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How To Listen

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How do you want to listen? On this page you'll find info on these ways:

  • On the radio
  • On an HD Radio
  • Smart speakers
  • On our apps
  • Stream on the web
  • Other apps and platforms

Listen to KUT on an FM radio
KUT transmits on 90.5 MHz from a 1,200-foot tall tower located approximately 5 miles west of downtown Austin at the tower farm near Loop 360 and Westlake Drive. KUT’s analog transmitter has an effective radiated power of 25,000 Watts, and can be received in most places out to about 40 miles from the tower.

Troublewith radio reception? There's more technical info here.

Listen to KUT with an HD Radio™
In order to receive KUT‘s digital services, you must obtain an HD Radio™ capable receiver. They are available from many online sources, including Amazon.

KUT’s HD Radio signal contains two audio streams.
KUT1 (HD-1) is a simulcast of the 24-hour news and information programming from KUT 90.5 FM.
KUT2 (HD-2) is the BBC World Service news 24 hours a day.

A good antenna is necessary to receive HD Radio™ reliably. There are numerous types of antennas and what works in one location may not work well in a different spot.

Stream KUT on your computer or device
Find our streaming player here.

KUT provides streaming audio services to computers in a variety of formats which should be compatible with any operating system. The streaming formats provided are MP3, AAC+ and HLS. We test our streaming services for compatibility with Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS.

How to listen on a smart speaker
The main way to hear us is to command your smart speaker to play KUT. Whether it's an Amazon, Apple or Google device, first try "____, play KUT" or "_____, play NPR." Through our partnership with NPR, KUT is readily available on the major smart speakers with a single command. For details and other commands, read our 'how to' page on smart speakers.

Links to All Our Stream Types
These MP3 links are 128 and 192 kbps streams. Use with standalone software and directly:

KUT: https://kut.streamguys1.com/kut-free
KUT HD2 (BBC): https://kut.streamguys1.com/kuthd2-free
KUTX: https://kut.streamguys1.com/kutx-free
KUTX HD2: https://kut.streamguys1.com/amx-free

The AAC+ codec is mobile-friendly and works for most devices. It's a much newer codec than the legacy MP3 codec. It uses less bandwidth yet still has high-quality encoding:

KUT: https://kut.streamguys1.com/kut-free.aac
KUT HD2 (BBC): https://kut.streamguys1.com/kuthd2-free.aac
KUTX: https://kut.streamguys1.com/kutx-free.aac
KUTX HD2: https://kut.streamguys1.com/amx-free.aac
KUTX HD3: https://kut.streamguys1.com/tmx-free.aac

For KUT we have an HLS stream available:  

KUT: https://kut-hls.streamguys1.com/kut1/playlist.m3u8
iTunes: NPR News - KUT 90.5 Austin

There is also an HLS stream available for KUTX:  

KUTX: https://kut-hls.streamguys1.com/kutx/playlist.m3u8

Some browsers and players, like VLC and QuickTime, will natively play an HLS stream. iTunes will not, but you can use the above iTunes link or search for "KUT News" in Apple Music Radio to find this same HLS stream. Our HLS streams are the highest quality streams we provide.

Listen on your iOS or Android device
KUT and KUTX can be streamed to your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet using our custom applications. Our apps all use the AAC+ codec.

Download the KUT iOS app here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kut-90.5-austins-npr-station/id1129873118?mt=8

Download the KUTX iOS app here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kutx-98.9-austin-music/id1129872826?mt=8

Download the KUT Android app here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.utexas.android.kut

Download the KUTX Android app here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.utexas.android.kutx

KUT is committed to supporting open media formats and free (as in speech) software whenever possible. Music licensing and royalty requirements sometimes prevent us from doing this. We make every effort to support as wide a variety of operating systems and software as we can.

Other Apps and Platforms
KUT provides all our streams to popular providers like iHeartRadio and TuneIn. We are the origin of these streams, providing them the same MP3 and AAC+ streams listed above, which you can get directly through our apps or websites. These aggregators then make our stations available on their apps and platforms.

iHeart: KUT, KUTX

TuneIn: KUT, KUTX

Our stations are also in iTunes under Internet Radio, plus KUT News is found in Apple Radio.

Listen to KUT on an Internet Radio Tuner

A number of consumer electronics manufacturers make standalone internet streaming receivers that are compatible with KUT’s streams. These devices enable you to listen to internet streaming audio without a computer. They normally connect to your network with WiFi. Some have preset station buttons that make it easy to select the stream source. They can also play music from Spotify, iTunes shares or other music services.

Most KUT/X streams are compatible with these devices. You will likely need to type or paste the direct MP3 or AAC+ links into the device directly or its software (probably browser-based). These devices are normally programmed by connecting to the device using a computer and mobile app. Use the links above to receive the stream(s) you wish to listen to.