The following is excerpted from a letter sent from KPFT to KTRU.

Dear KTRU DJs and friends,

It is with great sadness that we observe the fate facing KTRU, a Houston cultural institution that blazed trails. It offered programming commercial radio would never touch or, in rare cases, would only make way for many years later.

We empathize with the financial troubles besetting Rice University. As a nonprofit, KPFT is constantly facing a challenging fiscal outlook and media landscape.

We share your concerns about media consolidation, and we hope this struggle reminds everyone about the need for true media diversity.

KPFT management thinks it would be a shame to lose so many incredible KTRU programs.

…

KPFT’s staff recognize you have unique talents and we genuinely want you to be part of Houston’s first and, possibly, last community radio outlet. Houston’s music and cultural scenes need you.

In solidarity,

Ernesto Aguilar
Program Director, KPFT

Duane Bradley
General Manager, KPFT

Read the full statement at KPFT.org »

Hey y’all
Just wanted to say that I’m a KTRU-believer in New England. I lived in Houston for my first twenty years. I’m a DJ at WMUA, the college radio station at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. With no hyperbole, I wouldn’t have ever been inspired to do my own radio show (and my record collection wouldn’t exist) if KTRU hadn’t completely transformed my view of music when I was a weird misfit kid on the fringes of suburban Houston who stumbled across KTRU on the radio dial in 1995 or 1996.

I cherish the notebooks I still have with KTRU playlists from the mid-to-late ’90s meticulously archived in my awkward teenage handwriting, complete with commentary (like “BEDHEAD”, with lots of exclamation points). Seriously, when I was growing up in Houston, ALL I wanted to do was be a DJ at KTRU someday. In high school, the first thing I did when I inherited my hand-me-down car was to slap a KTRU bumper sticker on the back window. I didn’t have cool older siblings to give me a musical education & my only outlet for finding out about creative, unconventional music was fanatically buying independent music zines from strip-mall bookstores. When I discovered KTRU, I was finally able to actually HEAR all of this great music I had been reading about. That’s what saddens me the most about all of this – online radio is fine (we stream online at WMUA & I know a lot of people listen via that outlet), but you can’t replace that serendipity of flipping through the radio dial at random & stumbling across something that blows your mind.

When people find out that I’m from Houston, the very first thing I rave about is not the museums, not the Vietnamese food, but KTRU. Every time I come back to Houston to visit my family, my mom makes sure that she has KTRU on in the car when she picks me up from the airport. I’ve been spreading the word about this awful news to all of the DJs & listeners at WMUA, posting about it on my radio playlist blog & sending out links through the WMUA Facebook page – even though most of them have never been lucky enough to actually listen to KTRU, it’s obvious how much the station impacted me during my formative years & they recognize the need to voice their support for college radio EVERYWHERE. Western Mass college radio is in solidarity with y’all!

Erika Elizabeth
Expressway To Yr Skull – WMUA 91.1FM, Amherst, MA

KTRU played a large role in my education. I learned the ins and outs of the radio business. I participated in a student-organized, student-run, widely patronized public service. I learned the power of taking control of my action and becoming involved in a community. The KRTU signal is one of the few student voices that gets heard “beyond the hedges.” To lose it would be a great tragedy: for the students; for Houston; and for the internet-listening community.

As a DJ, I discovered great music from all over the world and throughout history — and had the great opportunity to share that experience with the listening public.

Please stop this tragedy.

– Patrick Flanagan (Lovett, 1999)

My time at Rice (which included a wonderful three year stint as KTRU deejay) was hugely important in my life.  It was where I started down the path to become a writer and where I met the like-minds who are still my closest friends.  However, increasingly over the last decade, the administration has made decisions that have begun transforming Rice into a university where I would not send my own child (or support with my donations).  The selling of KTRU (particularly in this way) is the nail in the coffin.  I’m done.

Mary Helen Specht, 2001, Hanszen

I was a late bloomer.  I graduated from Rice in 1995, and, though I listened to KTRU some, I didn’t deejay.

Fast forward to 2004, 9 years after graduation and with an MBA under my belt, I put out an indie album as a way to deal with life in corporate America.  I pressed 2000 CDs.  Not knowing really what to do with them once I got them, I marched a copy over to KTRU.  The deejay on staff played a track from my record right there and then – on the air!  I fell in love with the deejay booth, the station, and the thought of deejaying right then and there.

