Calls grow for KUT and KUTX to separate from university

Following the University of Texas at Austin’s firing of KUT Public Media General Manager Debbie Hiott, whose dispute with university officials over the planning and execution of the first-ever KUT Festival drew statewide attention and raised questions about the relationship between the university and its stations — all-news KUT-FM (90.5) and adult alternative KUTX (98.9) Austin — supporters of both stations are questioning whether they should cut ties with the university.

“The community pays for KUT and KUTX and [daily news magazine] Texas Standard, and the community should be the ones responsible for the stations,” Hiott tells KUT News, reiterating that her termination was a sign that the university was “willing to interfere” in the stations’ work, and “that level of interference is something that the community should be concerned about.”

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