EXTRA: Listen to Laura’s audio testimonial (MP3), in which she describes how KTRU helped her to overcome her fear of public speaking.

I began DJing at KTRU my freshman year at Rice. My shift was from 4-7 AM on Sunday morning, so I would typically stay up all night Saturday night, go get breakfast after I got off Sunday morning, and then sleep for the rest of the day. I remember that keeping that schedule was grueling and sometimes meant I didn’t get to party as much as I wanted to on Saturday nights, but it was worth it. From the very beginning, I loved playing music on KTRU, and it made me feel like I had a real job to do: I had to make sure to observe the rules so that KTRU could keep its FCC license. I continued DJing throughout my college years and for two years after I graduated. I didn’t go to a lot of Rice Young Alumni or sports events; that weekly contact with KTRU was really what kept me anchored to Rice. When I left Houston in the fall of 2008 for a new job, I knew that KTRU would be one of the things I missed the most about Houston.

I have a couple of great memories of KTRU. One thing I both loved and sometimes hated about KTRU was the insistence that each DJ play 7 “playlist” tracks an hour. Since most of us weren’t great about doing our reviews, Mark Flaum ended up reviewing most of the playlist, and he seemed to have a particular affinity for wordless electronic music. I know we weren’t supposed to be doing this, but at one point a DJ I trained with showed me his special technique for getting through the playlist tracks: he would play spoken word on top of it.

During my junior and senior years, my DJ partner Justin and I had pretty good shifts in the late afternoon. He had just started the post-punk show, which I ended up hosting with him, so he was trying to go through all of the general stacks records to find out what KTRU had and what we needed. Many of the records were misfiled, and many record sleeves were falling apart. if we didn’t know what something was and it looked interesting or was from the time period we were interested in for our show, we would pull it out, preview it, and put it on air during the general shift show. We made a lot of discoveries that way, both good and bad. However, my favorite discovery was a Best of the Monkees record, which we thought was strictly verbotten because of KTRU’s “no popular music” policy. We didn’t put it on air, but we would call and request it thereafter if we knew the DJ.

Being a specialty show host was a very different experience: the time slots were better, and the other hosts were generally community members or alumni, which suited me perfectly once I graduated. Our show was only an hour and directly before the Local Show. However, when the Local Show started hosting live shows on air, our time was sometimes expanded because of the various intricacies involved with setting up live shows. Although DJing while the bands were soundchecking could get frustrating, it was also very exciting. I think it was exciting for many of the bands as well, and a great outlet for these local bands with small shows to promote themselves. I heard some of my favorite Houston bands first on KTRU.

Laura Bellows,
Brown College,
Class of 2006

President Leebron,

After reading your form letter, I feel that I must clarify a stance myself and many of my fellow Rice alumns passionately maintain. Since the closing years of Mr. Gillis’ presidency, the administration has eroded the very foundations of the Rice undergraduate experience, from class size to student involvement to opening campus to independent concessions to the rape of the little remaining green space. The deceitful sale of the KTRU broadcast license and transmitter was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I cannot condone the actions of the administration and stand by my commitment to withhold all future contributions to the university. I can no longer promote in any way your systematic dismantling of what was once a unique and singular institution.

I would invite you to reference the KPFT-aired discussion on the community impact of your decision if you do not believe your actions will cause any lasting damage to the greater Houston cultural climate.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Pavlak
Martel ’06
Editor-in-Chief, Rice Campanile 2004-2005

Dear President Leebron,

My name is Jeff Baxter.  I graduated from Rice in 1995 with a BA in philosophy and a BS in electrical engineering, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1998, and, since then, have been practicing as a patent attorney at Baker Botts.

I am shocked and deeply disappointed by your decision to sell KTRU.  No, you are not simply selling the frequency and broadcast tower.  You are selling Rice’s college radio station.  Please do not pretend that a web-based alternative can somehow server as adequate compensation.

During my time at Rice, I was a DJ and music director at KTRU, and I also worked on a committee to organize the annual spring concert.  Outside of my studies, KTRU was the thing into which I poured my heart and soul.  It was the thing that I loved most about Rice.  Certainly, not everyone shared my same enthusiasm for the radio station.  But that was part of what made Rice great.  At that time, Rice encouraged and fostered individuality.  Everyone could find their niche.  That culture made Rice special.  By selling KTRU, you are forever destroying that.  And for what?  Better food service?  More buildings?

