Classical Birth Knell in Houston

Looks like Houston will get a full-time Classical station fairly soon, not though without some consternation and birth pains.

According to a University of Houston news release, the Board of Regents voted to buy Rice University’s  student-run radio station, 50,000 watt KTRU for $9.5-million,  If approved by the Feds it would end the station’s student-driven programming and create an all new 24-hour classical-music station, the call letters of which would be KUHC.

The students at Rice aren’t laying down quietly, mounting what always feels like a futile SOS (save our station) campaign on-line and through social networking sites. This statement appears on KTRU’s Facebook page, “Without any input from students or community members, the Rice administration has decided to sell KTRU’s signal, tower, and FCC rights to KUHF. When the dial is tuned to 91.7 fm, you’ll hear all classical all the time and the KTRU that we all know and love will be completely online. Please show your support.”

David Duff, President of the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio, shared this on the AMPPR list-serve today, “Congratulations to the folks at KUHF and the University of Houston–the Board of Regents yesterday voted to purchase the station owned by Rice University, and it will be used to provide a 24-hour classical service to the Houston market (KUHF will become 24-hour news/talk). In addition to the recent moves in Tampa and Columbus, OH to put 24-hour classical stations on the air, this is most welcome news!”

The students at the Rice station are getting an unexpected (and perhaps unwelcome) lesson in business and politics, however the city of Houston, and this rare, all classical format may be the real winners.

Onward!


About Jack Allen

Jack Allen is a self-proclaimed dreamer, raconteur, rapscallion and radio guy. He got his start in radio, a second career, in 1992 at WMRA in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The broadcasting ethers have carried him through stints in St. Paul and Austin. He can now be found leading the team at All Classical Public Media, KQAC in Portland, Oregon.

Subscribe Via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Scanning the Dial and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

4 thoughts on “Classical Birth Knell in Houston”

  1. KTRU’s current format is more “rare” than the classical format you value so much. Classical has already failed in Houston at least once; now it aims to succeed at the expense of the independent scene.

    Reply
  2. Great. At the expense of what has been a vital link to eclectic music and art for Houston for years, we get some throwback chamber music and orchestral fixed format load of poo, thank god at lest without the awful begging 4timesa year at U of H’s OTHER radio station! Screw this decision, regents! The dj’s,fans, supporters and private bare-bones financiers should get together and build a pirate network connected with transponders to dose the city for as long as they choose…there’s plenty of bandwidth and frequencies to commandeer!!

    Reply
  3. The transmitter that KHUC would use to broadcast its currently available (through HD radio and online stream) classical programming has half the effective power and a fraction of the coverage are of the current KUHF transmission equipment. Due to the congested nature of the Houston airwaves, it would not be possible to upgrade the transmitter for KUHC.

    Should KUHC go online, the vast majority of the classical listeners currently enjoying KUHF will not be able to tune into KUHC, short of going online (which means you most likely cannot listen in while driving) or investing in HD radio gear (defeating the purpose of FM radio in the first place).

    Considering the relative right-leaning nature of Houston’s talk radio audience, a 24-hour news/talk outlet for NPR (otherwise called National Socialist Radio) may very well be a waste of time, bandwidth, and money. And as far as the classical listeners are concerned, they’re getting backburnered in this transaction.

    Reply
  4. With any luck, it will be the administrations of Rice and UH that get an unexpected lesson of politics. First they have to figure out who owns the transmitter site (hint: not just Rice U) then they have to figure out what they’re going to do with all the classical music lovers who are going to lose their music in the West U and SW areas of Houston (where the signal is blocked by the medical center).

    The deal was ridiculous to start with, Houston already has 24/7 classical music AND 24/7 news programming on HD channel 2 for KUHF – with higher quality to boot. Not worth 9.5 million to UH to add another station for their students to be uninvolved in.

    PS: if you’re really a listener advocate, as your about the author seems to indicate, than you should be heartily opposed to this sale…

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Send this to a friend