Rally to Save KTRU a Huge Success
Protesters listen to speakers at Sunday's rally to save KTRU
Braving oppressive sun, heat, and humidity, hundreds of members of both the Rice University and greater Houston communities convened on Rice’s academic quadrangle today at 2pm for a rally to save KTRU.
Carrying homemade signs and wearing KTRU t-shirts, the crowd listened as a series of speakers, including current students, faculty, and alumni, spoke about why KTRU should be saved. Speakers shared personal anecdotes, including tales of how KTRU had benefited their own lives and careers. Some reflected on the importance of KTRU to the larger Houston community and independent media. Others focused on deconstructing arguments used by the university administration to justify KTRU’s sale.
Members of KTRU’s student board stressed that they will not back down in the fight for the radio station. Station Manager Kelsey Yule asserted that even if the station were to go off the air this week, the fight that began when the news was announced publicly last Monday was “just the beginning.”
An audio recording of the full rally will be posted here soon. Please check back!
A Rice mathematics professor speaks at the rally.
Houston Chronicle: 200 protest Rice decision to sell radio station
“When Rice University alumna Rachel Orosco heard about her college’s plan to sell its student-run radio station, KTRU, to the University of Houston she became so distraught that she jumped on a flight to Houston to protest.”
“Orosco — a former KTRU station manager — was among roughly 200 students, faculty and community members who gathered on the Rice campus Sunday afternoon to protest the $9.5 million sale of the station’s broadcast tower, FM frequency and license.”
Houston Press: KTRU Protest Draws Staff, Students From Both Universities
“Student DJ Joey Yang, who helped organize the rally, spoke of Rice’s upcoming 100-year anniversary and the station’s 40-year history as a student-run entity. He said he’d learned that over a year ago Rice began looking for someone to take the station ‘off of their hands,’ to which someone in the audience angrily replied ‘It’s not their station!'”
RALLY TO SAVE KTRU! SUNDAY AUGUST 22, 2pm AT RICE UNIVERSITY
Join us in a peaceful, non-violent protest to Save KTRU this Sunday, 2:00 pm at Rice University, in the Academic quad in front of the statue of William Marsh Rice. Wear your KTRU t-shirt, make a clever picket sign, bring your friends, and be prepared to make some noise for college radio.
The rally will feature speeches from station manager Kelsey Yule, community DJ Greg Starks, post-punk show DJ Lindsey Simard, Revelry Report DJ Matt Wettergreen, Rice University/KTRU alumna Heather Nodler, Rice student DJ Kevin Bush, Rice student DJ Joey Yang, Professor of Computation and Applied Mathematics Steven J. Cox, Professor of Composition and Theory at The Shepherd School of Music Arthur Gottschalk, and General Manager of KPFT Duane Bradley.
There will be an informal pre-protest gathering before the rally starting at 11am, Sunday, August 22nd, at Valhalla in Rice University where you can help us make signs, write chants, and print t-shirts before we walk over to Willy’s statue at 1:30pm.
KTRU's Position on the Proposed Sale to UH
1. The greater Houston community, the music world, and Rice students would all lose out with this deal.
- Houston radio listeners would have less choice, less diversity, and less commitment to local and diverse artists.
- Artists, record labels, and clubs would no longer have an avenue in the U.S.’s 4th largest city to promote their work.
- Rice students—setting aside the “internships” KUHC will offer—would no longer have the opportunity to learn leadership, management, and communications skills in a hands-on environment.
2. We are actively pursuing steps to stop the sale of KTRU’s FM frequency, license and tower to KUHF.
3. We call upon the administration of Rice University to return FM broadcast capability to the hands of KTRU immediately.
4. Online broadcasting is a poor substitute. In fact, KTRU has been available online for many years.
Texas Watchdog: UH Regents meeting violates Texas Open Meetings Act
[T]he agenda item for Tuesday’s public meeting at which the U of H purchase approved negotiating the purchase may have been lacking in full disclosure, said Joe Larsen, a lawyer with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
[U of H rep Karen Clarke] said as the deal progressed over the last few weeks, Rice “was concerned about why it would go public and even said, ‘Why do we have to do this in public?’
“We knew that some Rice students might be upset, but the way it was portrayed [by Rice] was that it was a small and insignificant number and that they would manage it. We never got the impression that it would cause an uproar.”
Print out a petition and get it signed!
Print out a petition and have the people around you show their support for KTRU!
Please remember that a petition is a legal document. These simple steps will help every signature count:
- The printed portions need to be reasonably legible.
- They must also give their zip code and at least a phone number *or* email (in case the signatures need to be verified).
- Each person can only sign once. They can’t sign for someone else. It looks obvious and would disqualify both signatures.
- The empty space on the both sides of the petition must stay empty.
- Signature sheets will be numbered AFTER the pages are collected and reviewed.
- Please do not add any numbering, extra comments, etc.
- Please do not alter the layout so all pages of petition are the same.
Petitions must be completed by Thursday the 26th and handed to Austin W,
Vincent C, Miguel Q or Greg S. You can contact Greg at 713-806-7455 or cliffordmcmurty@yahoo.com. We’ll have a mailing address shortly for those KTRU supporters outside of Houston. If someone signed the previous petition on colored paper or on-line, they can sign still this offical paper petition.