When I think back on my years at Rice, I fondly recall my experiences at KTRU.  It was those experiences — not the food that I ate or the buildings in which I attended class — that shaped me into the person I am today.  Without KTRU, I would have never been accepted to Harvard Law School.  KTRU was the subject of my application essay.  It was the unique experience that separated me from the flood of other applicants. Now, the experience that I so cherished has been taken away from future students.

Please reconsider what makes a university like Rice great.  Is it the university’s culture and the experiences it affords it students?  Or is it the food and buildings?

If this sell is completed, Rice is no longer the university that I loved.  I do not think I will be able to return to campus.  That saddens me.

Regards,
Jeff

Jeff Baxter

Baker Botts, L.L.P.
2001 Ross Avenue
Dallas, TX 75201-2980

“Rice has always produced a certain kind of person– these kinds of people I love and think the world needs more of. I don’t want Rice to become a cookie cutter private university.”

Read the full post here >

When I visited Rice University as a potential student in 1997, I met a student who invited me to accompany her on her 4-7am shift at KTRU. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my visit to KTRU was one of the primary reasons I chose to attend Rice. One year later, I was proud to have a 4-7am general shift of my own. In my second year I was the Promotions Director as well as a DJ, restarting the publication of the KTRU Folio, writing public service announcements, silk-screening home made t-shirts for the station and making flyers to promote the Outdoor Show.

In my third year, I found myself in the somewhat less desirable position of trying to force myself to leave the house after being physically sick the morning I learned that KTRU had been shut down in stated direct response to the civil disobedience that I had chosen to participate in the night before– the simultaneous broadcast of a Rice Athletics game and my scheduled show. I clearly remember dragging myself into the Jones Commons’ during breakfast, standing on a chair, and trying to hold back tears as I told my classmates what had happened.

My memory of the weeks following the shutdown of 2000 are hazy, but I can honestly say that the greatest regret of my life to this point has been that I did not protest more loudly and with more conviction. Some may say that if this is my greatest regret, I have certainly lived a charmed life. However, I look at it from the point of view that KTRU is *that* crucial of a resource for Rice students and the Houston community– KTRU is *SO* important to me that my greatest regret in life is that when I took a stand, I did not stand up for it as strongly as humanly possible.

When we are teenagers, we feel injustice more strongly. Similarly, art can be life-changing, music sounds better, and it is worth remembering that it will never sound that good again. It is a testament to KTRU that for myself and for hundreds of other DJ’s and alumni, the passion we feel for KTRU as a cultural institution to this day is NO less than the passion we felt for it when we were 18.

The secretive sale of the KTRU broadcast license to UH is unjust, disrespectful, and shameful. The reasons for the sale as cited by President Leebron in his letters do not make logical sense, and his assertion that universities are entering a new age in which we must sacrifice “underutilized resources” to meet our PRIORITIES is simply confusing, as apparently an “underutilized resource” does not refer to activities that lose more money than they could potentially bring in (see the Rice Athletics program), but instead refers to the sterilization of what could be seen as a minority group of undesirable weirdos with a public face.  What other resources will be sacrificed to attain this brave new digital world of prioritized gleaming chrome food serveries? I loved my experience at Rice because of the very qualities it claims to value as seen on the official quote on its Facebook page: “radical”, “unconventional”, “passionate” thinking people– words that can also be used to explicitly describe the KTRU mission, but much less so a dormitory cafeteria.

Among all the other problems that have been brought up with the sale of KTRU, President Leebron needs to tell the Rice community what his Priorities are, in the most specific terms possible. Is it the corporatization of Rice University as a for-profit business? Is it to foster academic freedom and research via the creation of a campus that values creativity in ideas from all areas?

Whatever his Priorities may be, it is crucial that the alumni know what they are, so we can decide if we want to continue supporting what Rice University stands for. It is not a question of the University ultimately “changing over time” and alumni resisting the changes– it is a question of the values we as a society want to promote in the education of our young people, and indeed in the operation of an academic institution: independence, creativity, humanity, leadership, originality, passion, and openness.

If the Priorities of Rice University are accurately reflected in the events undertaken secretly for the last year and (reluctantly) in public for the last week, I do not support them ethically, financially, academically, or personally, and will never again give Rice the benefit of my praise or my money.

