Red Raiders: speak up for 88.1 KTXT!

After 47 years as a beloved Texas Tech tradition, Student Media has, without warning, yanked KTXT off the airwaves, and in an especially underhanded way, has done so on the last day of classes of the Fall semester, when many students have already gone home for the holiday and won’t realize what’s happened until they return in January.

It would be as if they suddenly decided to yank the Carol of Lights, simply because it is old and unprofitable, which are two of the reasons stated for doing away with campus radio.

As a journalism major and 2002 graduate of Texas Tech, I was absolutely heartbroken to hear the news.

So I’m asking anyone who is a former or current student of Texas Tech, as well as any artist, writer, broadcaster, or lover of music to contact Texas Tech and tell them not to do it!

Join the Facebook group here. We’re about 2,500 strong.

Here’s a reposting of what you’ll find, as well as some important contact information to voice your discontent. Please help spread the word!

At 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, December 10, the officials of Texas Tech Student Media finally decided to tell someone from KTXT that the station was being shut down. 2:15 p.m. is when they called in Station Manager Blake Porter for a meeting. None had the faintest idea this might happen.

No discussion. No negotiation. Just lights out, good night, farewell and see-ya. Sorry we didn’t tell you the patient was terminal. Goodbye to the records, the memories, to years of pain and struggle; those are meaningless, the past is meaningless, KTXT is meaningless.

Imagine Tech trying to get rid of the Masked Rider, or Raider Red. Tech’s administration likes to talk about “tradition.” Well, what else would you call KTXT? Their disregard and contempt for a part of the school’s heart cannot and should not be ignored.

We can’t stand for this. We have to make our voices heard. We have to let people know that this isn’t right. We can’t let the station die.

Kelli Stumbo is the Texas Tech University System Student Regent, Kent Hance says in her bio: “Students are our first priority at Texas Tech,” said Chancellor Hance. “Having a student regent gives the students of our three universities direct input into the decision making process. I look forward to working with Kelli.”
Her job as a regent is to be sensitive to student concerns.

Her email is kelli.stumbo@ttu.edu

Let her know what KTXT means to this University.

—————————-

Read Nick Carissimi’s wonderful open letter here

Theresa Nguyen, Pharm.D, wrote a letter to the Board of Regents. Read it here

—————————-

THERE IS A POSSIBLE SOLUTION

RIGHT NOW WE NEED TO PUSH FOR TWO THINGS.
A SPACE and MONEY

This is not as daunting as it sounds. Texas Tech is one of the largest campuses in America. Space there surely is.
As for money.

Texas Tech Budget for Fiscal Year 2008:

Let’s say that the University was about to go into the red. We could make up some of this on our own. But Texas Tech isn’t about to go into the red.

Far from it.

Keep in mind that what the University had $164.35 million appropriated to them from the state for FY 2008.

Station Manager Porter says we can achieve our goal. But we have to tell the head people that we won’t stand for this. That KTXT can’t be killed this way.

We have to keep up the pressure for the station to live.

TEXAS TECH PRESIDENT:
Guy Bailey
techpres@ttu.edu
Office of the President
Texas Tech University
150 Administration Building
Box 42005
Lubbock, Texas 79409-2005
(806) 742-2121
(806) 742-2138

TEXAS TECH PROVOST:
Jane L. Winer, Ph.D.
jane.winer@ttu.edu
Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Office of the Provost
TTU
PO Box 42019
Lubbock, TX 79409-2019
(806) 742-2184 Office
(806) 742-1331 Fax

TEXAS TECH CHANCELLOR:
Office of the Chancellor
124 Administration Building
Mailstop 42013 Lubbock, TX 79409
(806) 742-0012 | (806) 742-8050 fax
Chancellor@ttu.edu

———————

“When you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
don’t expect him to thank or forgive you.”
– The Mountain Goats, “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton”

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
– Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Pray to God, but hammer away.
– Proverb, (Spanish)

MARTIN: What happened? The pressure got to you?
CHILI: Pressure? I’m the one that applied the pressure.
– Get Shorty

