The spotlight was on KUTX 98.9 at the 41st annual Austin Music Awards held at the Mohawk Sunday night, Feb. 26.
KUTX received its ninth “Best Radio Station” win in the annual readers’ poll – a testament to how the station supports the local music scene. In fact, many of the artists getting heavy rotation on KUTX’s playlist took home awards, including Sir Woman, Adrian Quesada, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Spoon, BLK ODYSSY, Charley Crockett, Flora & Fawna, DJ Chorizo Funk, Deezie Brown and more.
Laurie Gallardo – aka “DJ ElGee” – was named “Best Radio Personality” for the seventh consecutive year by voters in the Austin Chronicle Annual Readers’ Poll. KUTX’s Rick McNulty and Taylor Wallace-Riegel was also nominated.
Additionally, Laurie was inducted into the Music Industry Hall of Fame. She joins John Aielli who was named to the Music Industry Hall of Fame last year before he died in July 2022.
See the complete list of winners in the Austin Music Awards.
Laurie hosts the afternoon music show on KUTX from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and is the producer and voice of the Austin Music Minute, which shines the spotlight on live music shows around town six days a week.
The native El Pasoan began working part-time at KUT 90.5 (a predecessor to KUTX 98.9) in 2002 as a late-night show host, and as a stand-in host.
A voice actor featured in various video games, anime series, commercials, narration for technical videos, and locally produced theatrical projects; she has also acted in independent film and documentary projects.
Laurie’s an avid supporter of Austin-based organizations Project ATX6, Black Fret, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), The SIMS Foundation and Mosaic Sound Collective, all of which support local musicians. She also produces and hosts an independent podcast (SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen.