Letters Opposing The Sale Of KUSF

Hello SF friends,

Many of you know by now that KUSF was unjustly taken off the air in a complex deal involving corporate radio conglomerate, Entercom. Because of these back-door dealings, we’ve seen the purchase and takeover of low-dial airwaves and the contribution to the trend of silencing independent voices and the homogenization of media.


The organization 'Save KUSF' plans to stop the sale of its broadcasting license before the FCC and intends to get back on the air. Our movement got off to a roaring start and now we must continue the momentum. The SF Board of Supervisors is now involved and has introduced a resolution co-sponsored by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Eric Mar, and John Avalos. What can the board do you ask? It gives us political leverage in our fight so that once the resolution passes we can move on to bigger names (Pelosi, Boxer, etc.) and can be granted a meeting with USF in order to stop the deal.


This is where you come in. The resolution must pass this Tuesday, February 1st. Once again we rally at City Hall at 1 p.m., before the Supervisors meet AND VOTE on this resolution. They need to hear from constituents like you that it's unacceptable for a community/college-run station of 33 years with cultural programming in nine languages and ties to the vibrant underground and local music scene that will otherwise go unheard in a free broadcast format, to simply disappear.


Find the email for your home district supervisor here: (just click on their face and look at the map)

http://www.sfbos.org/

Write them now and come to the City Hall rally Tuesday 2/1 at 1 p.m. *There'll be bands!*

Also find out who else you can write and for more info on the fight to Save KUSF go here:

http://savekusf.org/

Please forward this message to friends, family, co-workers and any concerned SF resident.

Thank you,

Andre Torrez




To Whom It May Concern,

I have listened to KUSF’s Friday Night Session almost weekly since moving to San Francisco way back in ’97. It is a big part of my life!

The station itself is an integral part of our local community, providing experience for college students, an outlet for local business and organizations and a place where individual opinions and stories can be told.

It is my hope that the University allow the station to bid on the frequency or come up with an alternative solution.

Sincerely,
Ivo
San Francisco resident



To whom it may concern:

I'm sure you're getting flooded with emails like this, and probably deleting all of them unread, but just in case I'm wrong, let me not only add my voice from the other side of the country in protest, but focus on one particular disturbing issue.   It strikes me as anti-everything a university should stand for to have failed to give KUSF an opportunity to purchase the station.
In addition to playing in Yo La Tengo, I have the opportunity to work at WFMU, a radio station in New Jersey that owes its existence to having purchased the station from Upsala College safely in advance of that institution's bankruptcy.  WFMU, as a unique radio voice--and love it or hate it, it is most certainly unique--is not only serving a community, and in the internet age, that's now a worldwide community, but has forged a community all its own.  KUSF was certainly serving that purpose as well.  Now it will be another NPR station, and nothing against NPR, but putting it mildly, that's a shame.
KUSF has served various communities admirably in its tenure, not just its local listenership, but those that have been inspired by its example.  The University of San Francisco is betraying both the local community by depriving it of KUSF's voice, but also everyone out there who is watching.  To have pulled the plug on the station without giving them a chance to continue is an outrage against expression.

Sincerely yours, Ira Kaplan



Dear Rev. Stephen A. Privett,
 
Last week we received the news that KUSF has been shut down as an FM station in the wider San Francisco area. The press release that I read said KUSF will become an online-only station.
 
We are saddened by the news of losing this true and valued treasure in the San Francisco Bay Area. KUSF is the only station with such a diversity of sounds, opinions and views from around the world.
 
Mr. Arndt Peltner, one of our close partners, produced “Radio Goethe” for over 14 years on KUSF, the only show featuring German topics on the FM dial. The show is supported by the Consulate General of Germany and Mr. Peltner was decorated with one of the highest medals of Honor in Germany, the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
Over the years many guests were interviewed on the show, including musicians, actors, film directors, politicians, artists, and scientists. The names range from film director Werner Herzog to Germany's secretary of state Joschka Fischer. Mr. Peltner was able to cover the music scene from Germany, Austria and Switzerland; political movements from Germany; social/political topics in the US, including homelessness and the Death Penalty; and visits to Rwanda, Afghanistan, Mexico. All of these were covered on his show. His radio program has helped further an understanding of Germany today and supported German-American relations.
 
The Bay Area, known for its diversity and for embracing the new needs a diverse broadcast Radio station like KUSF.
 
We will miss KUSF and “Radio Goethe” and would be very happy if there is any chance you might reconsider your decision.
 
