Although we no longer live in Lubbock, we have recently heard that KTXT 88.1 is no longer on the air.
Its a sad sign of the times in a commercial musical world. Everywhere you go has the same Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Starbucks, and the same Top 40 radio inundating the masses with the same songs on heavy rotation. KTXT was a beacon of light in a black hole of the 'more of the same' attitude that dominates the airwaves of not only Lubbock, but the country in general. 88.1 had always been a safe haven of local/independant/up and coming/flat out strange music in Lubbock, TX. It's impact on this band, and many more like it will be missed by future bands in the area.
It's sad to see that a university that constantly raises tuition, rebuilds entire department buildings and controls almost half of Lubbock's income can't find it in their budget to maintain a station that music lovers hold dearly. This is a sad day in Lubbock music...
Readhttp://media.www.ktxt.net/media/storage/paper1154/news/2008/12/10/DjPages/Student.Media.Department.Announces.Broadcast.Changes-3577077.shtml">Read> full story here
(Chris)-All I can say is…what the hell!?!?!?!? It seems with today's "improving" society and technology no one cares about a public medium of expression. With the loss of KTXT in Lubbock, where else can one find new and different types of music that they might not otherwise be exposed to. Sure there is XM and Serious but those cost money. I know from personal experience that there are many folks out there that can not afford satellite radio. How in the hell are the hell are we supposed to hear new sounds. There are always live bands playing in Lubbock but if you are like me you don't have the money to pay the door fee. What if you don't feel like going out anyway? Believe it or not there are some people like me that just sit and listen to the radio for pure enjoyment. Any who… all I can say to the administrative dick holes at Tech that decided cutting the radio station out of there budget is: what the hell are you doing to the poor music lovers that want nothing more than to rock out to some good music: for free.
(Stiles' $.02) I'm saddened by this news, but not too surprised. It's extremely unfortunate that it happened, but as much as most of Lubbock liked its indie rock scene (hint: not too very much at all), it loves blatant commercialism even more. Hopefully someone with an independent spirit and deep pockets will take up the torch and continue illuminating the small caches of non-Clearchannel non-mainstream media in the Lubbock area. In the meantime, rest in peace, KTXT.
I was looking for a 'lighter note' ending to this, and in doing so came across a Portugese video of a dog and a bust of Napoleon playing Street Fighter (with all the requisite ineptitude and smack talk), then wrapping it all up with a rousing piano rendition of "Scatman," but I can neither link directly nor embed, so... here's an old commercial. It says 'balls.'