KTRU Employs First Professional General Manager

KTRU Employs First Professional General Manager
BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
April 16, 1998

The stacks of KTRU are filled with 60,000-plus CDs and records, and about 30
new releases arrive daily. Looking around the cramped radio station, it’s hard
to imagine where another year’s worth of shipments will be stored.

Airing the radio station’s needs–which include acquiring a bigger facility–and
working to meet the goals of both KTRU’s student management and Rice administrators
is where Will Robedee will come in.

For the first time in KTRU’s 37-year history, the station will employ a professional
staff member. Robedee, currently director of the Media Center at the State University
of New York, New Paltz, will join the Rice staff on July 1 as the first general
manager of KTRU.

At President Malcolm Gillis’ request, an ad hoc committee headed by Mary McIntire,
dean of the School of Continuing Studies, was formed last year to consider how
KTRU’s potential could be maximized. Among the challenges addressed was how
communication between the station’s student managers and Rice administrators
could be improved. In its final report, one of the committee’s recommendations
was the hiring of a general manager.

Search committee chair Janet McNeill, assistant vice president for Public Affairs,
said, "Throughout the search process, the committee kept the interests
of both students and administration in mind–we didn’t think there had to be
a conflict between them. We also believed that the right candidate would not
see a conflict, but understand that by maximizing the KTRU students’ opportunities,
the station would in fact serve the whole university to its best advantage.
Both the students and nonstudents on the committee felt that Robedee grasped
that concept and could carry it out."

Robedee, who grew up in North Salem, N.C., spent three years as an undergraduate
at New Paltz. After various job experiences, he became director of the Campus
Media Center at New Paltz, where his duties have included developing, managing
and implementing policies. The media center includes two student-operated, professionally
managed radio stations.

"Rice is fortunate to have found someone who is highly knowledgeable technically,
with extensive university radio experience, who also has the people skills to
work side by side with students and enjoy facilitating their projects,"
McNeill added.

Robedee, his wife and three-year-old daughter will move to Houston soon after
their second child is born this month.

"Of everywhere I’d been, this was the best match," Robedee said.
"Rice is the right mix and offers the right challenges. One of the things
that helped me decide to accept the position was the people."

Robedee said he will work to facilitate the students’ and administration’s
common goals, which include the airing of live Shepherd School concerts, sporting
events and lectures, for starters. Relocating to a larger, new facility will
take time, but Robedee said that is also on his to-do list.

"Both [students and administrators] have goals for KTRU," Robedee
said. "I will help establish common ground and then work on goals for KTRU."

Robedee said he hopes to improve the station’s image on campus as well as invite
interaction between the various departments and KTRU.

Cautious not to step on students’ toes, Robedee noted, "This is a student-run
organization. They’re fearful of being dictated to." He said he will not
control the station’s programming; however, he will intervene if the station
is ever in violation of FCC regulations. He also plans to hold a regular disc
jockey shift to observe how the station runs, but added that he will not take
away air time from a student to do so.

Station manager and Sid Richardson College sophomore Heather Colvin said, "Will’s
a great guy and I really think he can help us. [KTRU student staff members]
still have apprehension and fears, but I think many of them have been [calmed]
by meeting Will."

"We definitely would like to expand and diversify our programming,"
Colvin said, adding that hiring Robedee will help get KTRU’s name out into the
community and improve relations with the university.

While times have changed since KTRU hit the airwaves in May of 1961, change
also signals progress. The student-run, low-wattage FM station of the early
’60s played music and introduced topics seldom heard on Houston radio stations.
Due to KTRU’s low wattage, however, its audience was limited. When the station’s
power was upgraded to 50,000 watts in 1991, the broadcast was expanded and has
covered the entire metropolitan region ever since.

For related information please visit the following Web site:
KTRU 91.7: www.rice.edu/projects/ktru/index.html