<p>I've been interning at a morning radio show this summer and it has really sparked my interest in radio. I'm hoping to score a spot as a DJ on KTRU this year at Rice. Anyone know anything about KTRU? Is it a popular station? Should I email them prior to O-week? Oh, and I dont mind working crappy shifts to start out with-- I've been waking up at 3am 4 days a week this summer for the internship.</p>
<p>there will be an activities fair. you can sign up then. if you are ok with crap shifts, then you pretty much have the job.</p>
<p>dont need to email them, unless you want to</p>
<p>Popular? not really</p>
<p>About it? They play strange music in my opinion. not to my taste at all. </p>
<p>[k</a> t r u . o r g :|: 9 1 . 7 - f m - h o u s t o n](<a href=“http://bang.rice.edu/]k”>http://bang.rice.edu/)</p>
<p>■■■■■. I always listen to it when Im bored. They play the weirdest ****. All these foreign songs with a cacophony of banging drums and jungle sounds.</p>
<p>My friend and I were driving one day and we turned to the channel. The dude was reciting Rime of an Ancient Mariner. We’d been reading it in the class that day too so I rolled down my window and start blasting it really loud. A redneck in a truck pulled up next to us and I was headbanging to it and he gave the biggest *** face.</p>
<p>that’s to bad that it’s strange. I know that Rice students are generally a little odd, but the station should probably be a little more contemporary if they want to attract more listeners. But then again they probably don’t mind.</p>
<p>Swedish throat warbling was stranger :P</p>
<p>if you are interested i radio, i recommend joining it. justbecause you would hav fun</p>
<p>I think the fact that KTRU plays weird **** makes it attract the weirdest Rice kids…who play more weird ****. Positive feedback cycle. It happens.</p>
<p>But yeah I second everyone who blares it with friends when they want a good laugh.</p>
<p>I’m in the minority of Rice students, but I really like KTRU, most of the time. Sometimes they play what’s called “genetic memory,” which is really just noise, and that’s what gives them a bad reputation. But mostly they have cool ethnic music, jazz, obscure punk and such. KTRU fills a niche that needs to be filled in Houston radio.</p>
<p>The Harvard Crimson also once described KTRU as “perhaps the most quintessentially college radio station in the country.”</p>
<p>KTRU is limited by its budget, so they try to play only royalty-free music. That’s why you end up with such an eclectic mix. I love that I can turn on KTRU in the car and hear a song by Public Image, Ltd., only to have it followed by Mongolian throat singing.</p>
<p>OFFTOPIC: *** is up with tis new color scheme… its too bright!!</p>
<p>You can change it!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/746258-new-format.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/746258-new-format.html</a></p>
<p>I should also mention that KTRU is a big cultural boost for the Rice campus. They’re the part of Rice that is probably most involved with the Houston community. Also, last year, RPC made a huge deal about how they got The National and Ben Kweller and then asked for a $15/year blanket tax increase so they could keep it up, while KTRU got Ted Leo and the Pharmacists for their Outdoor Show and was like, “no big thing…”</p>
<p>Cultural boost for the Rice campus, my a**! There are a few good programs, i.e., blues and hi fi, reggae, indie…but they are few and far between. Mostly you hear DJs stumble over themselves and use filler words like “uh, er, well” and can we talk about the genre called “genetic memory?!” One such ditty was 5 minutes of what sounded like a vaccuum cleaner or like the radio went off the air for 5 minutes. I believe the name of the “song” was “noise,” and that is all it was. If you want to introduce me to something, fine; but don’t leave on that vacuum crackling for that length of time! And who truly believes that “Speeding Motorcycle” rises to the level of music? Really? Please. And you let it drone on for 5 minutes. I wish I would have counted the number of times that is said “Speeding motorcycle.” I think it was 60 words of the total 70 words repeated over and over ad nauseum. KTRU didn’t increase its listenership because it is TOO random. Here was one hour: head banger, heavy metal, genetic memory, ballad, girl howling like a cat in heat, Irish jig, acid-tripping instrumental, old 45 record playing country song with extremely poor singer. Then the next hour of soul was great.</p>
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<p>I agree. If those people are the highlights of our music experience at Rice - we have bigger problems than RPC/KTRU. Those two headlining was like getting George Rupp to speak at Graduation. uber BFD. Just my opinion</p>
<p>why did this topic get bumped??</p>
<p>it probably got bumped because Rice is working on selling KTRU to U of H If the deal goes through, U of H will have two stations and Rice will have none other than online at ktru.org Rice is doing it to bring in cash and avoid layoffs. the sale still has to be approved by the FCC</p>
<p>I know.</p>
<p>I started one topic and amdn did the other. This was a related but WAY old topic</p>
<p>Ohhh the memories. This was back from when I was a nervous prefrosh.
Hey proudowl, what’s up with the all the hate? KTRU might be a little weird in its genre but surely that alone doesnt require such a lengthy rant?</p>
<p>No hatin’ intended. Just brutal facts. If those who are so passionate now had only been as passionate about ensuring programming that kept the listeners listening, you could have maintained a radio frequency. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with having a 50,000 watt station, and that responsibility wasn’t met. The bar should have been set higher. KTRU did not achieve the aspirations of the original founders. I personally think Rice students are brilliant enough to create a c-change and make KTRU the prototype for internet streaming. I still think you can include all different genres, although I question “Noise” and “Speeding Motorcycle” actually being defined as anything remotely to do with good music. I liked hearing an Iranian pop song from the 70s, but then it was followed by whale sounds; and some of the DJs are so monochromatic and random that they lose, instead of enhance, listenership. It’s like they have ADHD and forgot their adderall, or are trippin’ on LSD. The programming had no vision. It’s random and haphazard.</p>
<p>I would agree with that. some KTRU DJ’s seemed more interested in keeping KTRU different than making it good.</p>
<p>Being unique is not always a good thing. The “unique” restaurants get wiped out by mcdonalds and chili’s. The “unique” but good restaurants survive and make a killing. </p>
<p>Same issue with certain policies within the colleges. Wiess, among others, does things different just to be different, and not always for the right reasons.</p>
<p>Agreed 100% with those ideas as well. Like I said earlier you have to be willing to change your ways or the tiger will eat your a$$</p>
<p>this will give KTRU a chance to discover how good they are and can be. They will need to change their model to the new system, and if they are truly a “cultural icon” and “a great institution” they will thrive.</p>
<p>My sentiments exactly!</p>