Warm regards from the staff at the Goethe-Institut San Francisco, 
 
Emma Mascall
Program Coordinator
Goethe-Institut
530 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel. 415 263 8768
Fax: 415 391 8715
program@sanfrancisco.goethe.org
www.goethe.de/sanfrancisco



Dear President Privett,

As President of the Northern California Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and as a Professor of German at Sonoma State University I am shocked about the plan to close KUSF and in particular the very successful program 'Radio Goethe.' This loss would be significant for many students and teachers of German in the Bay Area who regularly listen to this show and learn German through music but also learn more about the different cultures in the German-speaking world. I strongly urge you reconsider this situation; it would be more than unfortunate to cancel cultural programs, such as 'Radio Goethe,' that are very successful, popular, educational and also very well known. This step would represent a significant loss in the German community at large and at many schools, colleges and universities where German language and culture are taught; it would also negatively impact the cultural scene of the Bay Area overall.

Please keep important cultural programs, such as 'Radio Goethe,' on the air! We need them more than ever to remind us and our students of the importance of multi-lingual sensitivity and true multicultural understanding.

Sincerely, Michaela Grobbel
-- Michaela Grobbel, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
3016 Stevenson Hall
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928



Dear Mr. Privett, 
 
KUSF as a terrestrial station helped us tour and come to San Francisco. The band Faust was able to visit the studio and talk about our music, our background, our ideas. The DJs and producers of KUSF gave us the opportunity as a German band, to reach out to the community in San Francisco. Over the last 34 years of KUSF 90.3 fm, Faust has been played by dozens and dozens of DJs, who were willing to look beyond the mainstream music market and open borders for an interested audience. In a music world more and more dominated by giant corporation, it is a cultural necessity to have radio stations which champion not the mainstream but the fringes of contemporary music, where the innovations of the music of the 21. century will come from.
I urge you, please save KUSF 90.3fm.
Thank You
 
Hans Joachim Irmler
Founding member of Faust
Dürmentingen, Germany



Dear Record Label / Rock Star, 

For more than 30 years, KUSF-FM has been your point of entry into the Bay Area and West Coast music communities. 

From Sonic Youth to De La Soul, from the Dead Kennedys to the dawn of Electronica, from glitchcore to acid jazz, from Metallica to Ali Farka Toure, from the Donnas to the White Stripes, from Stravinsky to Schoenberg -- KUSF-FM has served in a leading role around the Bay Area and around the United States as a beacon of independent music, an open community for public participation, and a haven for music lovers and music makers. It has been a place for fans and independent music industry in all its diversity to converge, create community, and change our culture and our world. 

Now, in a shocking act, the University of San Francisco has swept all that aside, and committed a possibly illegal sale of this public, nonprofit, non-commercial trust, to outside parties and ex-commercial operators with no connection to the Bay Area music community and the wider community of music fans and makers around the United States and around the world. 

This harms San Francisco and the Bay Area by cutting off a primary communications hub for local and touring musicians, labels, and venues. It will reduce tourism and the exposure and impacts of the music industry. It will reduce San Francisco's status as a cultural mecca renowned the world over, by limiting exposure for local and touring musicians, artists, authors, filmmakers and more. 

We need your help in overturning this travesty! Please, send a letter to IWANNAHELP@SAVEKUSF.ORG describing the following things: 

• How much your music and art has been supported by KUSF. What are the impacts of KUSF on your art and work? The exposure you got, the addition of your records to our current rotation and archival library, the number of tickets you gave away and the number of fans you've served, the live interviews you had, the number of co-presents KUSF produced with you in support of your art.  

• What the impact of "the taking of KUSF" will have on your art and industry. How will you be negatively affected as a musician, artist, music publisher, performance venue, etc. 

• Your urgent call to halt the sale and give the KUSF volunteers the opportunity to make a bid on the station, and turn it into a true community-run resource for the Bay Area and beyond. 

Thank you so much for your music! It has truly changed the world. By working together, we can ensure that your work will not remain isolated and ignored by a commercial mass-media establishment. Thank you so much for your support!

Love, 

SaveKUSF.org



Tell USC local, independent media is too important: don't crush community stations from afar
Targeting: Dr. C. L. Max Nikias (President, USC) and Ms. Brenda Barnes (President, USC Radio)
Started by: Russell Newman

The University of Southern California has announced that it will ‘preserve classical music in San Francisco’ via the purchase of the rights to broadcast there at 90.3 FM and 89.9 FM. USC sees this as a chance to connect with alumni and with potential recruits. The deal, however, is a travesty.

