KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts
KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond
Those who didn’t grow up in Texas can have a lot of trouble with the way many Texans pronounce many place names. Think Gruene or Refugio. But commentator WF Strong noticed sumpin’ else — some Texans use words you pert near won’t hear in other parts of the country.
February 22, 2017
Anglo Settlers Were Texas’ Original Undocumented Immigrants
This was the situation: the new immigrants to Texas were becoming quite a problem. They were coming across the river in droves. Some were legal and some were undocumented. Some were living on land they had legally acquired and some were squatters, living on land that belonged to others. The legal immigrants were being followed […]
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February 8, 2017
The How, Where and Why of Valentine, Texas
In Texas, we have a lot of towns with cool names. There is actually a town named Cool. And Cut and Shoot. And Valentine. Yes, Valentine. How cool is that? Especially if it’s February. The story goes that a railroad crew, in 1882, had finished laying the tracks to the point where a water and […]
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January 25, 2017
The Weird Connection Between Tony Romo and Tony Roma’s
When Tony Romo joined the Dallas Cowboys back in 2003, some people confused his name with that of Tony Roma’s, the restaurant chain. They thought maybe Tony Romo was related to the Tony Roma family, perhaps heir to the baby back ribs fortune, even though there was an important one letter of difference at the […]
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January 11, 2017
What It Means to Be a Texas Gentleman
One of my favorite, but now largely unknown speakers in American history was Robert Green Ingersoll. Redwater, Texas was originally named Ingersoll – after him. He was a philosopher and a popular intellectual, the most sought after orator of his time. He left us many fine proverbs. One of my favorites is this: “The greatest […]
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December 28, 2016
Here’s Your Texas-Themed Reading List for 2017
I’m not an expert on many things, but when it comes to judging the quality of Texas literature, or Texana as it is called, I am as confident as a bronc rider still upright at seven seconds. That last second of the eight is reserved for humility. Chance needs scant time to have one spittin’ […]
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December 26, 2016
The Story Behind Texas’ Favorite Butter
Texas has a great number of Texas brands: Southwest Airlines. Texas Instruments. Lone Star Beer. Dell Computer. Imperial Sugar. The King Ranch. Now, The King Ranch is a brand that came, quite literally, from a brand. King Ranch even has its own brand of Ford Pickup. The King Ranch also helped launch another old Texas […]
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December 14, 2016
Jack Sorenson’s Paintings Capture the Simple Joy of Christmas
This is the story of a boy who loved Christmas so much that he grew up to make it more magical for the rest of us. That is, if you have ever had the good fortune to see his paintings – and if you haven’t, I’m here to make sure your luck changes. The artist’s […]
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November 30, 2016
Trying to Talk Texan? Let Your Words Lean Into Each Other
A nice lady wrote to me not long ago and said that she was happy to have a son with a good, solid, two-syllable Texas name. “His name is ‘Ben,’”she wrote. I loved that. We do that, don’t we? Well, many of us do, anyway. There are 30 million Texans so there are many dialects […]
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