First, a little theme music for our broadcast. . .
(Open in a new tab and keep reading. . . and weeping.)
Last fall, I told you about Rice University president David Leebron's secret negotiations to sell 43-year-old, student-built KTRU Radio to private interests. In the diary, I recalled a similar shady deal from decades past in Washington, DC.
Despite the efforts of students, community supporters and independent radio fans around the nation, KTRU was yanked and is now available solely as an online stream.
This January, San Francisco college station KUSF abruptly went dark, the university having sold the station's license after--you guessed it--secret negotiations with the Classical Public Radio Network. The price tag: $3.75 million.
And the silence continues to spread. Sad news this week from Music City: Last Tuesday, Vanderbilt University station WRVU went off the air, it's license sold to Nashville's public radio outlet WPLN. Listeners looking for 'RVU's signature diverse mix will now have to buy a digital radio to listen to the station as a stream of 'PLN or tune in online. 'RVU's DJRon put his finger on the problem of shifting over-the-air programming to digital and online streams:
WRVU was Vanderbilt's only media outlet that reached out to the Nashville community. One of the statements that VSC board say is that students don't listen to FM radio. That might be the case, but Nashvillians do. WRVU offers a wide range of music and cultural programming that no other station does. A lot of people grew up listening to WRVU and have a strong personal connection to it and the university because of it.
HD and online radio is not the same as FM and to say that is the same is both classist and elitist. Who actually has an HD radio? Online radio requires an internet connection on a computer or an advanced smart phone. This kind of radio should be free and available to all regardless of financial means. Making this content exclusive / unavailable to a lot of people is against the DNA of community radio.
I don't have any beef with streamed radio. In fact, I'll be unable to respond to comments here for the first hour, as I'll be taping a segment for DKos' own radio show with yuriwho and Justice Putnam. I love being able to check out local stations like WTUL and WWOZ online when I'm out of town.
But DJRon is right. The continuing war against independent, college-based on-air stations is eroding our ability to get new music and alternative information sources.
Please support your local, on-air alternatives, by listening, promoting and participating in their fund drives.
Before all we have is those "servers in a row."