For decades, 90.3 has been the home of the award-winning, University of San Francisco-operated community station KUSF-FM. As part of a deal negotiated behind closed doors between USC, the University of San Francisco, and Entercom - one of the largest radio station owners in the country - the station was unceremoniously torn from the airwaves earlier this week. Volunteers arrived to find the station behind lock and key; others report being treated like criminals as they were ushered out in a state of surprise. Preserving classical music from afar should not come at the expense of the cultural and musical communities that are now losing a key hub. As USC students, alumni, faculty and staff, it troubles us deeply that our own institution is partially responsible for this outcome.
Educational stations are one of America’s last widely-available outlets for local, critical and challenging content. During a time in which independent voices are increasingly scarce on the consolidated FM dial, USC’s initiative comes at the cost of hobbling a decades-old community institution. Please sign the petition below to express solidarity with those of the KUSF community working for the return of their station. It is our hope that USC can achieve its goals while preserving a valuable San Francisco voice.

This petition is directed specifically to students, alumni, faculty and staff of USC.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/tell_usc_local_independent_media_is_too_important_dont_crush_community_stations_from_afar

Without warning, at 10:00 am on Tuesday, January 19, the 3,000-watt KUSF transmitter was illegally shut off, and armed campus security personnel removed from the station its staff of students and volunteers, including a DJ and a band gearing up for a live interview. 
  
Acting in secret, Fr. Stephen A. Privett, the University of San Francisco president, had entered into a complex three-party arrangement with the University of Southern California and for-profit broadcasting giant Entercom. He dumped the KUSF license for a song, without public hearing or notice, even to USF students and faculty. 
  
This is a complete failure of stewardship of the public airwaves, and a clunker of a business decision. For the paltry sum of $3.75 million, the equivalent of a few four-year student tuitions, Fr. Privett has sacrificed unique educational and career opportunities for his students, as well as a thriving communications hub for San Francisco's diverse cultural and ethnic communities. 
  
This is not about a format change. Fr. Privett has squandered a precious public resource, and his decision has caused potentially irreparable to harm to the local community. Some facts: 
 
* It is not true that student participation has diminished. KUSF has been a real learning laboratory for USF students for 34 years. Many choose to attend USF precisely because of the unique media-education and career opportunities that KUSF has provided. 
  
* KUSF serves as a unique and free communications nexus for a wide variety of cultural and ethnic groups in many languages, small businesses, civic groups, arts organizations and venues for independent film, authors, educators, and musicians from the Bay Area and beyond. This loss will cause irreparable harm to the local economy, as well as the culture and civic life of San Francisco. 
  
* There is no online KUSF. The proposed online service will only be a sandbox for student podcasting. Community volunteers have not been invited back on-air.
  
* KUSF student and community volunteers raised approximately $50,000 in one week to repair the transmitter when it failed a number of years ago. USF did nothing, and yet Fr. Privett says the university subsidizes the station.
  
Lastly, a question, one of many we will be asking in the days to come: If, as Fr. Privett said last Wednesday evening to more than 500 attendees of a boisterous public hearing on the sale, he was not soliciting buyers, why did USC's Brenda Barnes say on KQED's Forum that morning that her Classical Music Radio Network only courts "stations that are already being offered for sale"? 
  
By accepting the first, allegedly unsolicited offer to drop on his desk, and signing a non-disclosure agreement, Fr. Privett acted in bad faith with his faculty, students and all San Franciscans. He has failed in his stewardship of a public trust, and has ill-served his University's educational mission and Jesuit values, besmirching USF's good name at home and abroad. All contracts have escape hatches; the USF Board of Trustees should reject this deal now, before it further damages their reputation within the local community that hosts their institution.
  
Those of us working to save KUSF through our donations and labor urge you to join us at the Board of Supervisors meeting this Tuesday afternoon at San Francisco City Hall, with a rally at 1 p.m. and the public hearing at 2 p.m. Please visit www.savekusf.org to learn more, sign our petition, post a comment, and let Fr. Privett and the USF Board of Trustees know what you think about this travesty.

Ted Dively is a co-organizer of Save KUSF, and an 18-year veteran KUSF New Music broadcaster.

To Whom it May Concern,

My name is Kenneth D Freedman, I am General Manager of radio stations WFMU and WMFU, located in Jersey City New Jersey and New York. WFMU was voted "Best Radio Station  in the United States" for four years in a row by Rolling Stone Magazine. I am also technology advisor to the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and an internationally recognized speaker and thinker on issues of public broadcasting and social media. 

I'm writing to support the continued operation of KUSF as a community and educational resource of the San Francisco Bay Area operating under the auspices and ownership of the University of San Francisco. 

KUSF is recognized nationally as a leading college radio station. KUSF has a national reputation and is well situated to become a national radio station, something that all radio stations are striving to do, but which few have the chance of achieving. KUSF is one of the few college stations in the country that could succeed in this endeavor. 