Save KTRU.
Victoria Keener, Ph.D.
2002, Jones, BS Bioengineering

I served as Program Director from 2006-2008, Business Manager from 2007-2008, and a proud Americana DJ from 2006-2009. KTRU was a refuge for me at Rice. Some of my favorite memories came from the ridiculous overnight shifts and the crazy calls and conversations I had at 4 am with people either drunk or getting off of work. We meant something to those people, those that mainstream media forgets. KTRU taught me that life is better when I live outside of the box and that dot matrix printers can form a beautiful symphony. I have never been around such a diverse group, and such a passionate group of people. It has killed me over the past week that future students are not going to be able to experience that. They won’t be able to play an alphabet show and discover the Skating Club. They won’t be able to review albums and listen to a pre-release of the Maybellines or TV on the Radio. They won’t be able to take epic adventures with their Station Manager to conferences in St. Louis and eat vegan French Toast in a super-sketchy part of town (maybe that was just me, but it’s in keeping with the spirit of the station). The station exists for more than just Rice. It exists for Houston and for all of us out there that get tired of Top 40 and inane commercials. I’d never change my mind about being a part of KTRU or working to defend it.

Claire Hein

In the spring of my sophomore year at Rice, I got an awesome mixtape as a gift and I couldn’t stop listening to it. It was full of music that KTRU played– some old and some new, but all of which I had never heard before.

Over the next three years I got involved with KTRU as a DJ, promotions director, and avid listener. The mission of KTRU “to educate the station membership, the greater Houston community, and the students of Rice University through its progressive and eclectic programming in the spirit of the station’s non-commercial, educational license” worked its wonders as my horizons expanded exponentially.

Rice University has always tried to trust its students more than most other universities– the College system puts the power in the hands of the students regarding the organization of theater, sports, and other events; the Honor Code and Council relies on the students both to keep their academic standards high and to report, judge, and punish those who do not. Another point of pride for Rice University has always been the amazing opportunities for interdisciplinary interaction. Students in art and architecture and chemistry and electrical engineering all interact on such a regular basis that sometimes they even feel their disciplines are not that different.

KTRU epitomizes both of these notions. First of all, the station was built up by students over 40 years; it was run by students, programmed by students, and carried on every day because of student DJs who went to the station to play music at all hours, reviewed CDs for quality and inappropriate content, and organized shows for local talent. Secondly, KTRU brought together students from every part of campus to work together on an inherently multi-disciplinary project: sending music over radio airwaves. Through KTRU I have been exposed to so many different kinds of music, and then people, and then ideas that I never would have experienced otherwise.

Since I left Rice, I have worked as a software engineer and received a MS in electrical engineering. I am now working on my Ph.D. I have every intention to return to Rice in some form or another– as a visiting researcher, perhaps– and participate in KTRU 91.7fm once again. In the meantime, I will do all I can to keep KTRU on the airwaves.

sincerely,
Laura Balzano
Jones College, 2001 BS Electrical and Computer Engineering.
KTRU 1999-2002

I’ve been thinking about it, and I would have to say that if Rice had not had KTRU, I probably would have transferred. I came to Houston from Washington, DC, and while Rice is a fabulous place in many ways (I often argue, for example, that the architecture school is the best in the nation), the within-the-hedges monoculture of student life was pretty depressing. I spent my high school years assuming political and cultural engagement were the norm and was a little deflated to find that was not the case everywhere. But during O Week I discovered KTRU and its inhabitants and realized that there was an organization on campus that housed a band of unconventional, culturally-curious people. The average Rice student was trying to fight their way through organic chemistry (and drink their way through college nights—not that that wasn’t fun), not reach out to the greater cultural and political world, and KTRU was one of the only venues on campus where that reaching out was possible.

To me the best parts of Rice were the moments of entrepreneurialism. Taking a straightforward opportunity and turning it in to something incredible. That could apply to anything: an engineering project, a ridiculously clever college night costume, an architecture studio that actually designs and builds a low-income project, starting a coffee house whose profits would benefit causes, etc). KTRU abounded in entrepreneurialism. Firstly, just fielding all of the cd’s and promotional material that flowed in to the office from music labels around the country exposed us to the creativity that is independent music. We interacted with start-up music labels all over the world and then in turn were inspired to start our own bands and labels. I am finding myself right now developing my own very successful printing business, and it all started at KTRU, hand-printing T-shirts and cd covers for our friend’s bands.

