Houstonist Flickr Photo of the Day - After a Late Night at Work
H-Town Rock
A bullet was fired through a window at KPFT world headquarters in Montrose around 1 a.m. this morning, narrowly missing a woman's head. Fortunately, no one was actually injured in the incident. Pictures of the window were posted on the KPFT blog within hours.
In the same blog post, station manager Duane Bradley indicated what seems to be the consensus, that he believes the station was expressly targeted by the unidentified shooter:
Security considerations will be the topic of an open staff meeting at noon tomorrow, Tuesday, August 14. In this climate of seemingly escalating violence, it is important for all KPFT staff and volunteers to remain vigilant and aware of the fact that KPFT has been a lightning rod numerous times during the past 37-plus years. Please know that we are taking this matter extremely seriously.
As the post notes and as the Chron reported, the station has been the target of similar attacks before. KPFT is known for its liberal slant and "alternative" programming, which sometimes touches on controversial topics. However, at the time of the shooting, a Zydeco program was playing, and none of these hot-button issues had been discussed in the past several hours. We can't imagine anyone getting too fired up about that, but we do think this is a major clue: the station had just finished a week-long pledge drive. If anything could ever drive us to insanity, that'd be it.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Maybe they just really hate Zydeco music.
The logo on the story is outdated, but I'm not complaining. That logo is from five years ago or so, back when the station was more listen-able. Back then, the station's schedule was designed to attract listers -- playing music (adult alternative with an emphasis on Texas music) during the day and specialty talk shows at night. Now the programming is so segregated into specialty shows, that it's hard to be a consistent listener.
Yeah, I know the logo is old - I have the newer one on the back of my car. At risk of having a hit put on me, I think KPFT is the most listen-able Houston station (closely followed by KUHF). That's not saying much, I know, but I do really like the music and the programming pretty consistently.
The first that I thought of after reading half of your post was: 'oh man, someone just couldn't take anymore of the pledge drive'.
I'm with you Alex, KPFT is definitely the only radio station I can handle on a regular basis (KUHF and then KTRU after that). Glad everyone is safe...
"However, at the time of the shooting, a Zydeco program was playing, and none of these hot-button issues had been discussed in the past several hours."
I beg to differ. My husband was driving home last night at roughly 11:30 p.m., and listening to KPFT. He claims the discussion at hand, a mere 90 minutes before the shooting, was about immigration with some callers suggesting that all Hispanic immigrants were members of MS-13, or sent here by the Vatican to increase the Catholic population. It was some very inflammatory talk.
While the shooting took place during the Zydeco hour, it's not as though the shows leading up to the shooting were not controversial, as shows on KPFT often are. I'm not suggesting that KPFT deserved it, I'm happy that everyone is safe, and hope it doesn't happen again. And I'm mortified that anyone would attempt to silence speech that they disagreed with through any means, much less through violence. But hot-topic issues are almost always being discussed on KPFT, as they should be. And suggesting that nothing controversial had been said, not two hours earlier, is misrepresenting the situation.
The day the music died, which is the day "Mary in the Morning" played "Take This Job and Shove It", I cancelled my donor circle donations. I find the only "listenable" programs to be Lone Star Jukebox, etc. They won't be seeing another dime of my money, I can spend less and get decent music with Satellite radio. IMHO. We've all got a stance of our own here and we don't all "agree" on all topics, which is they way it should be.
My comment was speaking on behalf of a music lover -- me! Programming-wise, I thought they dayparted their shows better five years ago. I totally understand that programming schedule was going against Pacifica's charter, so I have no gripes with the changes, now. Like the guest above, I now turn to satellite and the Internet for my music these days -- I don't expect to receive continuous good music through the airwaves anymore.
Lone Star Jukebox and Technology Bytes are both good, but I rarely listen to local radio these days (except for KUHF/NPR).
Therese - I guess Mr. Bradley doesn't call that controversial, because he told the news outlets that "programming logs indicated no hot-button topics in the hours before the bullet struck the station's window at about 1 a.m. today."
Unless you are a commie, there's no reason to listen to the weekday programming at KPFT. It's just hate speech.
I'd be surprised if commies listen to the radio, considering that they all have to share one radio set. Just saying.
I'm with Eric on his view of KPFT's latest programming. I used to be an avid listener and supporter... I even worked a couple of pledge drives and recorded a news story for KPFT.
Once I figured out that they were just a business like any other radio station, I stopped giving them money and time. They claim that they represent the people who don't have a voice; however the most interesting, intelligent, and intellectually challenging speakers are not invited back. Anyone who is a true radical is shunned.
~ Saveena
To each his own, I guess. I've been listening to KPFT on-and-off since 1975. I hated the "Sound of Texas" period. I much prefer what we have now. I just don't listen constantly.
I once emailed Bradley and asked him if KPFT was going to do anything to show its supports of our troops. He never even bothered to reply.