I ended up deejaying for a semester, 9-10 years after graduating, on Wednesdays (I think it was) from 4-7 a.m.  Then I drove to work.  I loved it.  I only regret that it took me so long to realize what a gem KTRU really is.

Rice won’t get another dime from me if they go through with this sale, and I’ve done my best to make them know that.

Let me know what else I can do.

Sincerely,

Jeff Greer

I actually wasn’t very big into KTRU until I had a few friends who had friends who worked for the station. That’s what got me started in listening more closely. That was around my junior year, the same time I was really active in student government and worked with the administration quite a bit. By my senior year, I was tuning in for programs like the jazz evening, or that person’s show, etc. For a while I even thought about getting my broadcasting license and joining the ranks of KTRU; instead, I joined the Thresher. But kept listening; in fact, to this day, when I’m in Houston, I make a point of tuning in just to see what it’s up to.

KTRU is one of the ways Rice presents itself to the city. It acts, I believe, largely independent of the University as a whole, especially of its administration, in terms of what is actually said and done on the station (what music is played, etc.) which is, I suppose, why the administration has no problem selling it off. It’s what makes me interested in tuning in: to hear what that side of the community has to say. It offers an alternative to commercial radio. I suppose that would remain the same if sold to U of Houston, but isn’t the city large enough to have two public college radio stations?

I’m now a freelance musician, musicologist and DJ living in Vienna, Austria. It saddens me to think that a place as prosperous and well-endowed as Rice would sell off one of its cultural assets, and find shutting down a form of student and community expression and communication OK. Especially without having consulted the very community which values it.

Why would Rice be willing to do away with its only radio station? And where will that money go? To their arts department, or Shepherd School, or student union? Or are there other justifications for their plans?

This doesn’t speak well for Rice’s current administration. I’ll certainly think twice before donating to the University next time.

Sincerely

Erik Leidal, Sid Rich ’94 (matriculated in ’89, I was on the 5-year plan with 2 degrees)

There are so many feelings I have right now as I try to comprehend the covert sell-off of KTRU, but the main thing I keep wondering, as this year’s freshmen enter, is this: what would I have lost if this debacle were to have transpired in 1991, when I matriculated, instead of 2010?

The list is long. I would have not gained valuable experience in public speaking, in leadership, in organizing and publicizing events. I would not have had my chance to interact with a wide cross-section of the Houston community, from musicians to promoters to non-profit organizers to shift-workers trying to stay awake at 3 in the morning. I wouldn’t have learned how to operate a mixing board, or what the FCC’s obscenity policy was, or how to review a CD concisely and usefully, or the best way to tell a record promoter you’re not playing their band. I wouldn’t have challenged and expanded my musical horizons, met and interviewed some of my favorite musicians, had the experience of hearing my own bands on the radio. I wouldn’t have made some of my best friends in the world, friends from different disciplines and residential colleges or from the community whose paths I would have never crossed at Rice without the benefit of KTRU.

Is that enough? It’s not even a start. I was a philosophy and political science major, but I make a living today as a film and tv editor. And my very first experience editing came about through a connection made through KTRU, a fellow DJ who wanted to get people to make music videos for his album. I didn’t know anything about the process, never having taken any classes in the subject, but one thing I learned from KTRU is that exploring something unknown was much more exciting than staying safely within your comfort zones. And so I made a video, and fell in love with the editing process, and through a very long and winding road eventually came to make a living doing just that, something I have never done in either of my official majors. And so I can truthfully say that the road to my career began at KTRU.

Then there’s the less tangible, the gleeful arbitrary moments of randomness that truly made KTRU such a treasure in my heart, things like that exciting feeling when you hit play on a song you’ve never heard before and discover your new favorite band, the limitless array of customized bumperstickers (“clever sticker” being a personal favorite), the random banter of sleep-deprived DJs at 3 in the morning, the outdoor shows (I can still picture vividly Trenchmouth, John Fahey, Voice of Eye, and so many others), the midnight croquet (which I can only hope still happens), the glorious feeling of picking up KTRU’s signal at 2 in the morning when driving home from Austin, the warm glow when you play a treasured band and get a phone call from a passionate listener excited to find out what song you’re playing, the modified graffiti (“I will be fodder!”), the knowing pain you feel when you hear a fellow DJ press the wrong button at the wrong time, and all of that barely scratches the surface. These things may not be important in the larger picture, but they are the things that I and so many others remember and cherish when looking back on our university experience, things that continue to make up a huge part of our identity to this very day.