KTRU is often about discovering and fostering new music, but while dj’ing at the station I became exposed to and obsessed with traditional music, such as bluegrass, klezmer, blues and zydeco. I became an expert in Western Swing and to this day regularly enjoy the collection of vintage albums I amassed while at Rice. My interest in this music, in turn, got me out into Houston and Texas, discovering traditional music venues in neighborhoods and cities not usually populated by Rice students and graduates. The cultural map of Houston became another obsession of mine, an interest I would carry in to my architectural graduate studies at UC Berkeley, returning again and again to Houston as a subject and a reference. Music served as my passport to the city and state, so I thank KTRU for that exposure.

At some point in my KTRU tenure I had the position of PSA director, not the sexiest job!, but I had a fantastic time getting out into Houston, looking for organizations either benevolent or idiosyncratic, to promote on the KTRU airwaves, and remember it clearly as one of my first moments of considering myself a citizen of Houston.

It was only when I moved to California that it became apparent how much KTRU and Houston had given me. KTRU had just created & hosted a jazz festival at the Shepherd School (in 1995, an impressive gathering of alternative jazz musicians from around the country) and when I landed in the SF bay area, I was already in the thick of their vibrant and groundbreaking music scene, thanks to my involvement at KTRU. Rice radio was participating & supporting the national dialogue of independent music, which only became clear once I had moved away.

I’ve given the sale of KTRU a lot of thought in the last couple days, and it is indisputable that the covert nature of the sale itself was underhanded and wrong. This action alone is enough to keep me from donating to Rice or recommending it to possible students. But I’ve also tried to maintain an open mind about the possibility of internet radio and quizzed numerous people about the viability of KTRU online. And it has become apparent that selling the signal will, in essence, kill KTRU. KTRU will not be able to participate in the CMJ reporting, and will lose its flow of music from labels worldwide. It will lose its place in the national dialogue, its vibrancy in the city, and to be honest, what student is going to want to get up at 4 am to do an internet radio show? KTRU will dwindle, no two ways about it. To state that “KTRU is not going away” is both patronizing and false. I can only hope that Rice comes to its senses and cancels the sale.

thanks
Elinor Nissley
WRC ‘93

The administration of Rice University has an obligation, as a trustee of its students, faculty and alumni, to value our contributions and opinions just as concretely as it does a new building. Not only have you and the Board of Trustees failed to do so, you have made crucial and irreversible decisions about an invaluable part of this university in secret, without consulting or informing the people for whose benefit the institution ostensibly exists. This is a breach of trust and a violation of the mores of liberal education. It is unethical.

Read the full, impassioned letter at Nonalignment Pact >

I was around in the late 1960’s when KTRU was started as a pirate radio station.  It arose during the “Bat Masterson” crisis when the Board selected Dr. Masterson to become President of the University, without any public comment or consideration.  The ruckus that arose involved  a clear majority of the student body at the time.  After a few days, Dr. Masterson withdrew his name from consideration or resigned his position.  At that time, there was no real campus-wide means of communication and rumors of all kinds were circulating wildly.  Some industrious students set up the little pirate station to serve as an information clearing house, with a signal that served virtually all of the Rice campus but no more.

Subsequent to the resolution of the Bat Masterson crisis,  the student who initially set the station up and ran it decided that they liked it, so it continued to broadcast music, have call in shows, and even hosted student “talk” radio.

KTRU was born as the result of actions being taken by the Board, presumably in secret because they knew that their decision would not be a popular one.  Now today, the identical procedure has been followed, again knowing that the decision would not be a popular one.  Whether it is the right thing to do or not is beyond my capacity to judge; however I can assure anyone that in my opinion, this is not the way the University should be conducting its business if it has any interest in retaining the support of this alumnus.

Gene Hinyard

Greetings,

I am not a Rice University student, but I am an avid KTRU listener, and I disapprove wholeheartedly of this attempted sale of the station. KTRU is not just a radio station, it is the last and only truly independent station; dismantling the airwaves will result in a deep wound that can never be mended.

After being exposed to the more intriguing and out sounds at the KTRU station, I started my own band specializing in the melding of free form noise, hip hop and folk – No Sunlite for the Media. Through this band, I have had many great opportunities to explore the power of sound and song, and to turn many other friends on to the enlightening sounds at the Rice station. In fact, when our band produces records we only send them to a single radio station – KTRU – since this station is the only legitimate broadcasting station that exists. KTRU is not simply another commodity to be traded, it is invaluable truth in radio wave form that can reach many. I was content in knowing that at least somewhere there was an institution that supported free thinking music and media that pushed beyond the mundane, and I am deeply saddened by this projected sale.

