A handful of Austin radio stations — including KUT and KUTX — were knocked off the air early Saturday morning. All of these stations lease space on the same broadcast tower in West Austin. While most of the stations restored their signal quickly, KUT’s sister station, KUTX 98.9, has remained off the air ever since.
KUT, along with the other stations knocked off the air, started broadcasting from their backup transmitters at other locations, but KUTX doesn’t have a backup transmitter.
The cause of the failure at the broadcast site in Bee Cave isn’t yet known. Due to the weather, crews have been unable to reach the antenna atop the broadcast tower — more than 1,000 feet up — to investigate the cause.
KUTX engineers are working on a temporary fix. They plan to put a low-power transmitter on top of a building on the UT Austin campus, but its signal won’t reach very far.
Crews are expected to reach the antenna later this week. Depending on the problem they discover, it could be weeks before KUTX is back on the air. We'll keep you updated on the situation.
In the meantime, you can stream at KUTX.org or the KUTX app.
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