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Disclosure: The author of this piece volunteers for KTRU.

On Wednesday afternoon, Rice University president David Leebron pulled up a chair inside of the KTRU Rice Radio studio and played some of those rooty-tooty, groovin' oldies.

In other words, music that KTRU has made a point not to play since its 1967 inception.

Leebron remains a scapegoat in the controversial gutting of Rice's radio station that sent Rice's broadcast tower, 91.7 FM 50,000-watt frequency and Federal Communication Commission license to the University of Houston.

After Leebron spearheaded the $9.5 million sale of (in Leebron's words) the "vastly underutilized resource," folks wanting to hear KTRU's free-form programming must do so via a high-definition radio or an Internet connection.

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Photo by Son Lam.

Skrillex, when dubstep was cool, circa 2011.

Mainstream music has a history of taking musical genres, smoothing out the rough edges and turning them into something easily digestible to the masses. Punk rock went from being the music of rebellion to the music of crying about failed relationships, and rappers went from rapping about what was happening in the streets to rapping make-believe stories of violence and drug running.

For the last two years, much has been written about the rise of EDM, and dubstep in particular. While dubstep was never threatening or edgy in the way that punk and hip-hop were, there was a certain hardcore bent to it that was exciting. It was aggressively modern, the perfect music for our ADHD culture.

I'm speaking about it in past tense because we have to face the fact that mainstream music has had its way with dubstep, and the results aren't pretty.

Dubstep isn't dead, it's just completely toothless.

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www.ktsu.info

The late, great DJ Myron Anderson.

The late KTSU-FM 90.9 DJ Myron Anderson, who died last week following an unexpected illness, will be honored on Wednesday during two separate services.

The public viewing is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday at Windsor Village United Methodist Church, 6000 Heatherbrook Dr.

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Myron Anderson, a three-decade-plus DJ at Texas Southern University's radio station, passed away on Thursday. He was 63 years old.

"Myron was a local radio legend and 32-year host of KTSU's popular Listening Back with Myron and Dave," reads a statement supplied to Rocks Off by Anderson's publicist, Danye' Roland.

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Myron Anderson

UPDATE (February 8, 11:30 a.m.): Anderson passed away Thursday evening. See the full obituary here.

February 5, 11:15 p.m. "The account of Myron's unfortunate health episode was not quoted to you accurately," writes Myron Anderson's publicist Danye' Roland. "Here are the facts as we know them."

"Myron was having a normal quiet Sunday at home with his family. During the evening Myron complained to his wife that he didn't feel well. After a short time, Mrs. Anderson thought it best to have Myron evaluated by a health professional. Myron was taken to a local health facility where he was hospitalized for observation and testing -- he's [sic] remains hospitalized at present and is currently being treated with the goal of complete recovery."

Additionally, Chris Tucker, who gave us a shout this evening, tells us that he wasn't present at the time Anderson fell ill and what he had told us earlier was based on "hearsay."

UPDATE February 5, 4:30 p.m. Danye' Roland, publicist for Myron Anderson and The Listening Back Show, has provided the following statement from the Anderson family.

Long-time DJ and host of the Listening Back Show, Myron Anderson will not be facilitating his show on Friday due to health reasons. Please keep Myron, his wife and his family in prayer and please continue to respect their privacy during this time. We are grateful for those loyal and loving listeners who have shown such great concern and compassion as they have sought information about Myron. We will continue to update the community on Myron's condition. Thank you all for your support and cooperation.

Sincerely,
The Anderson Family

(Original post below)

Myron Anderson, a veteran DJ of Texas Southern University's KTSU (90.9 FM), is on life support at an undisclosed hospital following a brain aneurysm suffered during a Super Bowl Sunday cookout.

Chris Tucker, a former KTSU DJ and a close friend of Anderson's, confirmed the news.

Says Tucker, "He was barbecuing on Sunday for the Super Bowl. He went out and rode his bike. When he got back, he told his wife that he wasn't feeling well and he started throwing up blood."

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Photo by Marc Brubaker

If someone has seen the rest of George Strait, please tell him he is needed back at KILT immediately.

Somewhere in college, those of us arts and humanities types who were passionate about music, but knew we were not talented enough to perform it professionally, eventually wandered into the journalism school or the student radio station. Everyone else must have wound up in a marketing classroom.

Rewind:

Houston FM Country Powerhouse KILT Rebrands Itself "The Bull"

That scenario is as good a thumbnail as any to explain what happened Thursday afternoon, when Houston's No. 2-rated country FM station, 100.3 KILT, rebranded itself from the ambiguous "real country variety" to the even more ambiguous but oh-so-masculine "The Bull."