To suggest that improved food service even remotely resembles a worthwhile trade for all of this is a sick joke. To suggest that an Internet-only solution would provide even a meaningful fraction of the KTRU experience is delusional.

My career, my friends, my skills, my growth experiences, and my memories can’t be taken away by the administration of Rice, thankfully. But the next time I return to Houston, if I get in my rental car and turn the dial to 91.7 and fail to hear KTRU, there will be a small dead place in my heart, the place where what goodwill I had for my alma mater used to live. Rice without KTRU as a student-run radio station would have been, and will be, an impoverished experience for many students. Should this appalling sell-off of KTRU come to pass, as the only school in the top 25 without a student-run radio station, I hope that the best and brightest of tomorrow take both the lack of KTRU and the administration’s gross disrespect for its student body into consideration when determining where they will attend school.

But my much deeper, much stronger hope is that KTRU remains in student hands, and that some of the freshmen of 2010, of 2020, of 2030 can have the rich, rewarding experience that I had.

Doug Dillaman, Will Rice ’95, KTRU Music Director ’94-’95

I didn’t have much of a sense of KTRU when I was a student…it was hard to get on campus at the time (pre 91.5).  It was really only after leaving school and moving further away from campus that I really started to understand what a gem the station was.

I think I was pushed to listen initially by some dj’s I knew…I’d turn it on from time to time listening to see if they were on.  And what I found was some absolutely amazing music.  Music that was truly interesting.  I think the first song I really fell for on KTRU was Free Guitar Lessons For Animals, by Flossie and the Unicorns.  It was so bizarrely awesome, I loved it.

I made any number of friends listen to it…it was one of the songs that were part of getting to know me, “Hey you have to listen to this!”.  Another fond addition to my musical collection which came from listening to KTRU was the user and the Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers.  Talk about serious nostalgia for childhood.

And then there were the shows…I remember bouncing with excitement the first time I heard the children’s show and old songs that I remembered from my childhood.  And when I first heard Blues In Hi-Fi I was completely blown away, it remains one of the most amazing things I have ever encountered.  It’s a shame that it’s on wednesdays, really, I end up missing it often due to other committments, but I love that show passionately.

And an important thing about it is that, although I like just sitting and listening to it, I really prefer listening to it while driving.  There’s something about driving and listening to good radio…I feel I can focus more fully on the music than if I’m sitting in a quiet room.  I think it’s because on the road, I don’t get distracted in to thinking about other things…that part of my mind is engaged with driving.  So I’m able to really enjoy the music in a way I don’t when I’m at the house.  And that’s one of the big reasons I lament the loss of the transmitter–I really like KTRU, but I LOVE listening to KTRU in my car.

There are, of course, other shows that I also love.  Chicken skin music is great, and the vinyl frontier holds a special place in my heart as well.  I used to play trivia every Tuesday, and the show was always on when I was headed home at the end of the evening.  But I also love the unprogrammed shows, listening to students picking up albums they clearly have no familiarity with and picking a track that sounds interesting.  It’s great getting to explore music along with them.

And although I really do love some of the conventional music, I really love the esoteric music as well. When I’m listening to a track on KTRU where it’s challenging to see the musicality (ambient noise, or feedback, say), I’m always reminded of the great American composer Charles Ives, and how his dad would stretch his ears as a child.  Although the image that comes to mind is the cartoon from “Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys”, where his ears are being pulled by weights, of course what he meant is that his dad would make them listen to sounds that challenged their perception of music (a quick google search comes up with an example “such as having them sing “Swanee River” in E-flat while he accompanied them in the key of C”).

And that’s what I think KTRU is great at, and what I’m so thankful for.  It’s helped me to appreciate music in a completely different way, to appreciate and enjoy each track for what it is, not for how it fits into some preconceived notion I have of what it should be.  I’ve been so spoiled by the variety of music that KTRU plays, I have a hard time feeling musically satisfied listening to anything else.  My 80GB iPod doesn’t hold nearly enough music on it to give me the same sort of variety that I can get all the time on KTRU.  And you know what, my dirty secret?  I even love robo-KTRU.  It’s so much better being able to have music coming from KTRU than having to turn to my own not-insubstantial collection, or, god-forbid, to the other radio stations on the air.

