Category Archives: support KLRU

Chris Isaak live in Studio 6A to premiere his Beyond the Sun special!

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On February 13, Chris Isaak brought the house down at ACL Live at the Moody Theater with his Beyond the Sun tour featuring the classic rock ’n roll that inspired his own musical career. In case you weren’t one of the lucky ones in the venue that night, there’s no need to worry: We filmed it and will air the special on Monday evening at 7pm!

Even better, we’ll be coming to you live from KLRU Studio 6A with Chris Isaak to talk about this tour and what makes him come back again and again to create memorable music on public television.

This is not only a special evening because of Chris Isaak’s concert, but it’s also an important night for KLRU. We’ll be sharing the Chris Isaak Beyond the Sun special with public television stations all over the country to help them showcase the quality music that can only be found on public television. From concert specials like this to the music on Great Performances and American Masters, PBS gives audiences the best seats in the house to the best concerts week after week. We’re so thrilled to be able to share Chris Isaak’s incredible concert with other cities, communities and families.

We hope you’ll tune in on Monday night to support your public television station and to rock out with Chris Isaak! And if you haven’t already supported KLRU during our March pledge drive, you’ll want to call in with your donation on Monday – we have the DVD of his Beyond the Sun concert as well as his exclusive 2-CD Beyond the Sun album as thank you gifts!

Because this is such a special evening for KLRU, we want to look our best! Wardrobe provided by 81Poppies.com.

It’s our birthday wish to raise $270,000 during our March pledge drive!

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For 50 years now, KLRU has inspired Austin with television programs, community projects and educational initiatives that spark creativity, exploration, and understanding, both locally and around the world. We invite you to wish KLRU a Happy 50th Birthday by giving a gift in support of our March fundraising drive.

This month, KLRU must raise more than $270,000 to continue to provide you with more than 30,000 hours of programming, that for FIVE decades, has been the best on television. We hope you can watch, and support, this weekend:

Tonight: Inspire Understanding by giving a gift for Moyers & Company at 8pm (Welcome back, Bill!)

Saturday: Inspire Creativity with a gift for a VERY special episode of Austin City Limits at 8pm – Season 37 Highlights: Some of our favorite moments from Season 37. Tune in for your chance to get tickets to see Radiohead tape a performance for Season 38 – every gift made will automatically be entered to win 1 of 5 pairs of balcony tickets to the Tuesday night taping. We also have a limited number of guaranteed tickets to offer for donations of $500 – but the only way to secure those is by watching Saturday night and calling in!

Sunday: Inspire Exploration by supporting our smash hit Downton Abbey at 7pm – We’ll be airing a behind-the-scenes special and a fan-favorite episode from Season 2. Take your exploration even further by entering the Masterpiece Sweepstakes to win a trip to Britain and tour the castles that inspired Downton Abbey.

They say you only turn fifty once, but with the help of supporters like you, we feel like we’re just getting started, and that KLRU’s best work is still ahead of it. Give your Birthday gift to KLRU right now!

If you are not interested in one of our fantastic thank you gifts, I hope you will consider giving a gift of $50 in honor of KLRU’s 50 years of service. That’s just $1 for each year that KLRU has inspired Austin.

Thanks for watching and supporting KLRU-TV!

Austin City Limits Signed Poster Auction!

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The tapings for season 38 of Austin City Limits are starting up, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still revel in the great times from season 37 – and what better way to remember the incredible line up than owning one (or all!) of the limited edition band posters.

To kick off the KLRU March fundraising drive, we have organized an eBay auction of signed, limited edition band posters from ACL’s season 37 – the auction will be up until March 10, so bid now and bid often to get your favorite performer’s poster into your personal collection.

Posters currently available for bids
(click on band name below to visit auction site)

Arcade Fire

Coldplay

Florence & The Machine

Gillian Welch & The Decemberists

Jeff Bridges

Miranda Lambert

Randy Newman

Raphael Saadiq

Steve Miller Band

Wilco

All proceeds will go directly to KLRU to inspire creativity, exploration and understanding in Austin – and beyond.

