KUTX (98.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Leander, Texas and serving the greater

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

area with an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

format. The station is owned by

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

with headquarters at the Belo Center for New Media (A0704) on the

campus.

History

98.9 signed on in 1988 on 99.1 MHz as KLTD, "Kool 99 FM" with the Satellite Music Network's " Kool Gold" format by Adams Broadcasting, which eventually spun off the Kool Gold format to Dial Global. On July 3, 1993, KLTD changed calls to KUTZ and format to hard rock as part of the Satellite Music Network- Z Rock Network. In 1996, 98.9 FM changed to

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

as KJFK, which lasted until September 2000 when

Border Media Partners BMP Radio, also known as Border Media Partners, was a privately owned Hispanic focused radio broadcasting company headquartered in Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. s ...

acquired the station and changed formats to Rock AC as "The Hill", KHHL. Later, 98.9 FM became Spanish CHR, "Exitos 98.9", and then "La Ley 98.9" with a

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

format. The Regional Mexican format lasted until November 29, 2009, when

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

took over most of the assets of the Austin, Texas cluster of

, and KHHL changed formats to

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

as "98.9 The Big Talker" and new calls KXBT. As "98.9 The Big Talker", the station's weekday line-up included ''The Sean Rima Show'' during morning rush hour/

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

hours, '' The Glenn Beck Program'' during late-morning and early-afternoon hours (often referred to in radio station lingo as the

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

time slot), '' The Dave Ramsey Show'' during mid-afternoon hours, "Tabu" (a male-oriented sex and relationships show) Saturdays and Sundays 9pm-Midnight with Rachael Wax, '' The Schnitt Show'' during late-afternoon hours, and '' The Mark Levin Show'' during late-rush hour and early-evening hours. The weekends included ''The Jesus Christ Show'', ''The Otherside'' with Steve Godfrey, ''Leo Laporte The Tech Guy'', '' John Clay Wolfe'', and ''The Weekend''. The station was also the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

affiliate for the Austin, Texas market. On August 15, 2011, after a listener survey and facing stagnant ratings, BMP Radio dropped the news/talk format in favor of Classic Hits. From August 15, 2011, to September 3, 2011, KXBT simulcasted KXXS ("True Oldies 92.5"). The True Oldies Channel programming moved permanently to 98.9 FM on September 3 as "98.9 Austin's Greatest Hits", and KXXS dropped the oldies format in favor of ESPN Deportes, formerly located on KWNX. As of January 23, 2012, KXBT began airing local programming Monday-Friday 6am-7pm and added a local morning show from 6am-10am with Bo Chase in the Morning as well as syndicated host Tom Kent weekdays from 7pm-12am. Scott Shannon's satellite-fed True Oldies Channel continued to air overnights and Sundays at 7 pm. On Saturdays, KXBT aired ''Saturday Night Dance Fever'' live at the Iron Cactus North on Stonelake Boulevard in Austin. The program featured dance classics of the 1970s, 1980s, and early-1990s. On July 7, 2012, as part of Border Media's Austin selloff, the Board of Regents at the University of Texas announced their intention to vote on their acquisition of KXBT for $6 million; while questions about the proposal tabled the vote for some time, it was approved on August 23, and UT shortly after announced their intention to move KUT's music programming to 98.9 under new calls KUTX by the start of 2013. On November 26, KXBT announced that their classic hits format would end the following Friday, the 30th. At 2 p.m. that day, Austin's Greatest Hits signed off with Don McLean's " American Pie", and 98.9 began playing Christmas music while promoting the upcoming launch of KUTX, starting with " Here Comes Santa Claus" by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

from the 1957 album '' Elvis' Christmas Album''. On December 26, at Midnight, after playing " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American Folk music, folk singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his o ...

& the Videocraft Chorus, 98.9, finishing out the entire soundtrack to the television special of the same name, began its "Music Preview", with the first song as KUTX being "

We Can Work It Out "We Can Work It Out" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first issued as a A-side and B-side#Double A-side, double A-side single with "Day Tripper" in December 1965. The song was rec ...

" by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. The jockless preview gave way to the fully staffed version of the format on January 2. KUTX is marketed as "The Austin Music Experience." Music shows moved from KUT include ''Eklektikos,'' hosted by John Aielli (with KUT since 1966); ''Left of the Dial'' with Jeff McCord; and shows hosted by Jay Trachtenberg, and Jody Denberg. Specialty shows based at KUTX include Global Grooves (world music), Horizontes (Latin American music), Soundfounder (electronic music), and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child (family music).

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 30.391, N, 97.837, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title UTX Leander, Texas Radio stations established in 1988 1988 establishments in Texas NPR member stations Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States