KTRU requests support for blanket tax

By Nick Schlossman     2/19/09 6:00pm

KTRU Rice Radio, twice voted "Houston's Best Radio Station" by the Houston Press, is asking you to support a $3 blanket tax increase in the Student Assocation General Election. But first, we'd like to tell you what goes on behind the sticker-plastered door in a corner of the Rice Memorial Center.KTRU 91.7FM is Rice's 50,000-watt student-run radio station, broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With 63 undergrads, 12 grad students, 5 faculty and staff and 14 alumni, KTRU is one of the largest student organizations on campus, and among the most electrically-powerful and musically-influential college stations in the country.

The station's goal is to educate people about the vast world of underexposed music that is ignored completely by the commercial media. Because we believe this music is produced independently of conventional genre designations, we broadcast in an eclectic free-form format without all the hype of commercial radio stations.

KTRU DJs, mostly Rice undergrads and graduate students, are given substantial freedom in deciding what they play and are encouraged to explore new types of music. Our eclectic format represents the university as a community that values learning, art and creative thinking.

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Ask a typical Rice student if she listens to KTRU, and a common response is "KTRU? All they play is weird noise, right?" Wrong. Yes, if you tune into KTRU during the Genetic Memory show you may hear ten minutes of beeps and clicks, but this represents a small fraction of the station's mission. Our programming includes 25 specialty shows ranging from Africana to Kid's Music to Blues, as well as numerous mixed general shifts that play alternative rock, electronica and hip-hop.

In fact, there's room for all kinds of Rice students at KTRU: engineers to build our equipment, journalists for KTRU News, activists to run PSAs and community events, sound technicians, managers, music-junkies, computer programmers, publicists, merchandisers and many more.

We also host weekly on-air ticket giveaways, live performances from local artists, and news reports on campus events. We have Shepherd students discussing and playing music on air and Archis producing news content. Biannually, we publish the Rice Radio Folio, a zine that supports lesser-known musicians and exposes Houston's underrated music scene.

In addition to events like the Rice Battle of the Bands and our numerous small concerts which showcase Rice talent, we give you big shows from names like RATATAT (2007), Parts & Labor (2008) and, coming up this April, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists.

KTRU DJs spin tracks at events both within the hedges - such as Rice Gallery openings and Pub's Club Willy - and outside them, at the Contemporary Arts Museum's Steel Lounge Underground series, Roller/Polar Prom and other venues. All of this is completely free to students.

However, there are substantial costs associated with the numerous benefits KTRU provides to the Rice community. The station funds itself mainly through the blanket tax, supplemented by sponsorships, business donations, and grants from within Rice, but it also faces rising costs for licensing, webcasting and utilities to feed the electronics, as well as necessary spending on music acquisitions and equipment.

KTRU's total annual expenses are more than double the blanket tax, and inflation has risen significantly since the last blanket tax increase KTRU received over 20 years ago. Raising the funds to support our on- and off-air programming has become increasingly difficult.

Our station is unique - not only on the Houston radio dial but among college radio stations nationally - for staying true to its educational, intellectual mission and consistently highlighting unknown but high-quality musicians while striving for a diverse sound.

We ask for your support so KTRU can continue to impose zero costs on the university for our operations and programming - so we can remain an organization funded by the choice of students, for the benefit of students. After all, it's your station.

Nick Schlossman is a Jones College senior and KTRU station manager. Rose Cahalan is a Martel College junior and KTRU folio editor in chief. Both are also Thresher copy editors.

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