UT Regents Approve KUT’s Request to Buy Second Station
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For decades, KUT 90.5 FM has provided a mix of music and news programming. But that’s all about to change.
The University of Texas’ Board of Regents voted unanimously this morning to approve the purchase of KXBT 98.9 FM. KUT will expand into two broadcast frequencies, with one station for music and one for news.
The deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission. KUT Director and General Manager Stewart Vanderwilt says audiences won’t notice any changes for a few months.
“We’re saying by the end of fall because certainly we’ll be planning for the launch of these, and the planning begins in earnest immediately, but we have to follow the FCC process,” says Vanderwilt.
The purchase of KXBT will cost $6 million dollars. Of that, $4 million comes from a ten year loan from the University of Texas. The remaining $2 million dollars will come from donations to KUT. That’s an important condition, according to Joshua Benton who runs the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University.
“One of the questions you’re going to have to face is how to the people who give money to the station feel about this,” says Benton.
KUT has drawn ire from its audiences and donors in the past decade over several programming decisions. Those included changes to the programming schedule that resulted in longtime DJs Paul Ray and Larry Monroe being reduced to a shift per week, and a successful bid to take over management of the Cactus Café.
But Benton says the model of two public radio stations – one for music one for news – has worked in other markets.
“I think the major question for KUT going forward is that they’re going to have a lot more air time, and it’s whether they’re going to use that invest in creating more local programming, or whether they’re just going to be a repeater for national programs that can leave one public radio market to sound a lot like another public radio market,” says Benton.
KUT says the music station will have a focus on Austin and Texas artists. It also plans to increase local programming on the news station. Music programming will move to KXBT 98.9. News will remain on KUT 90.5.
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I’m afraid this is a bad move— unless they are planning to spend the effort and money to upgrade the signal on KXBT, the signal strength for music programming will be decreased from 100,000 watts to 29,000 watts. I have never tried to listen to KXBT— I wonder if you can hear it in outer reaches of Austin. I’m pretty sure you will no longer be able to tune in the great KUT music programming while heading back to Austin from a long road trip. It would make more sense to use the weaker station for the talk stuff, since so much of that is available on other stations. The diverse music programming created by KUT DJs is what sets KUT apart from other radio stations, but that doesn’t seem to be appreciated by the current management.
I’m a huge [contributing] fan of KUT and I except to be a huge fan of KUTX. I hope they can fill both stations with good local programing. The HD Radio stations didn’t really do it for me, so I hope they have a better plan for the new airwaves.
I know the big national programs (Wait Wait, All things, etc) are big draws but I feel Texas/Austin are less and less a part of KUT. I’d almost rather see the stations divided between National/Local instead of news/music.
I Listen to KUT every day. I am a ongoing (supporting) member. I am dismayed in hearing that KUT will be splitting the news and music programming into two separate stations. The MAIN REASON I LISTEN EVERY DAY is the fantastic MIX of NEWS AND MUSIC. This format is what allows me to listen to the same station all day long and stay engaged the entire time. It keeps me sane while I work by myself from home. It gives me the entertainment and information I crave without having to adjust my finicky dial (yes I have an old stereo). I just wanted to weigh in because I heard the comment on air that it was important what listeners (especially contributing members) thought of this change. I am not in looking forward to it.
Wow! That’s big news. KUT continues to expand and grow. Please tell me KUTX is still going to be commercial free, public radio. But with more local music.