But in order to become a national station, KUSF needs to build on it's decades of broadcasting, and it needs to operate on both the FM band regionally and on the web internationally. The costs of broadcasting on the internet are extremely high when compared to the cost of serving a community on the FM band. For example, an FM station can broadcast to 100 people or 100,000 people for the exact same cost. But transmitting a signal online requires each and every listener to utilize bandwidth, which is very expensive. Operating an online-only radio station means that each and every listener has a meter running while they are listening. This is not the case for FM broadcasting. 

Further, the Record Industry requires online radio stations, even non-commercial ones, to pay an extremely high licensing fee if their average audience exceeds 230 listeners per 24-hour period. 

Between the bandwidth expenses and royalty fees, operating a non-commercial online-only radio station that serves even 500 average listeners per 24 hour period is prohibitively expensive. For this reason, stations like KUSF need to combine the global reach of online broadcasting with the efficiencies of regional FM broadcasting.

KUSF has spent decades developing a national reputation which can now be leveraged into something very unique - a national programming service emanating from the University of San Francisco. But to achieve this, KUSF must operate both online as well as on the FM band. Please do whatever you can in order to see that the potential of KUSF is fully developed. 

If I can be of any further assistance in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

-Ken Freedman



Dear friends of classics without walls,

First, please kindly forgive both the length of this message, and
the impersonality of a mass mailing; I try to avoid both, but the
circumstances are unusual. And second, I apologize for any
duplicates of this message that you might receive.

As you probably know by now, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18,
as the result of a complex transaction with even more complex
backstories, the University of San Francisco permanently shut down
KUSF-FM, which had been in continuous operation since 1977.

Although I had hoped to share with you more concrete information
about the future, an informational meeting held Wednesday evening
was inconclusive to say the least, and there is far more
misinformation and rumor abroad than can be untangled here. I can
tell you with certainty, however, that our weekly =FM= broadcasts
from USF are at an end, and it is far too early to say anything
definitive about web streaming or any other broadcast
possibilities. But classics without walls has never been defined
as a radio broadcast:

You may be hearing from me not because you are a regular or
sporadic listener, but because you have attended one of our "Ring"
events with the late Phil Raines in Chicago, Seattle, San
Francisco, or Mill Valley; a pre-concert talk for the New Century
Chamber Orchestra; or one of the multiple versions of my ongoing
Gurre-Lieder Project.

You may be one of the many generous ticket donors who have allowed
us to bring listeners into intimate contact with music-making they
would otherwise never have experienced.

You may have attended — or created — a community concert at the
First Baptist Church of Berkeley, or have been part of one of its
experiments in integrating music into liturgy in untried ways.

You may be one of the widely scattered community of students of
Eric Voegelin, who have helped ground how I think about music; or
one of the quarter-century partners in conviviality who have
followed the journey thus far with endless good humor; or, most
important, one of the many musicians it has been my extraordinary
and unexpected good fortune to meet over these two decades.

Or, of course, "none of the above."

I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you, and hope to repay it
personally; but at the close of a substantial chapter in one's
lifework, it is only right to acknowledge as publicly as possible
some of that chapter's special debts. For these past twenty years
of broadcasting on KUSF-FM, these are, above all:

 - to Kathy Ketman, who first invited me to take a crack at the
 then-unthinkable idea of doing an hour of radio. What prompted
 her audacity remains a mystery to me, but I'm as grateful now as
 I was surprised then.

 - to the astonishingly dedicated volunteers of KUSF-FM, with
 special attention to the hundreds of DJs who have produced KUSF's
 weekly ninety hours of New Music — edgy, outrageous, magnanimous,
 irritating, cranky, sublime, passionate, appalling, ecstatic,
 cheery, otherworldly, hilarious, loving, angry, tender,
 unspeakable, kindly — just like themselves. Ladies and gentlemen,
 it has been an honor and a privilege to sit at the same
 microphone as yourselves. It is only with the kind of commitment
 and support you offer to music =right now= that later generations
 will have the fullest, and fairest, opportunity to discern what
 will have remained as "classics."

 - to Ken Quandt, whose joyfully annoying habit of kicking over
 the bushels under which those around him are hiding their light
 is (for better or worse) responsible for the longevity of
 classics without walls. I need say no more now, since Ken and I
 have solemnly agreed to speak at each other's funerals.

 - to Larry Schoenberg, whose generosity with his recollections,
 resources, and his own mischievous self have helped bring his
 illustrious father vividly alive for me in a way no one else
 could have. Thank you for your irreplaceable gift to this fan
 since age eight, and for its impact on my continuing effort to
 bring Arnold Schoenberg new appreciators.

 - to Phyllis Kamrin, who has undertaken, and against all advice
 continues, the fiendishly difficult task of teaching me to play
 the viola, and in consequence employs fiendish tactics with the
 utmost generosity. I am grateful for the torment and joy.

