UH Regents to Vote on Radio Station Purchase

August 17, 2010

University of Houston Regents are preparing to vote on the purchase of a radio frequency from Rice University. The sale — if approved — would allow KUHF to create a full-time classical station on the 91.7 frequency. Laurie Johnson reports.

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University of Houston Regents will consider the sale later this morning at their quarterly board meeting. The $10 million purchase by KUHF would create the first full-time classical music station in Houston since 2004. The new station, with the proposed call letters KUHC would broadcast on the 91.7 frequency. Meanwhile, KUHF 88.7 would become a full-time NPR news and information station. KUHF CEO John Proffitt says Houston would join other major markets in using this model.

"This is the way the trend has been going and it has been very, very successful. You see the markets from New York to Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and so forth all evolving to having a common service with an full-time NPR station and a full-time public classical station."

Proffitt says the idea is to offer as much service to the community and the university as possible. Both stations would be funded entirely by local individual and corporate support. The University of Houston would join other universities, including Purdue, Florida State, Ohio State and Arizona State, that own and operate two public radio stations.

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