The Critical Asshole: Listening to...

KTXT, the famed student-run college Radio station broadcasting from the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock, TX. For more than 47 years, “Lubbock’s only alternative” has been a cultural staple of the Texas Tech community and to an extent, the Lubbock community as well. Known for playing independent music and most recently, sponsoring the “Tour de Tech Terrace” (an amateur bike ride around the well-to-do neighborhood close to Tech) KTXT has, for nearly a half century provided something to Lubbock and to Texas Tech University totally removed from the dusty, cotton-covered land of west Texas—and now it’s gone.

Growing up in this town was difficult—especially when you are 14 years old and learning how to play the guitar. Needless to say, despite Lubbock’s place in Rock’n’Roll history (Buddy Holly grew up here) the politics of the west Texas community do not make for a great place to experience much in the way of the “Devil’s Music.”

Enter 88.1 KTXT.

It was in my older sister’s ‘86 Toyota Tercel that I first heard the sounds of college radio—Built to Spill, the Replacements, Depeche Mode, the Pixies, the Posies, They Might Be Giants, this was music unlike anything I had ever heard (literally). The student DJ’s were funny, interesting, cool…it was the beginning of what would turn into a life-long love of music found off the beaten path. Much of what I heard would later influence my own musical endeavors (if one is interested, one would find these endeavors here: www.HollisMusic.com).

After graduating from high school, I fled to much more interesting places (Dallas, Austin, Scotland to name a few), but I always had a link bookmarked on every computer I owned which allowed me to stream KTXT live over the internet. I even had 88.1 programmed on the radio station in my truck so whenever I came back to Lubbock to visit my family I could go there instantly.

I eventually came back (9 years later) for law school at Texas Tech University. Despite what my feelings about the general politics and culture of Lubbock were, I thought, at least I still had KTXT. Knowing that there was an outlet that afforded me a little bit of “cool” in the midst of this cotton desert was a relief.

Now it’s gone. And it is a sad thing. It is a sad thing not just for me and the countless other students and members of the Lubbock community who loved listening to KTXT, but rather it is a sad reflection on the values of Texas Tech to end a beloved institution with what amounts to, at best, willful cultural ignorance.

So, I am sad, and angry, and discouraged at this decision.

If you would like to help out with vocalizing the disappointment that we all feel, please join the Facebook group here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=40095606811