 - to those at the University of San Francisco who have maintained
 and continue to maintain their understanding of and commitment to
 the idea of the university and its community, both during and
 beyond the history of KUSF-FM.

 - to my treasured co-host Renée Witon, who has brought such
 complementary interests, passions, tastes, and sensibilities to
 the program that it has often seemed like spooky contrarian
 telepathy.

 - to my beloved wife Nancy Hall. No words are possible.

 - and to the musicians young and old — professional, amateur,
 novice, unwitting — and those who support them (or at least put
 up with them), to all who seek to make sounds that come from the
 heart, mind, and soul: you are doing the thing that brings
 eternity into a moment in time. Your calling is the highest I
 know, and I am grateful.

In an age when it is apparently possible to speak the words "the
music industry" without embarrassment, when it is necessary to use
the redundant phrase "live music" to distinguish Music from a non-
substance made only of artificially reproduced sounds, and hawked
as a commodity for consumption — in short, when music itself has
been seriously eclipsed by its shadow — you, in whatever way is
your own, have been part of resisting a massive assault on human
dignity, and have stood instead for reality. That is a rare and
precious thing, and in its face no such craven assault — even one
on the scale of that being mourned today — can stand. Thank you
for your love and support of music.

In joyful gratitude,

"M. Theo" / Mark Theodoropoulos



Hello,
I'm the General Manager of KSCU 103.3 FM in San Jose, and I would like to acknowledge our station's support of saving KUSF. As a fellow Jesuit university in the Bay Area, it is incredibly disheartening to hear that the President of USF say that the station is there to serve students and not the community, ignoring the fact that an institute of higher education is inextricably linked to its surrounding area. At KSCU, we wouldn't be able to survive without our dedicated team of non-student, unpaid volunteers, and I think that the mix of students and non-students working together helps to foster a learning environment that makes unique from any other student organizations. I find that the abrupt nature of the shut down and "secret sale" to be quite awful and inconsiderate of the feelings of those who have dedicated their lifes to independent radio.

I signed the Save KUSF petition and am encouraging KSCU employees to do the same. If there is any way we can help by having KUSF DJ's on air at KSCU, please let me know.

SIncerely,
Lauren Duffy
KSCU 103.3 FM- General Manager
laurenduffy3@gmail.com
(541) 221-8973



Dear Board President and Board Members,

This letter is a request for you to review the misconduct that led to the University's sale of 90.3 FM.

The University was fully within its rights to wish to relieve itself of supporting KUSF. The radio station's broad and inclusive -- catholic -- programming, had indeed become a resource that was apparently more valuable to its community than to the University.

However the University wrongfully denied the station and its community the opportunity to carry on independent of University support. This conduct poses several serious problems:

First, it is unethical for the University to have been aware of KUSF's broad and deep community support and to have deliberately withheld from that community the nature of the University's plans toward KUSF. Hiding behind the "contractual necessity" of a non-disclosure agreement regarding the sale is a form of deceit that robbed the KUSF community of its appropriate opportunity to put together a competing bid to purchase the station.

Second, it is wrong and deeply offensive for Rev. Privett to have (in his Chronicle op-ed, and elsewhere) characterized KUSF's community members as holding to an entitlement. Did he survey the community? I and KUSF listeners I'm familiar with did -- until Jan. 18 -- hold the University in very high esteem for its offering to the community. We would gladly support KUSF as a community radio station. We certainly did not ever take the University's support of the station for granted, much less did we hold our value of KUSF as any kind of "entitlement."

Third, it is unethical for the University to publicly frame the sale as being "about" the future of classical music. That argument fosters a false enmity between classical music listeners and the KUSF community. In fact, those groups of listeners are overlapping and natural allies.

Please interrupt the sale of KUSF immediately to allow for a community response to the University's deceitful conduct. Please investigate, and discipline, those responsible for causing the University to engage in deceit, offense, and fostering false enmity, and otherwise to fail in basic standards of civic and Catholic behavior.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Megan Prelinger
KUSF community member since 1993



Dear Father Privett,

I wanted to offer you my sincere thanks for meeting with the community of KUSF students, volunteers, and listeners on Tuesday night.  I'm sure it wasn't a particularly fun experience, but I appreciate your willingness to meet face to face and provide a shell-shocked population with a little more background behind your decision to sell KUSF's license.