It's almost too easy, really. Rocks Off tuned into The Bull all Friday morning, and one of its self-touting commercials (known in the biz as a "bumper") announced the station as "the new bull." Irony really is dead.

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ericchurch.com

"Less twang, more bang"

Another Houston FM radio station has experienced a shift in direction as KILT (100.3 FM) has morphed into The Bull, promising "less twang, more bang" for their mainstream country listeners.

Our source at CBS Radio confirmed the switch minutes before the station itself made the change. KILT had teased the news on Twitter, too, but without specifics.

After KILT played George Strait's current single "Give It All We Got Tonight" at 5 p.m. Thursday, The Bull officially stormed in with Eric Church's "Drink In My Hand." Following up Church was RodeoHouston 2013 performer Luke Bryan's "All My Friends Say."

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www.isiahfactor.com

Michael Whitfield's mug shot, as posted on Fox 26's Isiah Carey's Site

According to a tweet from Fox 26 reporter Isiah Carey late this afternoon, KTSU radio volunteer Michael Whitfield was arrested earlier Wednesday and could face up to 300 counts of credit card fraud for stealing radio-station donors' pledge sheets and opening credit cards in their names.

Earlier this week, sources who wished to remain anonymous already told the Houston Press that a KTSU radio station volunteer disc jockey with six years' experience was being questioned about multiple cases of credit card fraud perpetrated through the station's fund drives.

Monday afternoon, TSU president Dr. John Rudley did not return the Press's call to his office seeking confirmation and details.

Just minutes prior to Carey's tweet, we received another communication from a former station employee, who said that he had spoken to persons on campus today who reported that law-enforcement agents had arrived on the campus and had seized KTSU financial records.

This source, long associated with the university and the station, speculated the latest scandal would at a minimum lead to the dismissal of station manager Donna Franklin. "It was on her watch and she wasn't watching," the source said.

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If I have learned anything over the past year at Rocks Off, it's that you guys really, really get heated when it comes to FM radio in Houston. From format changes, myopic classic-rock playlists, and controversial morning hosts, Houstonians care about their terrestrial radio choices. Hell, you do spend a good portion of your day in their presence.

Rewind:

Rock 101 KLOL Comes Barreling Back as an Internet Station

That's why, a few weeks ago, it was so much fun to find a treasure trove of hilarious commercials for Houston radio stations on YouTube, from a time when radio's only other competition for your musical attention was TV, print, and getting laid.

In the '90s, the ad makers at Mix 96.5 were fighting back against heavy metal and rap, as evidenced by their clip featuring dookie chains and spiked chokers. Fine Young Cannibals, anyone?

And there was even a time when oldies on the radio in Houston still meant Elvis, The Supremes, Bill Haley and Chuck Berry, and not the Eagles, Journey, Pat Benatar and Bryan Adams.

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Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they're in there too.

Photos courtesy of Clint Brousard

Clint Broussard's Wall of Vinyl

Who? If you're a fan of Texas R&B radio, and you definitely should be, there is no greater compliment than to compare Clint Broussard's Blues In Hi-Fi to Paul Ray's Twine Time. The latter program ran for years and years and years Saturday eveninngs on Austin's KUT-FM, with Ray -- himself a key figure in Austin's '70s blues scene with his group the Cobras -- mixing solid gold oldies, regionally-oriented classics and ultra-rarities, all in the name of soul.

Broussard works that same kind of Gulf Coast groove on Blues In Hi-Fi. A Nederland native whose dad went to Port Arthur's Thomas Jefferson High School with Janis Joplin and ex-NFL coach Jimmy Johnson, he did his Wednesday-night show on KTRU for 12 years until the Rice-owned station's signal and transmitter was bought and transferred to the University of Houston, which now operates the station as KUHA Classical 91.7. Surely you remember that whole mess, which still wasn't as awful as the serious car accident that Broussard mercifully survived in April 2011.

Next Monday, Blues in Hi-Fi goes back on the air, at 6 p.m. on KPFT 90.1 FM, after the syndicated Pacifica network show previously in its spot (Uprising) ceased production. Broussard's program hadn't really gone anywhere, joining many other KTRU shows on one of KPFT's HD channels, but the 14th is his first time back on the FM airwaves. Right now it's only an hour long, but he says if all goes well, he could get bumped back to two hours. In any case, he sounds awfully glad to be back.

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