1996-1998
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Well put, Maggie.
Maggie, I remember the good times as well.
Thank you, Maggie. You articulate the anger and disbelief that many of us krtu fans feel right now. I personally never attended Rice, but I grew up in West U. Ever since 1980, when I first discovered ktru on the dial, I was hooked. No other station in Houston provides the service that ktru does.
Ktru is of course worth fighting for. And from what I see around me, the community and alums and students are speaking out. I really dont think the Rice U administration was thinking, other than just be sneaky–all this cloak and dagger talk about needing to be hush hush (Whatever!)
I also understand that it takes FCC approval for the sale to be allowed? This is one option to pursue; let FCC why the sale is a bad decision. Why does a University need two radio stations anyway? Where are you going to listen to Rice sports if the sale happens? I love to listen to the games when I can’t go.
One more thing; my daughter, 17, in her senior year now in high school, has her eyes on Rice and wants to apply. She has been listening to ktru all her life. Now imagine what we have been talking about and i? Ktru IS a big selling point here, but witout it, we will look to Austin. Take care!
Thank you Maggie, that was beautiful. You said what I’ve been having such a hard time to put into words. KTRU and the Thresher sealed the deal on Rice for me too. I can’t forget the thrill of my first shift at 4am, getting calls from listeners halfway out to Austin who were listening. People were listening! And I will never forget the people I’ve known through the station. Best wishes from Philly.
Robert said, “One more thing; my daughter, 17, in her senior year now in high school, has her eyes on Rice and wants to apply. She has been listening to ktru all her life. Now imagine what we have been talking about and i? Ktru IS a big selling point here, but witout it, we will look to Austin.”
I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that I don’t think I’d consider sending my hypothetical offspring to a university that behaves so callously to its own students. Negotiating in secret? For a year? To plunder the operating resources of a student-run organization?
Give me a break.
And why is KTRU being traded for a new servery? Possibly because Rice has overspent on so many other buildings in the past few years. Why else would Leebron state the sale would “help us with the achievement of our overall capital plan within the constraints approved by our board of trustees”?
Let me translate this Leebronese into plain English: The economy stunk while we went on a spending spree, the Board got a little pissy, so with the help from McKinsey or another consulting firm, we found out we could cash in on KTRU’s signal to cover up the over-expenditures on all these buildings while dropping a new servery between Lovett and Will Rice at the same time (for the kids!). Oh yeah, and I can now tool around town listening to some Mozart, too.