When I first moved to San Francisco in 1997, one of the first things I did as I drove into town was to turn my radio to the left to see what non-commercial, community-focused radio stations San Francisco had to offer.  I soon fell in love with KUSF, became a volunteer, and eventually spent years as an on-air DJ at the station.  I will never forget schlepping across town at 2:30am to earn my stripes as a young DJ on the 3 to 6am graveyard shift, fielding calls from students cramming for exams, taxi drivers, and insomniacs.  As I was exposed to new music through KUSF's deep and extensive library, I prided myself on playing an eclectic and varied mix of music from all over the world, blending genres and themes together to bring music that literally could not be heard anywhere else to my fellow San Franciscans.  I hosted musicians in Studio B from all over the world who rightly saw KUSF as a internationally renowned, award winning beacon of culture and creativity.  KUSF epitomized the very idea of the public owning the broadcast spectrum, a notion so easily forgotten amidst the crass commercialization and bland programming that occupies so much of the FM dial.  Through its diversity of programming, KUSF was a mirror reflection of San Francisco, and it was beautiful.

But beyond the music and the cultural benefit to the City, what became most important to me over time was how KUSF fostered a community, both at USF and in San Francisco.  I happened to be on the air on the morning of September 11, 2001, and was the first to inform many listeners of the terrible tragedy transpiring in New York.  I became friends with students and volunteers whom I never would have met outside the station, hundreds of incredibly generous and loving people from all walks of life who coalesced around the lofty goal of celebrating and strengthening the culture of the Bay Area.  And, most impactful for me, it was through KUSF that I met my wife, and we now are raising two young boys here in the Bay Area.  Yes, KUSF was one incredibly diverse and unique community, and this spirit of community spilled out over the airwaves for 34 years, becoming an integral part of what makes San Francisco such a special place to live.

But, as you made clear on Tuesday night, any benefit that KUSF provided to the community was nice, but ultimately not all that important.  Your primary responsibility is to the students, and in your judgment having this incredible one-of-a-kind resource broadcasting from Phelan Hall was not beneficial to the student population.  After all, that space could be used for more dorms, and USF's primary reason for existence is not to run a radio station.  Indeed, as you noted more than once, not all universities that teach medicine have hospitals on campus.

This brings us to that fateful day when the mysterious broker's Non-Disclosure Agreement landed on your desk.   To hear you tell it Tuesday night, in your estimation the station was not beneficial to the University, but for years you did nothing about it nor took any serious action to change or improve the situation.  Then one day you received a Non-Disclosure Agreement regarding the sale of the station and immediately signed it without question.  When asked about this confounding series of events on Tuesday night, you repeatedly stated that you couldn't inform the students, volunteers, nor even your own teaching staff about the sale due to this infamous Non-Disclosure Agreement.  Indeed, it was as if you were compelled to sign this document by some powerful outside force beyond your control.

However, you had a choice before you signed that document.  You had an opportunity to show an ounce of respect to the students, volunteers, and the City of San Francisco by providing the community with a chance to acquire the station's license.  What's more, you had a chance every day for years before you received the offer to take action and meet with the leadership of KUSF to either transform the station into something that you felt would more directly benefit the students or explore options for selling the license and moving the station off campus.

And here is where your hospital analogy is particularly apt -- if USF did have a hospital on campus that was staffed by students and volunteers and served the most needy population of San Francisco, and you received an offer from an LA-based developer to convert that hospital into a parking lot, what would be your first instinct?  Would you consider finding a way to allow the hospital to operate independently and remove the financial burden it may have posed on the University, or would you take the first offer you received, sign an NDA, and conduct the whole sale in complete secrecy?  Would you intentionally disseminate disinformation to the students and volunteers that the hospital was simply going to be moved to a new location, and in a surprise move have campus police escort the patients and volunteers out into the streets and change the locks?

I don't think you would.  And what this tells me is that you, and by extension the Board of Trustees, didn't actually understand the true value of what you had.  That you would accept the first offer, turn your back on the students and volunteers who ran the station, and sell this precious public resource off to an LA-based entity tells me that you must have seen the sale of KUSF merely as an easy way out of an inconvenient situation rather than the betrayal of your community and irreparable destruction of a cultural and civic icon that this action truly was.  It was a terrible decision for your students, for San Francisco, and one that will ultimately come back to haunt you and the University.

In closing, I wanted to thank you again for hosting the meeting on Tuesday night.  Radio can be an impersonal medium in that one never really knows exactly who or how many people are listening.  I hadn't been particularly active at KUSF in the last few years due to the time consuming nature of raising children.  But seeing Presentation Hall overflowing with people just one day after the transmitter was unceremoniously turned off truly inspired me and reminded me of why I love KUSF, why I love San Francisco, and why I will do everything in my power to stop the sale from being approved.

Sincerely,

Noel Morrison



Dear Supervisor Campos,

I'm writing as a fellow Mission resident and District 9 constituent,
and as one who shares in your pride and admiration for the iconic
cultural oasis our beloved city has for so long represented to its
residents and the world. I write to urge your “yes” vote today on
Supervisor Mirakami's Resolution to preserve the 35-year civic and
cultural contribution of non-commercial community radio station KUSF,
and to join with the community's fight to protect KUSF's place on our
shared public radio airspace.

