KUT-FM
Encyclopedia
KUT FM
90.5 is a listener-supported public radio
station owned and operated by faculty and staff of the University of Texas at Austin
. It is the National Public Radio member station for central Texas
. Occasionally there is confusion between KUT and KVRX 91.7 FM, the University's student-run radio station, because both are owned by the University of Texas and are based out of the UT campus.
KUT's main transmitter
broadcasts at an effective radiated power
of 100,000 watt
s and is located just west of Lake Austin
in Westlake Hills.
A second station, KUTX, serving San Angelo
at 90.1 MHz, was sold to Texas Tech University
in 2010 in part because Angelo State University
had become part of the Texas Tech University System. The call letters were changed from KUTX to KNCH. The KUTX call letters now apply to KUT's repeater station in Somerville, broadcasting to the Bryan/College Station area on 88.1 FM.
KUT was first established under its present call letters in 1925, but was absent from the airwaves from 1927 until 1958.
combines public radio news programming during weekday mornings (5am-9am) and afternoons (3pm-8pm) with local music programming in a format generally described as Adult Album Alternative
(AAA or Triple A) from 9am-3pm and 8pm-midnight weekdays. Weekends include syndicated public radio and local signature music programs including Folkways, Twine Time and a block of work music shows in Sunday evening.
KUT also programs two 24/7 HD services with an all-news service on 90.5 HD-2 and all-jazz format on 90.5 HD-3 (an HD Radio
is required).
Texas Music Matters, a weekly one-hour program covering the Texas music industry. Latino USA
with Maria Hinojosa
also originated at KUT but is now independently produced.
s in order to raise monetary contributions from listeners. Listener contributions and corporate sponsorship
, termed "community support", account for roughly 80% of the station's budget
. Sponsors are noted on-air in the form of abbreviated announcements called underwriting spot
s.
broadcasting on the UT-Austin campus has never been fully substantiated. There is an unofficial reference to an on-campus radio operation as early as 1912. But the most reliable information indicates that the first broadcast license
— bearing the call letters 5XY — was issued to the University on March 22, 1921.
A year later, a new license was issued, bearing new call letters WCM, which the station used to identify itself until 1925.
In these first years, the station was used for a number of purposes, beginning as a demonstration project in the Physics Department, whose Professor Simpson L. Brown had persuaded the administration to let him build the station in the first place.
Beginning in 1923, though, funding concerns prompted a transfer of operational control to the University's Extension Division for extension
teaching. One of the stipulation
s of the transfer agreement was that funds would be provided for operations and maintenance to put the station in a "first-class" condition. The funds, however, did not materialize and broadcasting suffered until a state agriculture official needed a means to broadcast daily crop and weather report
s.
A deal between the official and UT's Extension Division allowed agriculture broadcasts for one hour per day in exchange for equipment maintenance. At other times of the day, the University would broadcast items of interest from the campus, including a number of faculty lecture series.
But by the end of 1924, the Physics Department decided it wanted the station back, and with the approval of the Board of Regents
, the Physics Department regained control in the summer of 1925. They had a new license granted on October 30th and it bore, for the first time, the call letters KUT.
There were concerts by the University Symphony and other Austin musical organizations as well as discussions, lectures, and speeches by faculty, state officials, and agriculture experts. Weekly services were broadcast from St. David's Episcopal Church and, during football season, fans could listen to play-by-play descriptions of the Longhorn games.
KUT's early years were ambitious but, by 1927, ambition had outrun the funding. The expense of operating and maintaining the station had simply become too great for the Physics Department to sustain. University President Harry Benedict appointed a committee to study the matter, and the committee recommended that the project be discontinued. The station was dismantled and the equipment returned to the Physics labs for experimentation.
KUT would not re-emerge for 30 years.
1961 - KUT moved to newly-refurbished quarters in the Radio/Television building on Speedway, a site now occupied by Robert A. Welch Hall
.
1965 - KUT reformatted to an arts and information program schedule following the demise of Austin's commercial classical music station (KHFI), and began the first live Saturday afternoon airings in Austin of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
.
1970 - KUT was qualified by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB) to receive financial assistance provided to noncommercial radio stations for the first time ever by the federal government. Of the some 600 noncommercial radio stations that were licensed by the FCC at the time, only KUT and 69 others met the CPB qualification criteria.
1971 - KUT became a charter member of National Public Radio (NPR); contributed the first of, what would become in time, 14 of the station's employees to the NPR staff; and carried the first-ever NPR broadcast (All Things Considered
) in May.
1974 - KUT moved to completely new, specially-designed quarters in the College of Communication complex at Guadalupe & 26th Street.
1975 - KUT hosted Bob Edwards
, then co-anchoring All Things Considered, and the NPR news production team during dedication week for the new Communication complex. The national All Things Considered broadcasts were transmitted each evening that week from the new KUT studio facilities.