There’s nothing like it.  When I travel, I’ve looked for other stations like it, but there just isn’t any.  Other college stations…they end up talking too much, or they play music that is, frankly, too mainstream.  I hear the mainstream stuff everywhere else, thank you very much, I want my KTRU where I can listen to things I’d never know existed if it weren’t for the fantastic DJs of KTRU discovering music for and along with me.

Jacy Grannis
Baker, 1999

“I can’t believe this is even being considered. Shock, disbelief and anger. I feel betrayed.

An undergrad education is much more than taking a bunch of courses and learning the material. I consider my experience at KTRU some of the best times I had at Rice. And looking back – the skills I learned there have served me just as well as the standard education that I got from coursework. Those experiences changed me immeasurably by providing a hub for a group of people that supported creativity, valued community and community service, and supporting working towards a shared goal. What better way to learn how to make it in the world?

I sincerely hope that this wonderful institution isn’t lost for the future students of Rice.”

Jim Kelsey
B.A. Physics 1986 – Lovett

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

Dear President Leebron,

I was a grad student at Rice from 1994 to 2001. I’m disappointed to hear that there is once again controversy on campus over the radio station. I do not know whether the proposed asset sale is right or wrong, however, it’s abundantly clear that the issue is being handled poorly.

In 2004 when Rice was faced with hard questions about the future of its athletics program, the McKinsey report was made available to all members of the community. That was a smart move. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, and I’m sure it generated lots of heated debate, but it was the right way to proceed. Decisions behind closed doors strike everyone in the wrong way, even those who might be inclined to agree with the action.

I have no doubt that the board has made this decision with the best possible intentions. But President Bush took us to Iraq with the best possible intentions. Indeed, I suspect that the “corruption” that comes from power is little more than a too confident belief in one’s own perspective.

When you write that confidential negotiations were a necessity I feel sorrow. I do not believe you. I want to, but I can’t.

You have a made a mistake, but there is still time to right this error. I encourage you to postpone the sale and open the issue to campus wide discussion. Let the stakeholders be informed. If the sale is appropriate then this will become apparent, and it can be done with a clear conscience.

Sincerely,
Curtis Haaga

“My experience at KTRU has been the highlight of my years at Rice. Growing up, I was obsessed with music and the independent and college radio stations in my hometown (Cleveland), so as an undergrad, it was a dream come true to be a college radio DJ at one of the largest, most well-respected, and most culturally significant college radio stations in the country.”

Read her full letter »

Response to president of Rice University on notice of termination of KTRU.

Sorry David but I do lament this decision. Some of the most creative people at Rice in the 70′s and 80′s were DJ’s at KTRU. This is an important avenue and expression outlet for creative music and journalistic reporting. I may agree it was underutilized but my challenge to you if to consider how much of that was do to undersupport of the administration. I do realize the world is changing but I hope this is not a backlash against a “leftist Leaning Liberal college radio station’. KTRU kept a numer of students sane and probably saved lives and college careers of many. To take the measly $9.5 million legacy of KTRU and put it into the side building project capital fund for a ”servery” is an affront to all Rice Alumni.

Dont insult your alumni base, take that money and fund permanent blog reporting and creative music, and journalism programs at rice for the students. Pay for cafeteria annexes out of the building fund. Truly insulting.

Dont ignore the legacy of KTRU.

Do a better job and research the legacy of KTRU so you understand what you have killed.

You may now force me to to start a blog against any future alumni donations to the permanent fund until KTRU services in kind are restored to the studen body.

Please reconsider at least part of your decision. The priorities as outlined dont respect KTRU’s legacy.

John Bins, P.E.
Baker 83

Here’s my letter to the administrators:

I am extremely upset by the news I received this morning regarding the sale of KTRU’s radio tower. As a native Houstonian and KTRU DJ / volunteer, I was very proud to be part of KTRU and I had tangible evidence every day that I was participating in something that benefitted the city where I grew up. The availability of adventurous, free-form programming on FM radio was something that made Houston unique and put it in very elite company. I have lived in cities all across the country since graduating in 1993, continuing to develop my love for music of all varieties, and I can say that most places have nothing on the FM dial that will open your mind to new possibilities the way that KTRU has done consistently for 40 years. I’ve also listened to thousands of hours of online radio programs and I know that an online stream without an FM component cannot speak to and support its community the way that KTRU does. Please, please reconsider this uninformed decision and keep KTRU on the radio. If this cannot be done, I will consider it an act of contempt against me and the city whose reputation I have always defended. I will be finished forever with making contributions to Rice.

Daniel L. Pond, ’93