Two years ago you lent your voice to those in protest of an American
Apparel store being opened in a particularly visible part of our
neighborhood so deserving of the local pride it inspires. In doing so,
you helped our district to retain some of its uniquely diverse and
idiosyncratic character by defending against the encroachment of chain
stores which would threaten the local culture, sense of place, and
grass-roots community spirit already largely lost to so many in cities
and neighborhoods all over the country, and sadly to parts of San
Francisco as well.

Though less visible to the naked eye, that small portion of our local
radio airwaves reserved for non-commercial programming--provided by
members of the community, for the community, and in the spirit of
community pride and cohesion--is being bulldozed and converted to the
sonic equivalent of a strip mall. This trend poses a threat not only
to the quality of life and civic pride of SF residents, but also to
the image of ourselves we reflect to those visitors who favor the city
with much-needed tourism dollars. Most of us have visited other cities
only to find a local landscape so dominated by chain-store strip-
malls, and a local media so dominated by corporate conglomerates
representing interests outside the community itself, as to make it
difficult to distinguish that city's features from those of any other.
These tend to be cities we find ourselves in no great rush to return.
San Francisco should not but also quite literally cannot afford to
join their ranks.

There is no Planning Commission or zoning board at the local level
which would allow San Francisco residents a voice in defending against
the wanton commercialization and homogenization of its soundscape as
we do its landscape. But that doesn't mean there should be no public
discussion and debate on this issue, especially as it pertains to a
non-commercial public educational radio license granted freely to a
religious institution now seeking tax-exempt profit from its sale to
outside interests with commercial affiliations and incentives.

USF President Father Privett has sought to defend his reportedly
unilateral decision by framing discussion in terms of either his
autonomy in making economic and educational decisions on the
University's behalf, or else in terms of his legal obligation to a
signed non-disclosure agreement. Casting the discussion in those terms
makes it convenient for him to deflect or dismiss protest. Although
both students, graduates, and faculty of the University have
challenged his decision with respect to its financial, educational and
legal wisdom, none of those describe the fundamental issue at stake
for the city of San Francisco, its residents, and its admirers. Fr.
Privett's right to determine the best interests of his University have
not been challenged by the community he's pretended to defend against
in his responses and in his deployment of armed force. But his
decision to sell KUSF's radio frequency in the perceived best
interests of the University neither obligated his choice of buyer, his
gross mistreatment of students and volunteer community organizers, his
displays of force in enacting and defending his decision, nor his
deliberate efforts to prohibit considered discussion among community
stake-holders. In the case of the non-commercial spectrum of the
publicly shared radio airwaves, those stake-holders within the
community are all of us who reside in San Francisco.

Thank you for voting your support of Supervisor Marikami's resolution
to defend our local airwaves against its cultural strip-mining by
outside interests.

Sincerely,

Brad Stark


Dear Rev. Privett,

We were shocked to learn recently that radio station KUSF is no longer broadcasting on the air. Considering its long history and diverse alternative programming, this is truly a great loss for the University of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and beyond. As professors of the German language and culture, we are particularly saddened by the loss of foreign language and cultural programs that has resulted from the decision to discontinue KUSF. One such program is Radio Goethe, produced for over 14 years by Arndt Peltner. The German-language music and in-depth interviews on topics such as music, politics, and society made the program unique in the United States. In fact, in an interview with Mr. Peltner from October 2010, our colleague Sandra Alfers stressed exactly this uniqueness and the importance of Radio Goethe for the furthered understanding of the Austrian, German, and Swiss cultures and support of relations between the United States and these countries.

We consider the closure of KUSF as an on-air radio station extremely short-sighted and a travesty for all those who treasure diversity in programming and view the medium of radio as an indispensable tool for the promotion of cultural understanding. We therefore strongly urge you to reconsider your decision.

Sincerely,

Sandra Alfers
Associate Professor of German

Shannon Dubenion-Smith
Assistant Professor of German

Petra Fiero
Professor of German

Cornelius Partsch
Associate Professor of German

Department of Modern and Classical Languages
Western Washington University



Supervisor Elsbernd,

Today at the Board of Supervisors' meeting I spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting expressing my support for KUSF. I believe you had left the room at the point that I spoke, so I wanted to share that statement with you now:

I'm a San Francisco resident of the Sunnyside neighborhood and a long-time college radio DJ. Last Tuesday was a frightening day for San Francisco, college radio and independent media in general. Even though University of San Francisco was well aware of the vital role that KUSF plays in the diverse community of San Francisco, they shut down the transmitter and are attempting to sell the station to a public radio group from Los Angeles.

