KTRU

KTRU
City La Harpe, Kansas
Broadcast area Iola, Kansas
Frequency 91.9 MHz
First air date 2011
Format Christian Contemporary
Language(s) English
ERP 750 watts
HAAT 66.2 meters (217 ft)
Class A
Facility ID 174471
Transmitter coordinates 37°57′24.1″N 95°22′15.7″W / 37.956694°N 95.371028°W / 37.956694; -95.371028
Callsign meaning K Texas Rice University (requested and granted to William Marsh Rice University in Houston, Texas on July 30, 1971. See further details below)
Former callsigns KFKB (2009-2011)[1]
Owner Grace Public Radio

KTRU (91.9 FM) is an American non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve the community of La Harpe, Kansas. Established in 2011, this station's broadcast license is held by Grace Public Radio, owned by Fred R. and Evelyn K. Morton.

History

In October 2007, Grace Public Radio applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit for a new broadcast radio station to serve Girard, Kansas. The FCC granted this permit on October 8, 2008, with a scheduled expiration date of October 8, 2011.[2] The new station was assigned call sign "KFKB" on January 1, 2009.[1]

In August 2010, with the station still under construction, the permit holder applied to change the new station's city of license from Girard to La Harpe, Kansas. The FCC issued a new permit to make this change on April 5, 2011, with a scheduled expiration of October 8, 2011.[3] The station applied for, and was assigned, new call sign "KTRU" by the FCC on May 17, 2011.[1] After construction and testing were completed in October 2011, the station was granted its broadcast license on October 28, 2011.[4]

KTRU Call History

William Marsh Rice University, in Houston, Texas, operated a low power 2 watt AM, then FM, campus radio station as early as 1967. In 1971, Rice was granted a construction permit to build a Class A FM facility @ 10 watts on 91.7 MHz. Having previously used the unofficial call of KOWL (the owl being Rice's mascot) on its low power carrier current facilities, the University requested to continue the use of KOWL. This request was ultimately denied as an out-of-state facility already had the set in use at the time. Therefore, the University then requested the call set KTRU, standing for Texas' Rice University, for their new full power FM facility. The Federal Communications Commission granted the call, as it was unused by any other facility, and 91.7 KTRU commenced broadcasting on July 30, 1971. The student run station continued its freeform music format, interspersed with University athletics programming for the next 40 years.

On August 17, 2010, the Rice University Board of Governors, along with University President David Leebron, announced that it had been in negotiations to sell KTRU's broadcast tower, FM frequency and license to the University of Houston. As a result, KTRU ceased broadcasting on 91.7 FM in Houston at 6 a.m. on April 28, 2011, after the license transfer was granted by the FCC and the sale of the facility between the two universities had been consummated.

On February 9, 2015, Rice University once again requested a construction permit to build an FM facility for its student run radio station, albeit now on an LPFM (or L1) facility. The request was granted and licensed at 41 watts, from the top of Rice Stadium on October 19, 2015. The KTRU call would not be resurrected, however, as this facility had already signed on the air and used the call prior to the construction permit grant. That has not stopped Rice University from continuing to use the branding of "k-tru" as the station name, even after being assigned a call set of KBLT-LP upon sign on of the L1 facility. The only current reference to the new call set is at the top of the hour when the University is mandated to announce "KBLT-LPFM Houston" by Federal law.

Programming

KTRU broadcasts a Contemporary Christian format to the greater Iola, Kansas. They stop doing The Gospel Station in 2011-2013. [5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Call Sign History". CDBS Public Access Database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Application Search Details (BNPED-20071015ACV)". FCC Media Bureau. October 8, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Application Search Details (BMPED-20100803AAM)". FCC Media Bureau. April 5, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Application Search Details (BLED-20111003ABA)". FCC Media Bureau. October 28, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
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