Veteran Austin programmer and air talent Jody Denberg will retire from afternoons at University of Texas AAA 98.9 KUTX Leander/Austin TX on Friday, August 2.
Denberg is currently heard on KUTX from 5-8pm Monday through Thursday and 12-4pm on Fridays. He began his career as a music critic for The Daily Texan when he was invited to guest host a Sunday morning show “Critics Choice” on Rock 93.7 KLBJ-FM in 1981, which he would soon take over as the full-time host of. During his time with KLBJ-FM he would eventually rise to Music Director. He was recruited to then Smooth Jazz “Star 107” KGSR as Program Director with a creative control clause, which was used to flip the station to Adult Alternative. Denberg would stay at KGSR until resigning in 2009 and after sitting out a non-compete would join the University of Texas’ 90.5 KUT as a part-time host. Following their acquisition and launch of KUTX in 2012, he would take the afternoon host position that he has held until now.
In a detailed career retrospective published on KUTX.org, Denberg explained his decision to retire stating, “My wife retired in March. I want to be with her. I’m going to be 65 the day I retire. I want to get some time in a cooler climate and not have to work. I’ve been on the air five to six times a week for 40 years. I just feel like it’s a good time to bow out at the top. KUTX won all these awards this year. Somehow I won the best DJ award this year – 37 years after I won it the first time – before anyone knew I was retiring. It was sort of like a gift from the heavens.”