KTRU Loses the FCC Fight But Keeps On Fighting

Ah, fuck. I’d feared it would happen, but part of me had been holding out hope that the FCC, which at least kinda-sorta pays lip service to ideas like “localism” from time to time, would take a stand on this one. I guess it was too much to ask ’em to block their own government-funded cohorts at NPR, eh?

Yes, the news is just about the worst possible for the embattled {KTRU}, soon to be formerly Rice University‘s real-live student-run radio station — the FCC has rejected challenges by KTRU staff, alumni, and concerned citizens to stop the sale of KTRU’s broadcast frequency, license, and tower to the University of Houston.

The folks who’ve been fighting this aren’t giving up the ghost just yet, however; see the latest statement over at the Save KTRU site for their current stance. I’d still encourage people who are outraged by this whole mess to pressure their Congresspeople, write letters to both universities, and pledge to withhold any donations to either university or NPR — this isn’t quite a done deal yet.

Happily, there’s also a Plan B, announced a while back, where KTRU will start (or already is? I don’t have it, so I can’t tell) simulcasting on the 90.1 HD2 channel of cool-ass local nonprofit station KPFT. It’s not FM, unfortunately, so it’s still not what KTRU is now, and it’ll reach far, far fewer people, but hell, at least they’ll still be somewhere other than the Internet.

The neatest part of the HD thing, by the by, is that anybody in the Houston metro area can enter to win an HD radio, courtesy of KTRU & KPFT. You can apparently either call in or enter online, and they’re announcing winners each week, it looks like. If you want to be able to keep listening to H-town’s most eclectic, most non-mainstream radio station — the only actual “alternative” station on the airwaves in these parts — somewhere other than your computer, give it a shot.