Maybe!
;D
I appreciate Jon and the work he put into the article, but exactly what "student run" and "back into the hands of students" actually means differs on who you ask, and that can be very misleading. The article suggests a return to the 'old days and old ways', and that's not going to happen. There's Public Radio, Student Radio and Community Radio (and others) in the non-comm part of the FM band. Not many folks understand how those are each distinct classifications from each other, especially when it comes to funding. KTXT was a Student Radio station, but its future is looking more like a hybrid of the three (can there be such a thing?). That's why I hesitate to say "student run" or "Student Radio" because it won't be, at least not according to my understanding of what those terms mean.
I say that because there's a great deal of misunderstanding about KTXT, especially I think, on the part of some of the "old timers" (and yes, I am one). Reading some of the more recent articles in the student paper from last year confirms this. For many, KTXT doesn't even exist- it's gone and they want it back, and wish Texas Tech had never gotten rid of it, etc. The reality is, it never left Texas Tech. It came back on air in the Spring of 2009, but its format and operation were vastly different than before. Am I just arguing semantics? Maybe, but there are some very clear delineations and how it was run before, and how it must operate in the future, and those differences are things which most folks apparently don't understand. And I've learned that a series of newpaper articles cannot fix that.
I can see where for some the station is "forever lost", but that cannot be what drives its future. Some aspects of Lubbock I've lived in and even the Texas Tech I attended 20 years ago are also "forever lost", but that doesn't mean better things aren't possible- and that's how I see it with KTXT. I don't have a prayer of restoring it to what it was as an alternative format for students, and I am convinced (with some considerable experience to say this) that doing so is not what's best for it. We're looking to create KTXTv2.0 and write an entirely new chapter, rather than being a footnote to a previous one.
KTXT-FM will be moving along with KOHM and the College of Mass Communications into the current CoBA building which is currently undergoing renovation. That's scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2012. Not much, if anything, will change about 88.1 until then.
Again, KTXT is NOT being restored to what it was either in student staffing or music format. Students will be involved with it, and they will be on air, but the final organization of its staffing and to what extent they will be involved in programming it has not been decided. 88.1 is having to operate in a very different environment than in years past, and that will dictate much of how it is run and by whom.
The real lasting legacy of KTXT-FM is the broadcast opportunities it provided students. Returning it to a more academic purpose is, and has always been, the stated goal since KOHM assumed its control. The partnering with Mass Comm is a fairly recent development (came about last fall in fact) with great potential for student involvement. It's far too early to suggest what final form KTXT may take, but students will be involved with it again.
My frustration with it right now is that little can be done until more space becomes available and that's more than a year away.
