KUT is creating an "Austin Music Map" with funding from the Association of Independents in Radio, Inc. (A.I.R.). The self-described "innovative journalism project" comes courtesy of "Localore," a program created by AIR meant to target "underrepresented musical subcultures." Austin is one of only ten cities that has been awarded the chance to document said subcultures, and KUT's work will be undertaken by producer-in-residence Delaney Hall. more ›

Longtime Eklektikos DJ John Aielli recently recovered from a heart attack earlier this month, but we received news that Aielli is in the hospital this morning. Our contact at KUT says, "We are in touch with John and he is alert and in typical good spirits...The main thing is he’s OK, we’re in contact with him and we hope he returns soon." more ›

Walking down Guadalupe past Madam Mam's in the last several months, it may not have been noticeable with the incremental daily changes. But when all that construction is compiled into a time-lapse video, the results are startling. more ›

We're truly sad to hear that our beloved Laurie Gallardo was arrested early Sunday morning for DWI. According to the Statesman's Blotter, Gallardo drove the wrong way on two one-way streets, and also had an open container in her car's center console. Her breathalyzer (never take one!) showed a .159 - nearly twice the legal limit. Here's hoping she's ok, and that she's secured a good attorney, and is safe at home. Another bleak reminder to be safe when you're out, to have a designated driver or at the very least, someone who knows when you need to call a cab on hand. KUT has declined to comment. more ›

The Storycorps MobileBooth will be spending a month in Austin--the audio recording trailer will be parked in front of the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum from January 6 through February 5. Storycorps is a nonprofit that works to collect diverse oral histories from folks nationwide. Interviews that are made through this Storycorps stop may be aired on KUT or NPR and become part of the collection of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. If you've ever listened to NPR's Morning Edition on Fridays, you've likely heard a Storycorps interview. more ›

You guys: KUT broke some rock'n'roll news. The city council agreed today to give Fun Fun Fun Fest an extra day at Auditorium Shores. We're sure that this means a ton of extra meat chaps (the serious tough guy kind), courtroom dramas starring scorpions, and lots more cool people bathing in the lake, instead of the usual crappy people bathing in the lake. Oh yeah, and more bands, comics, and DJs, too. We'll have more with macho folks from the festival next week. more ›

The Radio Television Digital News Association has awarded two National Edward R. Murrow awards to KUT News. The public radio station's first national Murrow awards are for the "hard news" story Doctors on Healthcare (reported by Nathan Bernier) and the "audio news" series on the end of the space shuttle program. Since the News program at KUT was established in 2002, they've garnered 26 regional Murrow awards. The complete list of the 2011 National Murrow awardwinners is here. more ›

There's a lot of ground to cover on this subject and how jazz and western culture helped to "win" the Cold War, and tonight KUT DJ and Chronicle writer Jay Trachtenberg and Rabbi Neil Blumofe (a musician and historian who has recorded with saxophonist Alex Coke and percussionist Jason Marsalis) will engage it as part of the Cactus Café's Brews and Views series. more ›

Some of you tune in to KUT 90.5 every morning at 9 a.m. to listen to John Aielli's longterm musical confessional known as Eklektikos, and some of you send him hate mail. Our city seems to choose certain things to be divided on, and Aielli is certainly one of them. Wherever you land in the ongoing battle between stream of consciousness radio and more traditional on-air behavior, you're bound to get a kick out of the Twitter account one savvy Austinite created to track some of Aielli's most epic moments. ShitJohnAielliSays is definitely worth following, noting awesome comments like, "Lots of people in their band, lots of different sounds. I like them, and I think you should too. That's why I played them for you." and "I don't know how women deal with purses, putting them down everywhere. I can't imagine having your money floating around in a little thing." more ›

Malverde, the sleek bar just upstairs from La Condesa, is currently addressing the plight of money-challenged Austin drinkers. Beer, wine, sangria and signature cocktails are 1/2 off from 5-7pm, Thursday-Saturday. Many of the drinks are top-flight. more ›

Sometime between September 11, 2001 and the start of the Iraq War—which “celebrates” its 8th anniversary in three weeks—I suffered a personal tragedy. Some asshole broke into my beater, an ’88 Subaru wagon with about 200,000 miles on it, and stole the radio. Installing a new car radio would’ve cost me about twice the value of the car itself. On the other hand, not having a radio at all was a loss I could not put a price on. As a compromise, I trotted over to The Shack and, for less than $20, acquired a transistor. Now that I think about it, the theft probably occurred closer to 9/11, because I have this memory of myself, totally freaked out, trying to wrap my head around all sorts of things: tumbling buildings, thousands dead, and the goddamn motherfucking Bush administration’s insane proclamations and response informing us, among other things, that the way to combat terrorism was to go to the mall. more ›

This month, KUT debuted Field and Feast, a show about gardening and, ultimately, cooking your bounty, hosted by Cecilia Nasti. The five minute show airs Saturdays at 11:55 a.m. during Folkways and Sundays at 11 a.m. during The Splendid Table. Field and Feast embraces cooking seasonally and will feature gardeners and cooks of all stripes. The show will also address food traditions, policies and food insecurity. more ›

Earlier today, a power outage threw a portion of the UT campus into darkness and KUT and KLRU off the air. The outage was caused by a small animal who got into a switch gear at the UT power plant. During the outage, one unfortunate person had to be rescued from an elevator at the ATT Conference Center. Power was restored after 1.25 hours and KUT (as well as KLRU) was back on the air at 8:30am. [KUT] more ›

Austin is too cool to stay under the radar forever… right? That’s the question that creator Al Letson and the producers of State of the Re:Union, an online and public radio show, are attempting to answer in their latest episode entitled Austin: Growing Pains. more ›

In February, we first reported on the decision of the Texas Union Board of Directors to close the Cactus Cafe, a venue and bar situated in the Union building at the University of Texas. After no small outcry from supporters of the venue, public radio station KUT announced a partnership with the Cactus, and at that time KUT announced in a press release that they would "assign a full-time manager to oversee the Cactus Cafe operation and to develop year-round programming and a sustainable business model." more ›

Starting tonight, KUT is partnering up with La Zona Rosa for a weekly happy hour showcase of local music, fittingly titled KUT's New Music Happy Hour. They could hardly have picked a stronger debut lineup - Leatherbag and The Eastern Sea are two of our favorites here at the Austinist. more ›

Even though it's not around anymore, the Armadillo lives on in the hearts of people who lived it and the subconscious of those who didn't. Its mystery and power have pervaded Austin's music scene since it opened in 1970, and our city's reputation as a sort of 'ground zero' for music in the U.S. owes much to the legend of that great establishment. more ›

Recently, KUT has hosted a series of meetings-- Cactus Conversations-- inviting a couple of dozen folks into a conference room to discuss the future of the Cactus Café, which KUT is taking over. I think I got an invitation courtesy of my loud mouth. Ironic, then, that at the first meeting I attended (I’ve now been to two) I was told by KUT’s spokesperson not to write about the meetings. While I didn’t sign an NDA, I did agree to remove my journalist’s hat for the sessions. Toward that end, I’m won’t give a blow-by-blow of what I’ve heard so far. (Though I did give a few quotes in a Chron article that ran last week.) I do want to share some impressions, though. Overall, I get the sense that nearly all in the room—and I include myself here—hold a notion that we each know exactly how the “new” Cactus should be run. Some think that to foster great change would be disastrous. Others rally in the opposite direction. While no one has yelled, you can still feel a lot of tension. For me, the tension begins at the beginning—sitting in a institutionally lighted conference room in a meeting moderated by a guy in a suit with one of those deep, authoritative radio voices. All this to discuss the fate of a red, velvety, dimly lit venue best loved for bringing us voices of a different sort: clever, thoughtful, sweet, and inspiring— voices not always sans authority, but certainly as far from a corporate sensibility as you can get. more ›

A little over an hour ago, KUT broke the news that artist Vince Hannemann has miraculously reached a deal with the City of Austin that will allow the Cathedral of Junk to remain. more ›

Today, it was officially announced that KUT will partner with the Cactus Cafe to continue the venue's legacy as a historic piece of Austin's live music scene. more ›

• All about the Waco trial of country singer Billy Joe Shaver...For up-to-the-moment coverage, Statesman Courts Reporter Steven Kreytak is live-Tweeting Shaver’s trial.
• Is there a Cactus Cafe/KUT partnership in the works?
• Oh no! Variety Fair 5 & 10, better known as “the dime store in Houston’s Rice Village” will be closing in June!

It’s a blessing living in a city with a radio station which offers consistent, quality music programming. But, when it comes time for SXSW, that fact doesn’t make things any easier for you. Rather, you just have that many more amazing choices for live music. There are worse things in this world though, seriously. more ›

Well after having Mackey for a snacky last week, I am plumb worn out y’all. So this week I’m going to take it easy and just offer a roundup of observations and insights I stumbled upon since last Thursday. You might recall that last Thursday morning, some guy decided it was a good idea to fly a plane into an IRS office. This created a lot of (literal and otherwise) fallout. I want to touch on just two points regarding the topic. Point One: The widow of the IRS agent who was killed is suing the widow of the angry pilot. With all due respect to the former widow—and I mean that sincerely—I have to say her legal action makes me very nervous. I envision a domino effect if she is successful in her efforts, and that any such success will trigger an onslaught of lawsuits whereby people are sued for not alerting authorities to their spouse’s insane behavior. In which case I am going to be uber-fucked, to understate the matter, as I frequently failed to alert the authorities on many such occasions during my two short-lived marriages. more ›

Tonight at 8 p.m. KUT will air a special live performance from Spoon on the air. The 80 minute show was recorded on the Austin City Limits soundstage. For all the details, go here. more ›

Spoon are hometown heroes in Austin, even if most of the band are now living in Oregon and Kansas. After headlining three nights there in July, Spoon will return to the main stage at Stubb's BBQ on Wednesday, March 17 to headline the NPR showcase at South By Southwest 2010. The concert will be streamed online on NPR's site and will also be simulcast on 90.5 KUT. more ›

Power 92 isn't the only Internet station to find a home in Austin. In September of 2009, Ohio's WOXY.com moved to South Austin. WOXY broadcasts 24/7 and concentrates on independent rock and roll. more ›

Rep. Nasishat 'steps in' KUT controversy. more ›

The anti-KUT league, led by former mayor Lee Cooke, are throwing a party called Twant Dang Doodle, which is supposed to 'save KUT' without embarrassing its attendees. more ›