———————

WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU’VE CONTACTED THE PROVOST, PRESIDENT AND CHANCELLOR:

I’ll start with the Eleventh, as it’s the most important:

11. HIT THEM IN THE POCKETBOOK
HIT THEM IN THE POCKETBOOK
HIT THEM IN THE POCKETBOOK
(Bill Dean, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Texas Tech Alumni Association:
bill.dean@ttu.edu
806.742.3641 ext. 226)
Tell them that they’re not going to get any money from us if this is how they treat a great Tech institution. Get your relations and anyone else who donates money to do the same.

1 — Let Student Media hear your voice. Your voice will carry a lot of weight. (806) 742-3388

2 — Tell as many people as you possibly can about this. KTXT veterans and friends and the families of KTXT vets, and please don’t stop there. We’re trying to get the College Music Journal and anyone, anyone on the national media, desperately, hopefully, to do a story on that. We have to get as much light shined on this as soon as possible. They’re counting on the winter break to neutralize the opposition.

3 — Please talk to anyone you know in your own field who might be able to help us fight this. We need suggestions right now. My hope is that we get picked up by another department or create a dropcash.com account to help us fundraise the money, or something else. ANY information is helpful to us — past budgets, stories about institutional malfeasance, anything. The more minds and experience we have working on this the more likely we are to come up with a solution.

4 — Feel free to call Station Manager Blake Porter 972-310-9619 with your suggestions.

5 — Call Lubbock and national media to keep up the pressure:
CMJ Network, p: 917.606.1908 / f: 917.606.1914
College Broadcasters, Inc. 1 (877) ASK-CBI1 (1-877-275-2241)
(713) 348-2935
Lubbock Avalanche Journal (806) 762-8844
KCBD-TV Newschannel 11 (806) 744-1414
KAMC-TV (806) 745-2828
KLBK-TV (806) 748-6186
KJTV 34 (806) 771-3507 (also (806) 745-3434)

6 — WRITE A LETTER TO the Lubbock AJ

Tell them it’s about more than just music. Tell them that there’s no other place for people like us to go and to listen on campus. Tell them it’s about an independent West Texas voice and tradition, and not letting years of our life get ripped away from us by the whim of a heartless administration.

7 — I’m hoping to put together a broad coalition of Radio Professionals who learned their trade at KTXT. Let’s put together a list of “KTXT firsts” for publication as soon as possible: acts brought to town, music played, etc. This could also be a list of administration mishandling over the years. Or a list of professionals that are now successful and got into their trade because of the station.

8 — If you know any of the Texas Tech suits or anyone who knows anyone at Tech who might be in a position to affect this or help us apply pressure, please speak to them. If you know anyone who specializes in ethics or law dealing with this field, please let them know about this too.

9 — This has to have happened to other college stations before, and I’m sure that they’ve been successful in fighting back. The more examples we have before us and posted to the board, the better our chances of learning from their success and winning this battle.

10 — Please send this list of suggestions to as many people as possible.

12 — If you’re an artist, make art; if you’re a writer, write; if you’re a blogger, blog, if you’re a journalist, publish. If you’re a musician or work with musicians, please get in contact with musicians; we’re trying to do a KTXT Aid Concert. Post your art or songs or whatever to this group.

13 — Stay posted to the group and invite as many people as possible to it.

———————

HOW TO CONTACT THEM
(Courtesy of Josh Justice)

View the organizational flow chart.

And for the sake of brevity, here is how it goes, from just above ktxt station manager to the head honcho/bigwig:

The Station Manager Answers to
Susan Peterson, Director of Student Media: 742.3388
Who Answers to
Jan Childress, Associate VP for Student Affairs: 742-2691
Who Answers to
Michael Shonrock, VP of Student Affairs: 742-4360

Emails: michael.shonrock@ttu.edu, jan.childress@ttu.edu
and susan.peterson@ttu.edu

That is, Susan answers to the vice-president of student affairs, Dr. Michael D. Shonrock. From what I understand, he is a very student-friendly gentleman with open ears.

