‘The Beat’ attempts to give the boot

Community radio station KROV 91.7 FM was asked to leave a public event at St. Philip's College, according to a YouTube video uploaded Jan. 14 and a statement posted on the station's website.

According to the video, KBBT, 98.5 The Beat, asked administrators to ask KROV, San Antonio Community Radio, to cease coverage of the Youth Empowerment Summit at St. Philip's College.

A Jan. 14 statement on KROV's website said The Beat, a commercial station owned by Univision, called Ivy Taylor, San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission honorary chair, and commission Chair Art Hall, to ask KROV to leave the summit because KBBT brought artists and provided T-shirts for students at the event. KROV provided music and news coverage for the Neighborhoods First Alliance, a local organization, which registered high school students to vote, said Tommy Calvert Jr., general manager of KROV, also known as "K Restore Our Voice," a noncommercial station.

"We did our part to empower people," said Calvert, son of Dr. Val Calvert, chair of the business department at this college.

In the video, the younger Calvert said Dr. Paul Machen, dean of student success at St. Philip's College, said the station could not cover the public event.

Machen declined requests for a telephone interview Monday.

Calvert said Joaquinn "Joc" Arch, Youth Programs Committee chair of the commission, invited the radio station to the event.

Calvert said there were no legal documents saying KBBT had exclusive coverage. "This is a public, citywide event," Calvert said. "(KBBT) were ego-tripping."

Among other sponsors, he said Radio Disney also attended the summit, but KBBT did not ask them to leave.

Fred Stockwell, general manager for Radio Disney, KRDY 1160 AM, said they attended the event and were not asked to stop their coverage.

"Nothing out of the ordinary happened," he said.

Dan Wilson, general manager of KBBT, declined to comment Tuesday.

"We can't talk to anybody," he said.

The video shows district police were called to escort KROV off campus, but Calvert said the station continued to cover the event.

Despite the dilemma, Calvert said there were no issues with KBBT during KROV's live broadcast of the Martin Luther King Jr. March Jan. 16.