KUSF: RIP 1977-2011... could this happen to KBCS, KNHC?

 KUSF, the volunteer-run adult alternative station from the University of San Francisco, was unceremoniously pulled off the air Tuesday, the staff kicked out, the locks changed and a campus police officer posted at the door. 

A message on the KUSF website:

   Thanks for listening over all these years. Thanks for all the phone calls, whether you were pissed off at us for playing the art noise from japan at six in the morning, or in ecstasy for playing THAT SONG you'd only heard once...and were dying to hear again! All of you folks out there who kept you radios tuned to 90.3 FM mean a hell of a lot to us, indeed you're the very reason we existed.
   We gave you hearts and souls for thirty four years...
   Goddammit, we're going to miss you...

In a complicated deal, USF sister station, longtime classical music KDFC has been sold to the University of Southern California, will go non-commercial, and move its signal down the radio dial to KUSF's place on the band. 

That means freeform KUSF -- on the air at 90.3 FM in the Bay Area since 1977 -- will go silent, (and onto the net) vacating 102.1 to a simulcast of San Jose classic rock station "the Fox."

Listeners be damned.

Our old friend KissDangerBoy asks:

"This leads me to wonder, with KING-FM on 98.1 and that great transmitter mountain, how long until someone makes "Seattle Classical Media" an offer they can't refuse...?

Or a buy-off of KCBS, Bellevue Community College's troubled station, or Nathan Hale High School's KNHC.

Radio like this doesn't show up in the PPMs, and funding-strapped universities can (and are) viewing these bands as nothing more than assets.

The loss to the community at large for the disappearance of interesting, diverse, quirky, non-commercial programming that doesn't have to sell tires or mattresses, would not be the only problem: the loss of radio-training, and experience at the high school and community college level could be just another nail in the coffin of all radio.

Comments

[Ted Smith]

KBCS and KNHC are probably safe from everyone but religious broadcasters because they are in the Educational FM Band. KUOW is probably more in danger because it is in the commercial part of the FM band.

[Pete]

Ted is incorrect; KING-FM is owned by a nonprofit foundation, so its programming would qualify for the 88-92 MHz band with a few tweaks. The real reason it wouldn't migrate to KBCS or KNHC is their vastly inferior signals. It's the same reason KUOW is going nowhere on the commercial band. Barring a major signal upgrade, KPLU is the only non-com in this area with a full market signal, and it's an NPR cash cow for PLU, not about to sell out to anyone. All the other signals below 92 MHz (KNHC, KGRG, KEXP, KSER, KBCS) don't cover the whole market.

[joanie]

I thought new legislation or FCC rules were supposed to help small local stations. It is all very confusing.

Really something when what used to be protected institution and like universities have to sell of assets to exist. Not everything should be valued in terms of profit. But I guess that's an old-fashioned idea.

[Spotlight05]

In the most recent PPM, KNHC has a steady 0.6 and KBCS a 0.1 on a downward trend, despite "The Takeaway" and Michael Eric Dyson. May not be much, but it's better than the no showing at all KUSF has in the San Francisco book (while KDFC is in the top 10, albeit with aging demos).

[Gwendolyn]

Didn't know they were there. Won't miss them! More junk from the liberals! Good riddance!

[Bongwater]

I'd be more worried for KEXP. The 98.1 MHz frequency is one many commercial broadcasting behemoths have been salivating over for years. KEXP is still licensed to the University of Washington and while by that, most people would think KUOW would the most likely choice to move if a similar offer were to occur, KUOW is actually safer because it has far higher PPM ratings than KING-FM. But anything can happen in this climate. You also have to understand KUSF didn't exactly have a "market-wide" signal coverage, Neither does KEXP. But it doesn't matter. What matters is 98.1 MHz is a commercial frequency, with excellent coverage (far better than KUOW, on a better transmitting site and using far less power) and for commercial broadcasters, it's a goldmine (or whatever it's REALLY worth in a dying industry.)

[amerisleep]

All the other signals below 92 MHz (KNHC, KGRG, KEXP, KSER, KBCS) don't cover the whole market.