———————

OF NOTE:

First-hand testimony of how Student Media tried to change the locks.

Rocky’s argument for why the Station can’t just become part of the internet.

Another Save KTXT! blog to experiences, ideas, etc regarding the station.

For speculations on money and why they waited until everyone was out of town, please read the discussion board posts below.
Contact Info
Email:
Location:
Lubbock, TX

Recent News:

Student Media Department announces broadcast changes

NEW! KAMC story.

NEW! AJ Concert story

(More stories on the Facebook page!)

If you’re new: KTXT.

I’ve cut the dickens out of my finger

Click here for the best Dan Aykroyd sketch ever– and don’t forget to the save the giblets!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We need more news stories about people getting mauled by bears

Check out this douchebag.

The story fails to mention whether the guy is mentally disabled or just a douche, which is good. It’s more fun to speculate. I’m going with 30% disabled, 70% douche. Your thoughts?

in case you forgot

the ultimate jam for change…Well, the ultimate jam about change other than “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors.

I mean, that’s a big change. They’re white dudes.

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won’t understand
Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away

Its a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we’re all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?

Forwarding email: I’m over it

Recent subject lines in my inbox:

• FW: Fw: FW: Obama’s dangerous relationship with Ayers
• FW: Video of Obama ridiculing the Bible
• FW: Fw: The TRUTH about the housing loan crisis
• FW: Fw: FW: WHo is Barack Obama???????????????????
• FW: Fw: Fw: FW: WELL worth watching
• RE: FW: Fw: Fw: FW: WELL worth watching
• RE: RE: FW: Fw: Fw: FW: WELL worth watching

I’m sick of people I hardly know forwarding to everyone in their address book stupid emails about the election. Why Obama is a terrorist. Why Palin’s a nincompoop. Why this or that party is the cause of everything evil in the world. Why I should vote. Why I should support the troops. Why I should forward this to everyone I know. Why tuperware is going to give me cancer.

Newsflash: I don’t give a shit.

Your silly uninformed opinion is not going to make me change mine. If you REALLY want to know how to lose friends and alienate people, forward an email in red, underlined 72 pt. font to everyone you know.

Don’t check the facts! Don’t quietly and anonymously appreciate how much smarter you are than everyone in the world. And for chrissakes, DON’T DELETE THE EMAIL. Because that would make you a communist.

I’m so annoyed with everyone right now, dear diary, that I can hardly find the strength to complain. But I AM going to find the strength to do a little housekeeping, and block everyone who has ever sent me an email that makes my brain wanna cave in.

And while we’re on the subject, just because you CAN “reply to all” doesn’t mean you should.

That’s all.

After the shooting stops…

I know we’re all concerned about the economy right now, so this may only be somewhat topical, but…listen to this story on NPR.

Regardless of whether or not you support the war in Iraq, the point is that we got into this mess, and now we have to get out of it.

One thing the US military knows how to do is destroy. What’s different about a this war is that now they have to fix it.

After going into Iraq, dethroning and executing their -albeit fucked up- leader, we now have to establish peace, security and rule of law. And that’s something the military has never had to do.

We didn’t bomb Dresden and then stick around and try to get the power and water restored. We fucking booked it.

We’re basically rewriting the philosophy of war.

The military has had to fundamentally change it’s approach and ask the question, how do we function in a country we’ve just thrown into chaos?

Talk amongst yourselves.

What you can do with your “5 friends”

You know what I hate more than celebrities? Celebrities talking down to me and telling me all the reasons why I should vote. I’m not going to link to the video, because it’s stupid and should not be viewed by anyone. But really, Henry Rollins said it best. We’re expected to believe some dipshit who makes $80 million a year is passionately concerned about health care reform and the economy? I just can’t take that seriously.

If you’re only going to vote because Halle Berry shamed you into it, you probably don’t know enough to have an opinion anyway, and we don’t want you screwing it up for the rest of us.

This guy knows what I’m saying: it’s not that people aren’t voting, it’s that ignorant people are voting. And they’re bringing all their friends.

I have more respect for someone who can have a heated argument with me than someone who agrees with me, but doesn’t know why.

So vote, or don’t. I don’t give a damn either way. But whatever you do, don’t listen to your friends. Don’t listen to Susan Sarandon. Hell, don’t even listen to me; I’m full of shit too. Figure it out for yourself and then decide.

A.V. Club interview with Bill Maher

Here’s an interview the Onion’s AV Club did with Bill Maher on his movie Religulous.

Maher is NOT an atheist, by the way. The premise of the film is that we don’t know the truth about the hereafter. How can we? I don’t know; you don’t know. So stop acting so damn smug.

Sarah Palin should be running for Miss Teen America

This is how Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen South Carolina, responded when asked why a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map:

“I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.”

And this is how Alaska governor Sarah Palin responded when asked by Katie Couric why it wouldn’t be better to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries instead of helping big financial institutions that played a role in creating the financial crisis:

“That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the — it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.”

Scary.

I think I may have inadvertently caused the credit crisis

Yes, you read it right. Me, this seemingly innocent, quiet little blogger, may be responsible for one of the worst financial crises since the 1980s.

Several years ago, I was in a really bad place. I was drinking all the time. Drugging. My life was really out of control. I was hanging out with a bad crowd.

Well, this one night, I was holding up the bar at some ritzy joint where I had weaseled my way onto this rich investment banker’s bar tab.

The suit was probably twice as blitzed as I was, and so naturally we started talking finance.

Apparently he was really stressed because he’d just bought up all these shitty mortgages and had no idea what to do with them.

The banker was like, “if only there was a way to disguise all those shitty mortgages as something more valuable that we could sell.” Or something like that. I don’t really know. I was tanked, remember?

So anyway, by that point I had done at least eight rails and about 11 vodka gimlets, and I was really flapping my yap.

I started giggling in that really annoying way that drunk girls giggle, and said, “hey, ya know what would be a hoot? If you created a new security and used all those shitty mortgages as collateral!”

Well, I busted up laughing at my own idiocy. I mean, who would take such a thing seriously? But the suit got this weird look in his eye, and I was so blitzed I just kept right on talking.

“Yeah, yeah!” I said. “You can pool all that shit together and sell it to investors! Just tell ‘em you’ll pay ‘em back as the mortgages are paid off! I mean, housing prices always go up. They can’t ALL fail, right…right???”

I was a little perturbed that the suit hadn’t said a word in like, five minutes.

I snapped my fingers in front of his face a couple of times. Well, I snapped about as well as someone who has lost contact with their extremities can snap. Which means I kind of wiggled my hand in front of him.

“You know,” he said, “you might be on to something.”

“Come on,” I said. “Don’t tell me you’re actually taking all of this seriously! I mean, next you’ll be saying it’s a good idea to buy bond insurance in order to trick the ratings agencies into giving the securities a really great rating. You’re not even considering the fact that you’ll have to show all this on your balance sheet.”

“Pshaw,” said the suit. “We’ve been cooking the books for years. “We’ll just set up another shell company in the Caymans to take ownership of the mortgages…it’s almost too easy.”

Then he grabbed my face in both of his fat hands and planted a big, wet kiss on my forehead that stank of gin. He lurched from the bar, tripping over the footrest of the bar stool and sprawling headlong onto the carpet. He was already grappling with his cell phone before he even stood up. He ran out the door and I never saw him again.

I was about to lay my head down on the bar, for juuust a second, to clear my head, when I felt someone shaking me by the shoulders.

“Hey! hey!”

It was the barkeep.

“Someone’s gonna have to settle up the tab!”

Fuck.

So, you see. It wasn’t REALLY my fault. How was I to know the guy would take me seriously? Of all the times for anyone to take me seriously, right?

Anyway, I am sorry. Truly. If I had anything to do with this mess, I am willing to accept full responsibility. In my defense, I haven’t cocktailed with any investment bankers since that night.