KTRU hosts forum to voice sale concerns

By Seth Brown     9/2/10 7:00pm

Students, alumni and members of KTRU's Houston community came to Sewall Hall 301 on Wednesday night to attend a forum on KTRU's sale. KTRU Station Manager Joey Yang said that he invited President David Leebron, Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby and Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane, but Thrane and Leebron told him that they would be unable to attend. "We're really disappointed," Yang said. "So many students came out with questions for the administration, and they weren't here to answer them."

Director of National Media Relations David Ruth said that instead of attending the forum, Rice administrators will continue to meet with KTRU and various student leaders about their concerns and future opportunities.

Yang and KTRU Music Director Kevin Bush were seated at the front of the auditorium alongside two empty chairs that were marked for "Administration Representative[s]."

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After a short introduction during which he said that KTRU is still on the air and that the sale is not a done deal, Yang asked the audience for questions and comments.

One audience member asked about the status of the KTRU Friendly Committee.

Yang said the committee, which was founded after KTRU was taken off the air for 200 hours in 2000 after a broadcasting conflict with the administration to create programming policies for KTRU, has not met in several years.

Yang said that if the administration had expressed concerns about KTRU's programming before the sale, the station would have taken the hint and made changes.

"It's not like they tugged at the rug - they just pulled it out," Yang said.

Currently the administration intends to have a committee composed primarily of students decide how the $9.5 million from the sale will be used. However, Yang said that the decision to sell the station was not the university's in the first place.

"Who's the university to say that we should be sacrificed for the sake of other student organizations?" Yang asked. "That's not their judgment call to make."

Another audience member said that those interested in opposing the sale should put pressure on the University of Houston's board, while another suggested registering a protest with the FCC.

Yang said KTRU's petitions to save the station have collected more than 4,300 signatures so far, and he said the station has received more than $5,000 in donations.

While another audience member said that the progress of technology over the next decade will mean that listening to Internet radio in the car will become more realistic, KTRU disc jockey Vincent Capurso said that changing KTRU to an Internet-only format will mean that record labels will no longer send the station free CDs to play.

Baker College junior Kieran Lyons said that he thought the lack of administrative presence at the forum showed that they did not want to be put into a situation where they were not in control.

"I think it shows that they're afraid to be held accountable," Yang said.

Yang said that KTRU will continue to press the administration to attend an open forum on the issue of the sale.

Yang took over as station manager Monday when Hanszen College junior Kelsey Yule resigned from the position.

"I have to step down as station manager for very personal reasons not related to my feelings about the struggle we're going through right now," Yule said.

Yule said that she has not yet decided if she will remain in an official board position at KTRU, but that she will continue working at KTRU and has not lost hope concerning the sale.

"I went to high school in Houston, and [KTRU] was the cool radio station to listen to - even to kids who knew they weren't going to Rice," Brown College junior Mike Lee said. "This sends the message that the administration cares more about a measly bit of change - a drop in the bucket.

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