When Willie Nelson performed in Austin in Oct. 1974, his concert was taped on video. The next year it would become the first Austin City Limits (ACL) broadcast, which turned into a larger radio broadcast and massive music festival, making Austin the “music capital of the world”. Thousands of people attend the festival each year, yet few know the history behind the experiences they have.

There have been 45 seasons of the broadcast since the first taping. They are shown on KLRU, the Austin branch of PBS. Program director Bill Arhos, producer Paul Bosner and director Bruce Scafe were the creators of the show and took inspiration from “The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock”, a book written by native Austinite Jan Reid in 1974. In recent years, artist involvement and community interaction have also grown with the production. The ACL show received the National Medal of the Arts in 2003 and is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as an honorary landmark. Time Magazine named it as a top-10 “most influential music show of all time”.

In 2002, an event-planning company called C3 Presents collaborated with Austin City Limits to create the first music festival, which was only two days instead of two weekends. The festival has grown from an attendance of 42,000 in its first year to 450,000 in 2019.

Currently, the festival is organized by ACL Radio, which also puts together Blues on the Green (BOTG) in the summer. BOTG is an admissions-free concert that features Austin artists on the rise. ACL Radio was formerly known as KGSR, but was renamed in fall 2018 to focus more on music-related news tied to ACL events.

Emily Parker is the program director at ACL Radio, and joined KGSR back in 2015 after having worked for eight years in the radio business. According to Parker, not only does the station have ACL-related news, but it also does in-depth profiles of both local Austin artists and out-of-state artists that are rising to fame nationwide.

“Austin City Limits” technically refers to the weekly PBS program with taped concerts in Austin similar to Willie Nelson’s. The festival that Austinites and foreigners love so much is actually called “ACL Fest.” Paul Bosner came up with the name of the broadcast when he first started working on the show. Because he drove in from Dallas, he often saw the ‘Austin City Limits’ border sign on the outskirts of Austin.

The Moody Theater, where ACL Live is played and filmed, is on a street named after their first episode guest, Willie Nelson. Now it is home to dozens of artists from a variety of genres, and even where the 2019 ACL Hall of Fame inductions took place in late October.

Community outreach has kept people more involved in the music, and proceeds from ACL and all other concerts are returned to Austin charity organizations. ACL has not only created a tourism influx and a thriving music industry but has also left a lasting impact on the Austin community through work with the Make a Wish Foundation, Austin Pets Alive and the Health Alliance for Austin’s Musicians.

Due to a growing fanbase and increases in financial strength, ACL has been able to bring their live magic to other parts of the world. In 2015, another “ACL”, Auckland City Limits, was created in Australia. However, the lineup was far smaller and had fewer bands than its sister-festival in Austin. Sydney also received similar treatment last year.
ACL has come a long way from its roots as a small radio station. Today, ACL boasts a popular music festival with performances from all kinds of artists and fans from all over the world.