1979 - KUT carried the November inaugural broadcast of NPR's Morning Edition
, with Bob Edwards as host; in doing so, KUT joined 106 others of NPR's 157 member-stations in launching what has become one of the best and most honored of public radio's national programs.
1980 - KUT installed its new public radio network satellite earth terminal and became NPR's southwestern regional uplink, one of only 17 network stations with the capability to transmit as well as receive satellite-delivered radio programs.
1982 - KUT began broadcasting in stereo at 90.5 MHz with 100,000 watts of power, antenna height at 1,595 feet, and a total signal radius of 97 miles—bringing to fruition the federal funding and extraordinarily lengthy regulatory application process that had been started in 1972.
1984 - KUT won the Texas Governor's Barbara Jordan Award for "excellence in the communication of the reality of disabled people" through the production of SoundSight, a weekly news-and-features program for blind and print-impaired listeners.
1986 - KUT, jointly with the UT McDonald Observatory
, won The Ohio State University Award for production of the astronomy radio series Star Date. The series was cited for "excellence in educational, informational, and public affairs broadcasting."
1988 - KUT celebrated its 30th anniversary with a series of special events, capped by An Evening with Bob Edwards, NPR's Morning Edition host.
1990 - KUT was recognized, for the 10th consecutive year, as the "Best Radio Station" in Austin by The Austin Chronicle's readers' poll.
1991 - KUT held a special one-day fundraiser to assist NPR in meeting emergency budget needs for news coverage of the Persian Gulf War. The $25,000 raised by KUT was the second highest amount raised among all of NPR's participating member-stations.
1992 - KUT presented the first of its continuing annual celebrations of the short story—Selected Shorts on Tour—a collaboration with New York City's Symphony Space, producer of NPR's weekly series Selected Shorts
(now distributed by Public Radio International
).
1993 - KUT celebrated its 35th anniversary and—in partnership with UT Austin's Center for Mexican American Studies and with major initial grants from The Ford Foundation
and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—launched the national radio series Latino USA
at a "Cinco de Mayo" reception in Washington, D.C., with President Clinton in attendance along with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and cabinet secretaries Federico Peña and Henry Cisneros.
1994 - KUT completed the construction of a new on-air control room and library suite, using 50 percent federal matching funds to replace and upgrade the equipment in this control room and in the production control room; total project cost was in excess of $100,000.
1995 - KUT achieved a listenership benchmark according to Arbitron
research: more than 100,000 persons were listening to the station each week.
1996 - KUT completed the installation of its second station (KUTX 90.1 FM) using 75 percent federal matching funds and, delivering its signal via satellite, initiated a first public radio service for the 100,000 residents of San Angelo
in the West Texas heartland; total project cost was upwards of $150,000.
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
90.5 is a listener-supported public radio
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
station owned and operated by faculty and staff of the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. It is the National Public Radio member station for central Texas
Central Texas
Central Texas , is a region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is roughly bordered by San Marcos to Fredericksburg to Waco, and to Brenham, and includes the Austin–Round Rock, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Bryan-College Station, and Waco metropolitan areas...
. Occasionally there is confusion between KUT and KVRX 91.7 FM, the University's student-run radio station, because both are owned by the University of Texas and are based out of the UT campus.
KUT's main transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
broadcasts at an effective radiated power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
of 100,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s and is located just west of Lake Austin
Lake Austin
Lake Austin is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1939 by the construction of Tom Miller Dam by the Lower Colorado River Authority....
in Westlake Hills.
A second station, KUTX, serving San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
at 90.1 MHz, was sold to Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in 2010 in part because Angelo State University
Angelo State University
Angelo State University is a public, coeducational, doctoral level degree-granting university located in San Angelo, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1928 as San Angelo College. It gained University status and awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and graduate degrees in 1969, the...
had become part of the Texas Tech University System. The call letters were changed from KUTX to KNCH. The KUTX call letters now apply to KUT's repeater station in Somerville, broadcasting to the Bryan/College Station area on 88.1 FM.
KUT was first established under its present call letters in 1925, but was absent from the airwaves from 1927 until 1958.
Programming format
KUT's formatRadio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
combines public radio news programming during weekday mornings (5am-9am) and afternoons (3pm-8pm) with local music programming in a format generally described as Adult Album Alternative
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative is a radio format. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots trace to the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier freeform and progressive formats....
(AAA or Triple A) from 9am-3pm and 8pm-midnight weekdays. Weekends include syndicated public radio and local signature music programs including Folkways, Twine Time and a block of work music shows in Sunday evening.
KUT also programs two 24/7 HD services with an all-news service on 90.5 HD-2 and all-jazz format on 90.5 HD-3 (an HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
is required).
