KTRU protest draws diverse crowd

By Seth Brown     8/26/10 7:00pm

Several hundred students, alumni, faculty and other members of Houston's KTRU community gathered in the heat of the day 2 p.m. Sunday to protest the university's decision to sell KTRU's FCC broadcasting license and 50,000- watt broadcasting tower to KUHF. KUHF, which currently offers a mix of both classical music and news programming, would use the new station to split into an all-news station at KUHF 88.7 FM and an all-classical music station at KUHC 91.7 FM. A series of speakers told the assembled group, many of whom were holding signs reading "Save KTRU" and sporting black and yellow KTRU stickers, about their anger with the administration and their personal feelings about KTRU's value.

KTRU Program Director Joey Yang said that as a student organization, the administration had no responsibility or right to sell the tower and license, even if these may technically belong to the university.

"If the Student Association wants to sell [KTRU], let the SA decide," Yang, a Lovett College junior, said.

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KTRU Station Manager Kelsey Yule said the university has not told the station when KUHC will take over broadcasting on 91.7 FM.

President David Leebron said that he would talk to KTRU about when control of the tower would be transferred before this occurs.

Yule said that during the 30-day comment period required by the FCC, KTRU will be able to place both formal and informal objections. A formal objection would take the form of a petition appealing that the deal violated one of the regulations concerning such transactions, such as that noncommercial stations must "be used for the advancement of an educational program," according to the FCC Radio and Television Broadcast Rules. Yule said that KUHC will have to serve the public good, and said that KTRU can do so better.

"It [would be] transferring from student and community run to NPR-affiliated," Yule said. "It will not serve the public good better than KTRU because it's run by a company - it's about market shares."

NPR is a non-profit membership corporation consisting of noncommercial and educational radio stations. KUHF Station Manager Debra Fraser is one of 16 members of the NPR Board of Directors.

Brown College Master Steve Cox was one of several Rice faculty in attendance, and he and Composition and Theory Professor Arthur Gottschalk both spoke to the group of protesters. Cox said that the sale is bigger than just KTRU, but reflects a trend of taking or keeping students out of campus operations such as the bookstore and Brochstein Pavilion. He said that KTRU represents part of what he values about Rice - that students do not simply consume education, but participate.

"It's got to be here, got to be broadcast, got to be FM," Cox said. "We had people participating, and these participants were not brought to the table."

Among the protesters were a number of members of KTRU's Houston community. KTRU listener Rachel McLaughlin said KTRU was unique to Houston and big cities in general.

"[KTRU is] extremely well connected with our generation and the counterculture," McLaughlin said. "I'm an avid listener - KTRU was one of my largest influences as a young teenager.

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