FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2005

Media Contact:

Erin Geisler( egeisler@mail.utexas.edu )
(512) 475-8071

KUT Radio Mixes Journalism And Music In New Series

Texas Music Matters to Debut Today

Austin, TEXAS – Aug. 25, 2005 – KUT Radio today will launch a signature music news series focusing on Texas music. “Texas Music Matters” will marry the best of public radio journalism with the existing Texas music expertise of the KUT Radio music staff.

Longtime public radio host and reporter David Brown, who joins KUT Radio from American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” will host and produce the weekly five- to 10-minute broadcasts and occasional music related documentaries.

“Texas Music Matters provides a new vehicle to showcase the knowledge of our music staff and help cement KUT Radio’s reputation as the nation’s authority on Texas Music,” said Hawk Mendenhall, program director for KUT Radio, 90.5. “Just as importantly, this project supports our mission of being the most trusted radio source for news and music in Central Texas.”

“Texas Music Matters” will deliver regular in-depth Texas music features and national-caliber one-hour specials as part of KUT Radio’s news programming. It will showcase new artists and releases, report on issues that could affect Austin’s music industry, interview authors of new books about Texas music, and explore the stories behind local legends, among other things.

“Our ability to tap David Brown as senior producer and host of ‘Texas Music Matters’ is an early success for the project,” explains Mendenhall. “His more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist – most of that time in public radio – and his national profile among public radio audiences make him the ideal person to swiftly launch ‘Texas Music Matters’ and build a national reputation. Moreover, he is an accomplished musician in his own right with experience touring and recording.”

Initially “Texas Music Matters” will be heard on KUT and KUTX San Angelo, however there is national interest in special coverage of events such as the Austin City Limits Festival, the Kerrville Folk Festival and the SXSW Music Festival.

”’Texas Music Matters’ is the type of programming that will form one of the foundations of our KUT Channels initiative, which will leverage digital technology to deliver content beyond traditional radio broadcasts to the Internet, mp3 players and other wireless devices,” continued Mendenhall. “Texas music is so rich that only a fraction of the content we could potentially produce can be broadcast on the traditional radio dial. More in-depth content, such as oral histories of musicians, a curriculum of Texas music, interviews with deeper context and opportunities for listeners to interact with us and the artists could be delivered via digital technology.”

“The program will tap KUT Radio’s in-house experts – including Paul Ray, Jeff McCord, and Jay Trachtenberg, among others – to help articulate our unique point of view, while placing Texas music in both a historical and contemporary context,” explains “Texas Music Matters” executive producer and host Brown.

The first piece is in two parts. Part one will air at 7:30 a.m. today and part two will air at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. The story features a profile of “The Godfather of Austin Blues and Soul,” W.C. Clark. The segment includes an interview with Clark at his home and a live recording at a recent Austin performance, along with commentary from KUT’s Ray on Clark’s role in keeping the blues alive in Austin.

“This has turned out to be an amazing story at the crossroads of race, local history, and yes – amazing music,” Brown continues.

About KUT Austin and KUTX San Angelo For more than 40 years, KUT-FM, Austin’s listener-supported public radio, has been enriching the lives of Central Texans with local and national programming that mirrors the unique nature of its audience. In addition to providing news from National Public Radio and Public Radio International, KUT is home to the national program, “Latino USA,” and KUT News, which produces award-winning news programming, special features series and documentaries that have been broadcast nationally. For more information, go to www.kut.org.

— KUT Staff