UH to buy Rice radio station (KTRU getting axed)

I'm not sure if any of you are KTRU listeners, but I am devastated by this news:

UH board considers plan to buy Rice radio station

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/7156105.html

The University of Houston is planning to buy the radio station operated by students at Rice University for almost 40 years in a $9.5 million deal that would give UH the broadcast tower, FM frequency and license used by Rice's KTRU.

UH's governing board will vote Tuesday on whether to give Chancellor Renu Khator authority to complete the deal. Rice spokesman B.J. Almond said its trustees already have given similar authority to administrators there.

UH currently operates one public radio station, KUHF, which offers both news and classical music and other arts programming.

If the deal goes through, the university would have two stations, one to provide news 24 hours a day and the second to offer classical music and arts coverage, according to a fact sheet prepared by the school to explain the plan.

KUHF would be converted to a 24-hour news and information format, heard at the station's current frequency, 88.7 FM.

The new station, to be known by call letters KUHC, would broadcast classical music and arts on the 91.7 FM frequency used by KTRU.

Both stations will be affiliates of National Public Radio, as KUHF currently is, UH spokesman Richard Bonnin said Monday.

They will share one staff and be run out of offices on the UH campus.

KTRU, which offers an eclectic mix of music along with broadcasts of some Rice athletics, would remain available through its website, ktru.org.

No timeline for the transition was available Monday.
More power than needed

In response to a question from the Chronicle, Rice released a statement Monday saying it decided to sell the tower, license and broadcast frequency because the 50,000-watt station is far more powerful than needed to reach its audience, which it said is too small to be measured by the radio research firm Arbitron.

The money will be used for campus improvements, including a new food service venture. A student committee will help determine how to use the rest of the money.

Classes at Rice begin next Monday, and students are returning to campus this week.

On its website, KTRU describes itself as "a free-form, eclectic radio station that thinks it's a bad thing to play the same song twice in a span of an hour."

But much of the programming is automated, not live.
Audience of 800,000?

UH officials said KUHF will raise the $9.5 million purchase price through private fundraising and increased underwriting and that no state or tuition funds will be used.

Bonnin said predictions call for the two stations to have an audience of 800,000 within a few years, more than double KUHF's current audience of 380,000.

Several other universities operate two public radio stations, including Purdue University, Florida State University, Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

UH would be the first in Texas to do so.

Khator described the plan as helping to fulfill the university's responsibility to the city by promoting both its arts community and expanding access to news and information.

"The acquisition of a second public radio station delivers on our promise to keep the University of Houston at the forefront of creating strong cultural, educational and artistic opportunities,“ the UH chancellor said in a statement.

Bonnin said that no one at KUHF was available Monday to talk about the move. But he provided a statement that said the station will increase Houston-centered content on key topics and will sponsor and broadcast town-hall forums on issues of community concern.

KUHC Classical will offer more in-studio live performances, live remote broadcasts and full-length concert broadcasts of local performers than KUHF currently offers, according to the plans.