Local productions
Local productions include Eklektikos, hosted by John Aielli (with KUT since 1966); Music with Jay Trachtenberg; Folkways; Left of the Dial with Jeff McCord; Twine Time with Paul Ray; and David Brown'sDavid Brown (radio host)
David Brown is a lawyer, radio personality and journalist who hosted the nationally syndicated Marketplace radio program from American Public Media from September 2003 to August 2005...
Texas Music Matters, a weekly one-hour program covering the Texas music industry. Latino USA
Latino USA
Latino USA is a nationally syndicated public radio program produced by KUT-FM radio in Austin, Texas and distributed nation-wide by National Public Radio . As a radio magazine, the weekly, half-hour radio program focuses on issues of concern to the Latino community while maintaining the technical...
with Maria Hinojosa
Maria Hinojosa
Maria Hinojosa is a Mexican American broadcast journalist. She was Senior Correspondent for the PBS news magazine, NOW on PBS....
also originated at KUT but is now independently produced.
Funding
Like other public radio stations in the United States, KUT broadcasts on-air pledge drivePledge drive
A pledge drive is an extended period of fundraising activities, generally used by public broadcasting stations to increase contributions. The term "pledge" originates from the promise a contributor makes to send in funding at regular intervals for a certain amount of time...
s in order to raise monetary contributions from listeners. Listener contributions and corporate sponsorship
Underwriting
Underwriting refers to the process that a large financial service provider uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products . The name derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market...
, termed "community support", account for roughly 80% of the station's budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
. Sponsors are noted on-air in the form of abbreviated announcements called underwriting spot
Underwriting spot
An underwriting spot is an announcement made on public broadcasting outlets, especially in the United States, in exchange for funding. These spots usually mention the name of the sponsor, and can resemble traditional television advertisements in commercial broadcasting...
s.
KUT's beginnings
The actual beginning date of radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasting on the UT-Austin campus has never been fully substantiated. There is an unofficial reference to an on-campus radio operation as early as 1912. But the most reliable information indicates that the first broadcast license
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
— bearing the call letters 5XY — was issued to the University on March 22, 1921.
A year later, a new license was issued, bearing new call letters WCM, which the station used to identify itself until 1925.
In these first years, the station was used for a number of purposes, beginning as a demonstration project in the Physics Department, whose Professor Simpson L. Brown had persuaded the administration to let him build the station in the first place.
Beginning in 1923, though, funding concerns prompted a transfer of operational control to the University's Extension Division for extension
Extension Service
Extension service can refer to the following;* Agricultural extension services* Cooperative extension service* Church extension service...
teaching. One of the stipulation
Stipulation
In the law of the United States, a stipulation is an agreement made between opposing parties prior to a pending hearing or trial. For example, both parties might stipulate to certain facts, and therefore not have to argue those facts in court. After the stipulation is entered into, it is...
s of the transfer agreement was that funds would be provided for operations and maintenance to put the station in a "first-class" condition. The funds, however, did not materialize and broadcasting suffered until a state agriculture official needed a means to broadcast daily crop and weather report
Weather report
Weather report may refer to:*Weather forecasting, the application of science and technology to predict the weather*Weather Report, a jazz fusion musical group...
s.
A deal between the official and UT's Extension Division allowed agriculture broadcasts for one hour per day in exchange for equipment maintenance. At other times of the day, the University would broadcast items of interest from the campus, including a number of faculty lecture series.
But by the end of 1924, the Physics Department decided it wanted the station back, and with the approval of the Board of Regents
Board of Regents
In the United States, a board often governs public institutions of higher education, which include both state universities and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual colleges and universities, or both. In general they operate as...
, the Physics Department regained control in the summer of 1925. They had a new license granted on October 30th and it bore, for the first time, the call letters KUT.
KUT history 1925-1927
Professor Simpson L. Brown — in addition to his teaching and research work in the Physics Department — served simultaneously as general manager, technical director, and producer. Programs were aired 3 nights a week from 8 to 10 with no sponsors or commercials.There were concerts by the University Symphony and other Austin musical organizations as well as discussions, lectures, and speeches by faculty, state officials, and agriculture experts. Weekly services were broadcast from St. David's Episcopal Church and, during football season, fans could listen to play-by-play descriptions of the Longhorn games.
KUT's early years were ambitious but, by 1927, ambition had outrun the funding. The expense of operating and maintaining the station had simply become too great for the Physics Department to sustain. University President Harry Benedict appointed a committee to study the matter, and the committee recommended that the project be discontinued. The station was dismantled and the equipment returned to the Physics labs for experimentation.
KUT would not re-emerge for 30 years.
