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The Rice Thresher
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by Aalok Mehta thresher staff On-campus students scanning the radio will be able to hear something new: KTRU. For the first time since 1991, when its transmitter moved from atop Sid Richardson College, the Rice radio station can be clearly heard from campus locations, on 91.5 FM. A translator, which rebroadcasts KTRU's signal, was activated late last week and allows Rice and the surrounding area to listen to the station. "KTRU is a university radio station, it's run by students, and it's important students get it," said Johnny So, KTRU station manager. "This will improve coverage generally in this area." In 1991, KTRU moved its broadcast tower to a new facility in Humble, almost fifty miles away. Rice was just at the edge of its broadcast range, and the buildings of downtown Houston also caused interference. "Most students accept it as ridiculous that KTRU is a Rice radio station and they couldn't pick it up," So, a Will Rice senior, said. The broadcast location was moved from Sid because of plans by KRTS, another local radio station at 92.1 FM, to boost the power of its transmission. Because their plans would have interfered with KTRU's broadcast, KRTS paid for the move and new equipment. Plans for the translator began with Will Robedee, who was hired by Rice as KTRU general manager in March 1998. "I started working on it when I was hired - even before I came on campus," Robedee said. Using revenue generated by renting space out to cellular communications and two-way paging companies, he obtained approval from the FCC for construction of the translator and an engineering evaluation of the proposed tower site in the Rice Stadium. After the tower went up in May, KTRU applied for a license according to FCC regulations. "We haven't gotten the license yet, but our application is on file and we can begin test programming," Robedee said. "[The translator] was on and off over the summer for testing," he said. "When the FCC accepted our application, we turned it on for good." He anticipates that it will take about three months for the FCC to officially approve the license. Meanwhile, KTRU employees have not yet had time to completely absorb the change because the tower went up in May, after the school year ended. "We're confident that now that students can pick [KTRU] up, something or other will appeal to everyone," So said. "There's a stigma that people in KTRU are weird, and we hope this might show them otherwise." He also added that the translator will help KTRU's off-campus fans. The boosted KTRU is being broadcast on a different frequency from the main broadcast, which is located on 91.7 FM, to prevent interference between the signals.
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