Twist in KUSF Events Efforts to Save Station Persist

Denise Sullivan published on June 7, 2011
http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2011/06/07/twist-in-kusf-events-efforts-to-save-station-persist/

There has been a strange turn in the ongoing fight to Save KUSF, as personnel of the college radio station formerly operated by students and community volunteers at the University of San Francisco awaited the FCC’s ruling on the sale and transfer of KUSF’s license. In late May it was discovered the university planned to dismantle the studio and did. Now attorneys for Friends of KUSF, the grassroots organization formed in the wake of the station’s closure in January, claim the university acted in violation of FCC regulations. They’ve since filed a declaration with the federal licensing agency in addition to their previous Petition to Deny transfer of license. “This action by the University is one more action which demonstrates that the parties to this whole transaction act as if the FCC was nothing but a rubber stamp,” said Friends of KUSF attorney Peter Franck in a statement released by Save KUSF on Monday. ”In fact, approving this license transfer would violate the FCC’s duty to act in the Public Interest, as we will point out further if the FCC grants our petition to set the whole matter for a public hearing.”

The University of San Francisco has maintained the KUSF broadcast facility since the station’s closure in January and the Petition to Deny was filed in February, which was a stipulation of FCC rules, at least until the pending case resolved. Thanks to the generous technical support of WFMU, KUSF in Exile has been streaming online with the ultimate goal of getting back on the air. But now without a studio to return to, KUSF radio as it was shall never again be. However morale and determination on the Save KUSF side remains affirmative and undimmed. “Once again, USF has acted in bad faith towards the community and the FCC. Ignoring the fact that this bad deal for San Francisco has not been approved, they continue to act in arrogance, ignoring both the will of the city and violating the rules of the FCC,” said Save KUSF spokesperson Irwin Swirnoff in Monday’s release. “The time has come for the University to do the right thing and work with us in getting 90.3 FM back in the hands of the community where it belongs,” he said.

The University of San Francisco shutdown KUSF on January 18. When security escorted staff and DJs from the building, the music, community programming, and voices that made the station not only world famous but vital to SF’s multi-cultural communities and the community at large, ceased to be heard. KUSF is not the only college station that has had its license or broadcast status threatened in recent months. Though its status as an award-winning, 33 year-old community resource in a major US city is an incalculable loss to not only the listeners it served but also to community broadcasting nationwide. Stay tuned to Save KUSF for all the news as it develops and we will occasionally continue to post updates here.