KUT chronology 1958 to present
1958 - KUT signed on the air licensed to The University of Texas, using a General Electric transmitter built in 1939 and broadcasting at 90.7 MHz from the School of Journalism (now Geography) building at Whitis Avenue & 24th Street: power (4,100 watts), antenna height (268 feet), total signal radius (15 miles).1961 - KUT moved to newly-refurbished quarters in the Radio/Television building on Speedway, a site now occupied by Robert A. Welch Hall
Welch Hall (University of Texas at Austin)
The Robert A. Welch Hall is a building located on the University of Texas at Austin campus.-History:Before Welch Hall was constructed, the space was designated for Brackenridge Dormitory .In October 1996, the building caught fire from a research project...
.
1965 - KUT reformatted to an arts and information program schedule following the demise of Austin's commercial classical music station (KHFI), and began the first live Saturday afternoon airings in Austin of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City...
.
1970 - KUT was qualified by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
(CPB) to receive financial assistance provided to noncommercial radio stations for the first time ever by the federal government. Of the some 600 noncommercial radio stations that were licensed by the FCC at the time, only KUT and 69 others met the CPB qualification criteria.
1971 - KUT became a charter member of National Public Radio (NPR); contributed the first of, what would become in time, 14 of the station's employees to the NPR staff; and carried the first-ever NPR broadcast (All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
) in May.
1974 - KUT moved to completely new, specially-designed quarters in the College of Communication complex at Guadalupe & 26th Street.
1975 - KUT hosted Bob Edwards
Bob Edwards
Robert Alan Edwards is a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio...
, then co-anchoring All Things Considered, and the NPR news production team during dedication week for the new Communication complex. The national All Things Considered broadcasts were transmitted each evening that week from the new KUT studio facilities.
1979 - KUT carried the November inaugural broadcast of NPR's Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
, with Bob Edwards as host; in doing so, KUT joined 106 others of NPR's 157 member-stations in launching what has become one of the best and most honored of public radio's national programs.
1980 - KUT installed its new public radio network satellite earth terminal and became NPR's southwestern regional uplink, one of only 17 network stations with the capability to transmit as well as receive satellite-delivered radio programs.
1982 - KUT began broadcasting in stereo at 90.5 MHz with 100,000 watts of power, antenna height at 1,595 feet, and a total signal radius of 97 miles—bringing to fruition the federal funding and extraordinarily lengthy regulatory application process that had been started in 1972.
1984 - KUT won the Texas Governor's Barbara Jordan Award for "excellence in the communication of the reality of disabled people" through the production of SoundSight, a weekly news-and-features program for blind and print-impaired listeners.
1986 - KUT, jointly with the UT McDonald Observatory
McDonald Observatory
The McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near the unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Fowlkes and Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas...
, won The Ohio State University Award for production of the astronomy radio series Star Date. The series was cited for "excellence in educational, informational, and public affairs broadcasting."
1988 - KUT celebrated its 30th anniversary with a series of special events, capped by An Evening with Bob Edwards, NPR's Morning Edition host.
1990 - KUT was recognized, for the 10th consecutive year, as the "Best Radio Station" in Austin by The Austin Chronicle's readers' poll.
1991 - KUT held a special one-day fundraiser to assist NPR in meeting emergency budget needs for news coverage of the Persian Gulf War. The $25,000 raised by KUT was the second highest amount raised among all of NPR's participating member-stations.
1992 - KUT presented the first of its continuing annual celebrations of the short story—Selected Shorts on Tour—a collaboration with New York City's Symphony Space, producer of NPR's weekly series Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts is an event at New York’s Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, in which actors read classic and new short fiction before a live audience. The annual season of the live events at Symphony Space begins in the mid-fall and ends in mid-spring, and a typical episode would include...
(now distributed by Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
).
1993 - KUT celebrated its 35th anniversary and—in partnership with UT Austin's Center for Mexican American Studies and with major initial grants from The Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—launched the national radio series Latino USA
Latino USA
Latino USA is a nationally syndicated public radio program produced by KUT-FM radio in Austin, Texas and distributed nation-wide by National Public Radio . As a radio magazine, the weekly, half-hour radio program focuses on issues of concern to the Latino community while maintaining the technical...
at a "Cinco de Mayo" reception in Washington, D.C., with President Clinton in attendance along with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and cabinet secretaries Federico Peña and Henry Cisneros.
1994 - KUT completed the construction of a new on-air control room and library suite, using 50 percent federal matching funds to replace and upgrade the equipment in this control room and in the production control room; total project cost was in excess of $100,000.
1995 - KUT achieved a listenership benchmark according to Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
research: more than 100,000 persons were listening to the station each week.
1996 - KUT completed the installation of its second station (KUTX 90.1 FM) using 75 percent federal matching funds and, delivering its signal via satellite, initiated a first public radio service for the 100,000 residents of San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
in the West Texas heartland; total project cost was upwards of $150,000.