In 1967, students at Rice University set up a two-watt radio station, broadcasting news, music and covering notable local events. Over the past forty-three years, the station has grown to a 50,000-watt powerhouse, a model for college programmers everywhere, and the greater Houston area's alternative to the Clear Channel, Z-Rock, Power Country wasteland that is American radio today.
The station was built by the students, was grown by the students and is maintained by the students and a large community of supportive listeners throughout the Houston area.
Now, it's being taken away.
This year, university president David Leebron entered secret negotiations to sell the station's broadcasting license and frequency to the University of Houston, which would relegate KTRU to internet-only status. But Rice students and fans of radio diversity are having none of it.
Students have organized a strong effort to block the sale of the license. They are supported not only by the larger community, but even students at the University of Houston, who like KTRU's eclectic programming just the way it is.
You can add your voice to the opposition to the sale by checking out SaveKTRU.org's How to Help page.. In an era where culture is dictated and airwave diversity is shrinking, please help maintain this bastion of aural freedom.
A personal note:
Some may wonder why I'm writing about this, a subject off my beaten path in a city far from my own. I'm well past what might have been my university years, in a city with wonderful stations like WWOZ and college radio giant WTUL. Why would I care if some smart aleck kids get their license yanked?
Because I've seen it happen before, and I know how much poorer the community is without real choice in radio.
In the mid-1970s, WGTB was the hippest radio going in Washington, and that's saying a lot for a place that boasted AOR pioneer WHFS, public radio lynchpin WAMU and, if you were on a high enough hill, bluegrass haven WWVA out of Wheeling (now, sadly, just another megaphone for the likes of Rush and Beck).
But 'GTB was the bad boy, flirting with hardcore Left politics, punk and album-oriented from albums you never heard of.
So bad, in fact, that the Jesuit management of Georgetown University felt a bit uncomfortable having the university's name on such a stream. In 1978, at a dinner celebrating the opening of the city's new public university, Georgetown president Fr. Tim Healy shocked the crowd by announcing that Georgetown would give its license and frequency to the new University of DC for the princely sum of one dollar.
With one hat trick, Healy bought Georgetown a heap of goodwill with the new school, soothed angry alumni and outraged Catholics, and gave those punk kids a poke in the eye. He also deprived the nation's capital of its freest, most diverse radio voice, and we were all the poorer for it.
Having seen what the loss of a truly independent radio voice can do to a city, I don't want to see it happen in Houston. Please, sign the petition and write Rice president Leebron. Don't let 'em take the radio.
Some additional material:
Station history from the Rice Thresher
"Radio Free Georgetown," a history of the Georgetown/GTB battle from Washington City Paper
History of WWVA, Wheeling, WV
Update: As TheGreatLeapForward notes below, the deadline for turning in paper petitions passed Thursday. However, the online petition referenced by MarciaJ720 is still hot. Add your voice.