Chris Stevens

KUSF supporters at a hearing on the station's closure earlier this year.

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Doesn't look like the FCC is going to just rubber-stamp USF's sale of the beloved community radio station KUSF.

In a letter yesterday, the FCC's audio honcho asked to see all the documents generated in the last year related to the sale of the 90.3 FM broadcasting license to the Classical Public Radio Network. The $3 million deal, which was announced out of nowhere in January, immediately silenced what had been a treasured spot for local, smaller, older, and weirder music on the Bay Area radio dial.

Before the sale is complete, the FCC has to sign off. Yesterday's request for more information does not mean the sale won't be approved. But KUSF volunteers and DJs -- who were understandably furious and heartbroken at the sudden closure of their station -- are taking it as an encouraging sign.

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Pirate Cat founder Daniel "Monkey" Roberts

​DJs at San Francisco's Pirate Cat Radio are wondering what's going on with the Mission station -- and whether it even exists at all -- after founder Daniel "Monkey" Roberts abruptly pulled the plug on things in a staff meeting earlier this month.

No one's quite sure who owns the station, or to whom their dues are going -- or even where Roberts is.

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​Well, the radio station at 90.3 FM is gone, and the website will only take 15 listeners, so anyone who wants to listen to their favorite KUSF show these days is pretty much screwed, right?More >>

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There was some initial confusion amongst the event planners on Facebook as to where on campus to assemble, but by the late afternoon the consensus was that to head to the Presentation Theater at the University of San Francisco, where KUSF is based -- after a protest march by the building that actually houses the radio station.

Before the appointed 7 p.m. start time, the entire theater was packed with KUSF volunteers, DJs and listeners. There also were clumps of students, many wearing green hats bearing the words "Save KUSF." But since classes at USF have not yet started for the year, many students not yet returned to campus from winter break. The absence of the university's student body was a major grievance among those who came -- when would the voices of students away for the break be heard?

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These just became historical artifacts.

​At least two things are clear regarding the surprise sell-off and shutdown of KUSF yesterday by the University of San Francisco: More >>

Kim A. Quinones

Pirate Cat's now Internet-only radio station and cafe

​Pirate Cat Radio, everybody's favorite Mission-based pirate radio station/maple-bacon-latte dispensary, has a rare chance to go legit -- legal, above board, straight, clean, whatever you wanna call it -- and purchase its very own slice of the airwaves.

We know. A legal Pirate Cat? How weirdly awesome that would be. Especially after the station got a $10,000 smackdown from the feds last spring for broadcasting its mischief without a license, and had to go Intertubes-only.

But there's a catch: Those glossy, FCC-approved airwaves ain't cheap.
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