Best Kept Secret of Austin, Texas: The Taping of Austin City Limits TV Show

One of the first things I wanted to do when I moved to Austin, Texas was attend an Austin City Limits evening concert on the Town Lake hillside above the city while it was being taped for the television broadcast on PBS. I wanted to lye on a blanket under the stars, listen to legendary musicians, and gaze at the beautiful light displays of the background buildings in the downtown area. I grew up in El Paso, heart of the west Texas desert; where lush green trees and flowing rivers through the city only appear in dreams. My heart was set on buying tickets to the very first concert after driving 700 miles to get from El Paso to Austin.

My fantasy fizzled when my friends told me that Austin City Limits is taped in a studio and you cannot buy tickets. I thought they were joking, but the world probably does not know Austin's best kept secret: Austin City Limits is recorded at KLRU television studio on the University of Texas campus. The famous skyline setting, made from a photo of South Austin, did not appear in the show until Season 7 in 1982. From time-to-time, the show is recorded somewhere else, including at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. After I recovered from this shocking news, I acknowledged that seeing the concert in a studio was acceptable and proceeded to buy tickets anyway. Oh my - another shocking blow.

Tickets to Austin City Limits are given away for free. Getting tickets can be quite challenging since they go very quickly, sometimes within five minutes of the announced giveaway time. First, you call the KLRU Hotline at (512) 475-9077. The recorded message gives you a time and which radio station to listen to for the ticket distribution announcement. The message also gives you the artist information and taping date. One or two working days before the taping, the radio station will announce the location of the ticket giveaway. When you hear that announcement, you go immediately to that location and, if you are lucky, you get a pair of tickets to that week's show. I'm sorry to say that I still have not seen an Austin City Limits concert.

Austin has some more best-kept secrets about their Austin City Limits TV Show: