Public radio proves once again that the problem with the broadcasting industry isn’t technology, it’s content. While commercial stations’ mind and marketshare began to erode in the Aughts, NPR affiliates started their rise in the Nineties.
Last Fall the FCC approved UT’s acquisition of 98.9 FM which was languishing as yet another ho-hum adult contemporary station the world didn’t need. I don’t even recall which debt-saddled media barony controlled it. With another frequency, KUT could spin its music shows off and focus on the news/talk stuff NPR is known for. To me, it’s two stations worth listening to when the iPod is out of commission.
Sure the music programming on KUT (now KUTX) is a crapshoot yet it’s a better alternative than the formulaic drivel the others provide. I think KUTX will continue the dying mission of salvaging Austin’s reputation for being a city for music lovers…while the musicians have fled to Waco, where the rent is affordable.
I think this means KUT has given up on digital radio; it required a special radio capable of picking up the other two stations lurking under the same number/frequency. Fry’s carried these special receivers, never could get it to work.