Talk:KTRU-LP

History & Mission

Regarding the mission statement and history of the station: the most recent "cleanup" has succeeded in making the entry more encyclopedic, but it has also eliminated much crucial information about the station. The station is freeform-eclectic, not Variety format. The mission statement of the station is highly relevant in understanding it's role in Houston and at Rice University. Previous information follows;

KTRU' is a 50,000 watt radio station broadcasting from Humble, Texas operating at 91.7 FM. It is simulcast (on translator K218DA) at 91.5 FM from Houston to improve reception in the Rice area. According to the KTRU constitution, the mission of the station is "to educate the station membership, the greater Houston community, and the students of Rice University through its progressive and eclectic programming in the spirit of the station's non-commercial, educational license."

Informally speaking, the goal of the station is to play genres and artists of music and sound unavailable on other radio stations in Houston, and often, the US. This is accomplished via free-format shifts during most of the 24 hour broadcast day. DJs are encouraged to play a wide variety of tracks in sequence, from modern classical to reggae to indie rock to spoken word to local experimental noise for example. During evening hours, the station broadcasts specialty shows exclusively devoted to particular musical genres and themes.

The roots of KTRU began in February 1967 in a residential college at Rice, Hanszen College, where several students broadcast music in the Old Section part of the dorm as a 2 watt AM station, using the call sign KHCR (Hanszen College radio) and the wiring of a buzzer system. The next fall, the station transformed into an AM carrier current station with wires running through the steam tunnel system connecting the dormitories to a studio located in the basement of the student center, known as the Rice Memorial Center. At this time, the call sign KOWL was used, an owl being the Rice University mascot.

Soon, the students began planning the move to an FM broadcast station and asked the university Board of Governors to submit an application prepared by the students for an FM broadcast license to the FCC; this was agreed to, with the provision that "The installation be at no expense to the University." The application was approved in February 1971 and a broadcast license was granted to the university. However the KOWL call sign was already allocated, and KTRU was chosen as a substitute. The station began operating in 1971 at a low power, 10 watts, jumping to 250 watts in April 1974 and 650 watts in October 1980, with the broadcast schedule gradually expanding from just the evening hours to 10 to 12 hours a day on weekdays and most of the weekend.

In 1981, concern about being forced into a frequency sharing arrangement triggered an effort to expand the broadcast schedule to 24 hours a day. In 1987, a major of expansion of the student center was completed and the station's studios were relocated to the 2nd floor of a new wing.

its athletic programs, it told KTRU to more than double the number of sports games it broadcast. This fiat was highly unpopular among KTRU's student and community volunteers; a temporary increase was agreed to while a longer-term solution was sought. On 2000-11-30, student volunteers arrived for their evening specialty-show shift to discover that a sports game was being broadcast and they were expected to operate the studio. In protest, they broadcast music concurrently with the game for an hour. When the student manager refused to reprimand those DJs, the university administration responded by locking students out of the station, effectively shutting it down. Due to student protest (and consequent media coverage), the station was reopened eight days later, and a KTRU Friendly Committee established, resulting in reform of the management of the station and reevaluation of the station's relationship with the athletics committee and community volunteers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.81.68.39 (talk) 00:25, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

i added the date of FCC approval for transfer of ktru from rice to uh. i feel very very sad that my all-time favorite station is going off the air! i hope ktru will be able to survive in some form, that it's "History and Mission" will continue. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.198.185.63 (talk) 03:40, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

presumably to avoid dead air which would result in FCC fines

This phrase is both unsourced, and wrong. The FCC won't fine for "dead air" and stations commonly "go dark" for short periods (days to weeks), typically from equipment failure. KILI-FM was off the air this year for at least a month.

On the other hand a station that stays off the air for an extended period (or with high frequency) becomes vulnerable to a license challenge, particularly in a congested market like Houston. Licensees have to make good use of the limited radio spectrum that they've been assigned. Being down for a few days wouldn't have triggered that though. I don't know what a "long enough" period would be though - 1 week? 3 months?