Universities Ink Agreement On KTRU Sale

Sale Agreement Made

The UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON is officially moving forward with the controversial purchase of RICE UNIVERSITY's noncommercial KTRU/HOUSTON for $9.5 million.

"We will consult with KTRU’s student managers about the timing for turning the tower over to KUHF, but we expect that to occur by the end of the semester or calendar year," said RICE Pres. DAVID LEEBRON. "In the meantime, KTRU will continue to deliver its programming on 91.7 and online through www.ktru.org.

"In my conversations with the student managers, although we have disagreed about the sale of the tower and broadcasting rights, I have been encouraged by their commitment to explore ways to make KTRU of even greater value to the RICE community," added LEEBRON. "We are also working with KTRU leadership to explore some alternatives in addition to the online station. We will dedicate some proceeds from the sale to KTRU for improvements now and ongoing support in the future. KTRU has played an important role at RICE, and we expect it will continue to play an important role in campus life in the future."

"I know the decision to sell the tower was controversial, as was the need to conduct those negotiations confidentially," LEEBRON said. "This was clearly an exception to our usual process for undertaking major decisions at RICE, and we have emphasized that this was a result of unique aspects of this sale and not a precedent for future decisions. As a whole, members of our community expressed their opinions with great civility and thoughtfulness, and the KTRU leadership and staff were appropriately strong advocates for their viewpoint. We look forward to working with them and others in putting the sale proceeds to work for the benefit of our students and university."

"FRIENDS OF KTRU," the organization formed to block the sale, has hired a law firm to work on stopping the deal.

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