Hip-hop, local talent help to upend public radio assumptions
In the fall of 2012, the UT-Austin Board of Regents unanimously voted to purchase a second FM signal to accompany the university's existing National Public Radio station. The established KUT 90.5 would transition to full-time news programming, while the newly purchased frequency promised to tune listeners into the"Austin Music Experience."
"We had to upend some assumptions," laughs Matt Reilly, who has held the reins as program director since KUTX's inception."We're public media, and that audience tends to be a little older, a little whiter." "We were playing Deezie Brown, THEBROSFRESH, and BLK ODYSSY before they ended up in regular rotation," explains Fresh, an Austin native."We've been able to give these artists that we've known for years the platform to really be heard and taken seriously – to not be seen as some one-off thing."
"The public radio demographic is kind of older and whiter, so it's cool to see that audience really take to us and become fans of the show," says Fresh."Even people who never thought they would like rap – we meet them, and they say, 'Thank you for introducing me to these artists.'", KUTX's schedule wields an impressive roster of rising talents who have further diversified the station's sound in recent years.
"We have so much to show off here, in so many genres that will make your brain spin," enthuses Gallardo."Now, if you say Austin music, it means so many more things than just, 'Well, here's what we grew up with, here's Threadgill's.' That is in the fabric, but the fabric has grown and spread, and it weaves through so many other things.
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