PRC a cloaked facilitator of KTRU sale

By Olson     9/16/10 7:00pm

When I came to Rice, I thought of KTRU as one of the most exciting aspects of student life. I admired the station's unique sound: distinctly local, born from a collaboration between community members and students and the collective love of music. Recently, that community was undercut by a unilateral decision, hidden from the public even when public interests were involved; the University of Houston is, after all, a tax-payer supported institution.KTRU's space on the FM dial has been valued at $9.5 million, but what's the real price? The loss of an independent voice, one of Houston's only radio outlets for local artists and Rice's status as one of the few remaining tier-one schools with a student-run radio station. The behind-the-scenes brokering of the sale by an organization called Public Radio Capital, a branch of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, shows the loss of KTRU to be the latest casualty in a countrywide shift toward radio controlled by business interests.

Public Radio Capital's role in the sale of KTRU has not been mentioned in any of President David Leebron's communications, even though it was the party responsible for organizing the sale. Initially funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as a business resource for public radio, PRC has since led its clients through more than $240 million in radio transactions across the country, according to its website. PRC is contacted by a station owner &mdash in this case, the Rice administration &mdash with the desire to sell, and then proceeds with the work of assessing value and finding a buyer.

In the case of KTRU, PRC was contacted as much as a year prior to the announcement of the sale and was probably paid up to $10,000 for their services. These transactions are in the domain of big business. With the size and clout of entities such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PRC, there is little hope for the interests of local media or a devoted community fan base. Missing from these business deals are the ethical considerations of shutting down an FCC license created in the educational interest of the community.

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When the fate of KTRU is put in business terms &mdash the liquidation of an asset, prioritized spending &mdash the community should be alarmed. This language is the calling card of a nationwide trend that has seen local programming replaced by providers such as NPR, which, incidentally, has had a close relationship with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the last 30 years. The distinct cultural value of a station that provides its listeners with content that challenges societal norms is lost in translation.

"When a unique independent space like KTRU is eliminated ... and in its place is a net loss of local programming and space for fresh, edgy, non-established arts, organizations like PRC don't fret about these issues." says Ernesto Aguilar, producer for KPFT. "However, they effectively take a cultural weedwacker to access for local constituencies, intentionally or not."

The demise of KTRU in the wake of media conglomeration is an issue that concerns any independent mind. It is crucial that we take action against a movement that is robbing the most democratic form of media available of its diversity and value to communities.

Heather Olson is a Wiess College sophomore.

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