This should send shudders down the spine of anyone who cares about independent media and the future of radio. Increasingly, universities are selling out their students and their communities to public radio conglomerates and soon I fear that independent voices on the radio dial will be a thing of the past.

I'm hoping that the Board of Supervisors will help by making a stand against these types of sales. Not only will you be showing support for the well-loved KUSF, but you will also be sending a message that independent radio should be cherished. Beyond San Francisco, I'm hoping that this resolution will be the first step in a series of policy changes that will help to ensure the future of college and community radio all over the country. We've all seen what's happened to commercial radio as a result of consolidation. Please help us keep that from happening to non-commercial radio too.

Thank you.

Jennifer Waits



Dear Rev. Privett,

Please retain the Radio Goethe programing at USF. It is a delight to have such programming as an option to most of the nonsense broadcast these days. I believe that sponsoring such programing demonstrates the Catholic nature of USF with its concern for promoting a rich and positive academic culture. I have a daughter who attends the ninth grade at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, CA. I am trying to influence her to attend USF for the specific reason that your institution promotes such good academic and cultural traditions. Please reconsider the transfer of these programing rights.

Thank you for your attention!

Mark Schmittle


Esteemed President Privett,

My partner is an alumnus of the USF Business School and we have been faithful donors every year since he graduated in the 80’s. I am the President of Education Francaise Bay Area (www.efba.us), a nonprofit that provides French afterschool programs to 600 k-8th students in 18 public schools all over the Bay Area.

I was shocked and incredulous when I learned in the Chronicle about the decision to close KUSF and in particular the very successful programs 'Francofun' and “Samedi Culture”. The disappearance of those programs from the waves will be significant for many French-Americans, bicultural students, teachers, Francophile citizens and other curious parties of French Heritage in the Bay Area.

I did read your explanation in the following edition of the Chronicle and I respectfully disagree that moving the programs to the Internet does not represent a loss in terms of accessibility. I am also disappointed that you teach your students to prefer a commitment to the community over making money at all costs and you just did not follow your teachings. For instance you could have offered the stakeholders the option to buy the station but instead you went for a high bid and took everybody by surprise.

I am sad and deeply disappointed with USF. I understand the ink has dried on the sale agreement but at least you had you realize the damage your action caused to our community.


Sincerely,

Gabrielle Durana

Education Francaise Bay Area President

www.efba.us



To the University of San Francisco,

I applaud your commitment to the noble tradition of Jesuit education!

The University's dedication to service to the community, promotion of critical inquiry, and promotion of cultural diversity is no better exemplified than in its recent sale of KUSF's FM frequency. And it has been the acme of deft public relations to boot!

USF clearly demonstrates the need to prioritize service to its amazingly diverse local community, San Francisco, by pulling the plug on the terrestrial signal of the highly-regarded station KUSF. Now, thankfully, there will be no more Chinese Star Radio clogging the airwaves with its foreign chatter, no more Radio Goethe bumming out the lower end of the dial with that bizarre German music, no more In the Soul Kitchen filling the airwaves with the soul classics that were actually interesting, and THANK JESUS there will finally be an end to that intolerable New Music programming that wasted valuable airtime with its nonsensical notions about what exactly constitutes music. Thank you, USF, for ridding the airwaves of those crazy deejays who challenged the San Francisco community to invest a couple brain cells into actually thinking about the media fed to them. Thank you, you sons of bitches who now find yourselves $3.75 million richer, for replacing this needlessly challenging and frighteningly novel programming with tepid classical swill. Your selfless service to the community awes me.

Your flawlessly graceful methods of conveying the news of the sale to the students and volunteer staff of the station are truly stunning. Nothing embodies the Jesuit commitment to the promotion of critical inquiry like withholding all information on the sale to relevant persons until it's time to cut the transmission and change the locks. USF, you're one classy joint!

May you reap the rewards of your most Christian of actions.

Julia Mazawa


And the presidents response.:

Dear Ms. Mazzawa(sic),

Thank you for your letter of support. Your understanding that our students’(sic) do not pay their rather high tuition to subsidize providing alternate music for the outside community is not widely shared by those who disagree with my decision. I further appreciate your understanding that a university’s first responsibility is to its faculty and students, not to the community-at-large. Yours is a conviction that is not shared by those who believe that USF should first and foremost serve those whose contributions have never covered the cost of delivering the service they enjoy at the expense of USF students and their families. Finally, I applaud your support for USF’s primary mission: the education of its students and not serving as an entertainment resource for the outside community, no matter how valuable or important that service may be. Would that more people had your wisdom, insight and appreciation for the role of a university.

Warmest regards,

Stephen A. Privett, SJ
President