Say goodbye to classical music on your terrestrial radio.
Houston Public Media’s classical musical station transitions to an all-digital format starting at 9 a.m. Friday, July 15.
It’s a result of Christian radio station KSBJ agreeing to purchase the KUHA 91.7 FM signal from the University of Houston — which holds the license — in February 2016.
“We are happy that the ownership of KUHA will stay in local hands and we are excited about the future,” Houston Public Media Associate Vice President and General Manager Lisa Shumate said in a statement. “Houston Public Media’s commitment to multi-platform arts and culture content, in addition to classical music, is stronger than ever.”
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KUHA 91.7 FM was purchased from Rice University for $9.5 million in 2010. Most of the classical music and arts programming produced by Houston Public Media moved to the new station, along with live broadcasts with the Houston Symphony, the Houston Grand Opera and local performing artists and groups. KUHF then adopted a 24-hour all news and information format.
See here for the background. KUHA continues to exist as an HD station, and of course there’s always streaming. But if you like to listen to classical music in your car, and you don’t have an HD receiver, you’re out of luck. And so it goes.
Is this the best way this could have been handled? What about the “bloodbath” in 2013 where virtually the entire staff was fired and led to the withdrawal of financial support from its largest donor? I sense an outsized ego in Lisa Shumate, who seems to have an outsized salary to go with it. Also, the reach of the station and the dead zones was never adequately addressed. And the station’s antenna seemed to be broken for weeks at a time.
For weeks before KUHA’s demise, they were promoting ways you could listen to the new HD format, none of which emphasized a clunky aftermarket HD radio in your car. It was as though the campaign ahead of July 15 was designed by a corporate HR person to emphasize how your termination was the beginning of a new, exciting phase in your life.