Although my car has Virginia plates, the bumper bears a KTRU rice radio sticker, and if this sale continues I will never explain again what the “rice radio” part of the sticker means without coupling my explanation with anger toward an institution so blind as to shut down its strongest asset. I am encouraging all of my friends who attend the school to cease financially supporting the university, I will no longer advertise for this college in any way (with clothing or otherwise), I no longer will have any reason to visit Houston, and I will actively explain to others why they should not attend an institution that has sold out if this sellout continues.

Please do not let this disgrace happen to your university.

Sincerely,
Matthew Horne

The opportunity of being a DJ at KTRU was the major deciding factor in my attending Rice.  I had a full scholarship at the Cooper Union in NYC, and also a full scholarship at Rutgers in New Jersey.  I decided to pay to attend Rice because of my desire to be a college DJ.

People are often surprised when they find out I was a DJ because I am very reserved, but for me it was about the music.  At KTRU I was exposed to (and I exposed the Houston area to) new genres of music and music from different cultures.  I often had the 7-9 am shift, and I had commuters call me to thank me for making their commute better.

Regards,
Diane (Golomb) Levi, Lovett ’95, B.Arch’97

While I was at Rice, I joined the one of the newest student media organizations at the time, RBT, now RTV5, the student run television station.  As a young growing organization, we looked to other outlets like KTRU and the Thresher for inspiration.  One of the first things I noticed about KTRU then was their ability to attract volunteers.  There are not many organizations on campus or off that can pull a volunteer in at 4 AM.

As the station manager at RBT I had many opportunities to learn just how special KTRU is as a media organization.  We shared faculty and staff advisors, cooperated on campus event coverage, and experimented with combined content.  We attended several college media conferences with KTRU and the Thresher, and it was clear that while Rice’s student newspaper and the newly formed student TV station could compare to much bigger and more highly funded organizations at larger schools, KTRU was in a class by itself.  Most people knew KTRU without much introduction, and those that didn’t would soon learn of the college radio station, operating at 50,000 watts, that did not need to deal with advertising or fundraising in general.  While other college radio stations learn how to legally seek underwriting while honoring their non-commercial FCC license, or fret over how to pay someone to take the midnight shift, KTRU gets to focus on bringing music and other programming to their listeners and their community. With so much energy in college media spent just trying to keep the organization afloat (this is increasingly true in commercial media too), creating meaningful content is often a secondary concern.  KTRU exemplifies the model of content as a primary concern.  Without an FM transmitter, that model will be difficult to continue.

I’m writing this letter from my desk at work as a software engineer.  I didn’t go into the broadcasting field, and I don’t even own a video camera now.  However, I count my experience with those student organizations along with all my other experiences at Rice as an integral part of my degree.  I was only indirectly involved with KTRU, but it enriched my experience at Rice.

Selling the FM transmission equipment and license is not reversible.  There is no real option of regaining this part of Rice once it’s gone.  91.7 FM is not worth $9.5 million – it’s priceless.  Please save KTRU.

Richard Adams

Will Rice 2004

I was a DJ at KTRU from 1996-1999. I remember my first shift was at 4am to 7 am, and that I got a phone call from workers on an oil rig miles offshore thanking me for a song one lonely morning. I remember seeing bands come visit the studio for interviews and drool over the music collection accumulated over the years. I remember the sense of purpose everyone that volunteered at the station felt, and the hours they would give to keep the station broadcasting.

KTRU was such a vital part of my time at Rice, and it made me happy in the years since I graduated to know that current students shared some of the same experiences I had. I am so hurt and saddened that the administration of Rice never remotely appreciated what a unique and valuable resource they had. Whatever they purchase with the $9.5 million they get from selling the station, it will never be worth the unique portion of the Rice experience that they destroy, the link to the Houston community they lose, or the loyalty of the alumni they have betrayed.

-Elio Abbondanzieri
Hanszen, ’99

I worked at KTRU for a couple of years and listened all the time.  The experience I had then still informs the way I listen to music today and the way I support my local radio station. The experience also made me more comfortable in addressing groups of people, which is pretty crucial since I spend a lot of my time before students.  I think that every university should have a radio station (the one I’m at now certainly does), and that Rice will be impoverished without one.  Good luck with the fight.

William Ethan Duckworth, `93, Lovett
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Loyola University Maryland