Free Culture
KTPB, the radio station of Kilgore College, is being sold to a Christian music broadcaster. The radio station plays primarily classical music. Local lovers of the arts are outraged over the sale, enough so to form a group dedicated to saving it: Save Our Arts Radio.
Amidst all of the hand-wringing over the decline of classical music radio, a few interesting facts emerge. First, Kilgore College is selling the station because it can no longer afford to run it:
The school, a junior college in this town of 11,000, has been increasingly strapped financially, and the money it was using to subsidize the station "” about $125,000 a year "” was better put toward educating students, officials said. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides about $85,000 a year, and donations amount to $80,000.
Secondly, while these citizens may be vocal in their support of the station it appears that loud voices are the only thing they have contributed:
Mr. Holda (Kilgore's president) also pointed out that the station has a meager 650 members. "People want things, but they don't want to pay for them," he said. "It's not unique to the arts."
Supporters of the station see it differently. "It's a public trust," said Otis Carroll, a prominent Tyler lawyer and a leader of the group trying to save the station.
Ah. So. Here we have a station, enjoyed by many apparently, that has been largely supported by tax dollars and subsidies from the local college. Residents are now outraged that their primary source of culture and sophistication is being sold. It seems to me that the biggest problem is that few of these residents have been putting their money where their mouths are. They sure talk big about the value of the station, but they haven't backed up those words with financial support.
Excuse me if I don't weep for their loss.
[tags]taxes[/tags]