KUSF Staffers Plan Protest Tonight
"We're not going down without a fight," vows KUSF music director, as sale of station reverberates in Bay Area
By: Reyhan Harmanci
Emotions continue to run high as the news of KUSF's sudden move from radio to online streaming is discussed across the Bay Area.
"We have shows in Russian, Turkish, French, Chinese Star Radio...yesterday that was all taken away," said Irwin Swinoff, a KUSF music director on KQED's Forum this morning, where he appeared alongside Brenda Barnes, president of the University of Southern California radio station, which just purchased KUSF's frequency.
"We really wished that you would have come to the community of San Francisco," he said to Barnes.
"This will be a local radio station, programmed by the locals, by, of and for the Bay Area," she responded in part.
A few minutes later, an editor from Radio Business Report weighed in: it is unlikely that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has 30 days to make decision on a sale, would block this transaction.
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But, as Matt Smith from SF Weekly points out, that's not going to stop KUSF volunteers from trying to derail the sale. In addition to the public protest planned tonight at 7 p.m. on the USF campus, their Facebook page has a five-point plan to mobilize support.
Other local organizations are also joining in this effort. Independent Arts and Media, a non-profit that provides fiscal sponsorship to Friends of KUSF, a volunteer advocate arm of the station, calls for a moratorium on the sale of the station — on the grounds that it provides "unique and irreplaceable First Amendment and civic services," among other things. They also have called for a strategy to raise $4 million to buy station and plan to develop an operations plan, with staffing and oversight by Friends of KUSF Executive Board.
"The $3.75 million sale of KUSF-FM by the University of San Francisco will have a chilling effect on the culture, community and civic life of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and beyond," wrote Independent Arts and Media in a statement.
If USF had hoped KUSF would go quietly into the online-only realm, it will be sorely disappointed. Social media lit up yesterday at the news — KUSF was a trending topic in SF for most of the day — and musicians far and wide opined on the loss of the station. New Jersey-based Yo La Tengo weighed in over Twitter ("The great @KUSF needs yr help! Please go & support, wish we could be there."), and comment sections on news stories showcased heated debate on the closure.
While the sale was motivated primarily by financial reasons, administrators say an online-only station promises to better serve their digitally savvy students. But such an approach does conflict somewhat with broader community needs served by the station. When The Bay Citizen went to the USF campus to gauge student reaction, many didn't even know that the school had a radio station. Colleges and universities around the country have divested themselves of their valuable signals.
It remains to be seen whether KUSF can drum up enough money and support to keep their signal, but it's clear that free-form non-commercial radio still matters to many Bay Area residents. Staffers estimate the station has 30,000 to 50,000 listeners weekly.