2012 KLRU Antique Appraisal Fair a success!

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Thanks to all of our donors who contributed during our August and December pledge drives to attend the 2nd KLRU Antiques Appraisal Fair on January 21, 2012. We had a great turn out and everyone really enjoyed getting to know a little more about their prized possessions.

A special thanks also to our incredible volunteer appraisers – many of whom saw close to 50 items throughout the day. We couldn’t have this event without their generosity and expertise! For more information on all the appraisers who were with us that day, please visit the Appraisal Fair website.

Watch a highlight reel of the day here – thanks again for everyone’s support and enthusiasm!

Douglas Drane Charitable Trust Renews Support

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The Douglas Drane Charitable Trust has made a $25,000 contribution to KLRU in support of our Strategic Research Plan.  The Plan will provide the market intelligence needed to inform strategic and tactical decisions and measure KLRU’s progress in meeting its vision, mission and goals.

This gift will enable us to perform an annual market tracking study, as well as monthly viewer and member studies.   We will turn an eye toward programming and campaign measurement, Web and social media, and the KLRU Member Advisory Panel.  As a result of this gift, the community data we capture will be representative of Central Texas Households as never before, and we will incorporate this data in a meaningful way into the planning and execution of our ongoing strategy.

We are delighted that the Douglas Drane Charitable Trust will continue partnering with our station to further refine our community identity so that, as we are inspired by Austin, we may better inspire Austin.  Thank you!

MFI Foundation Renews Support of Public Affairs

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The MFI Foundation has renewed its generous support of Overheard with Evan Smith, KLRU’s locally-produced public affairs program.

Overheard provides viewers with unique perspectives on current affairs.  Hosted by Evan Smith, the CEO and Editor in Chief of The Texas Tribune, this weekly 30-minute program features in-depth interviews with noteworthy guests.  Viewers meet politicians, authors, artists, actors, journalists, businesspeople and anyone who’s at the center of things. The series offers smart conversations with the country’s most interesting people, always with an eye toward the news and always with a sense of humor.

KLRU is grateful for MFI’s longtime friendship.  Together, we are inspiring understanding in Austin and beyond.  Thank you!

Congratulations to our #whyKLRU t-shirt winners!

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Thanks to everyone who shared their #whyKLRU reasons during our December drive on Facebook, Twitter and our blog! We chose a winner for every day of our drive to receive a package of KLRU themed t-shirts – if your name is on the list, please email membership@klru.org with your mailing address so we can send you your t-shirts (sizes may vary, but feel free to put your preferred sizes in the email as well).

T Shirt Winners:

Artis Lewis

Eve McCabe

Geneva Sorenson

Rudi Leer

Kimberly Chapman

Zach Bishop

Chris Bowles

Jenny Meadows

Stephen Owens

Elizabeth Beil

Victoria Reed Bailey

Patty Fleming

Susie Duarte

Paul Buerger

Lanna Ellis Arnold

Jon Montgomery

Larry Schuler

Marse Amory

Edith Royal

Thanks for your support of KLRU-TV!

Your Station…Your Schedule! Viewer's Choice Lineup Announced

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We’re approaching the end of our December drive which can only mean one thing: Viewer’s Choice weekend! We’ve picked your favorites to air during the final Saturday and Sunday of the pledge drive and we’ll need your support to meet our goal of $240,000. With 6 days left in the drive, you’ve helped raise over $174,000 – thanks to everyone who has contributed so far this drive and thanks in advance to anyone who donates today!

We’re excited to announce that our Viewer’s Choice weekend line up is jam packed with great specials that highlight the music, entertainment, and informative programming KLRU does year-round!

Saturday, December 17
Julia Child Memories: Bon Appetit at 10am
Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli: One Night in Central Park at 12:30pm and 8pm
Great Performances: Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me In Concert at 3pm
Victor Borge: Comedy in Music! at 4:30pm
60s Rock, Pop & Soul at 6pm
3 Steps to Incredible Health with Dr. Joel Fuhrman at 10:30pm
Paul Simon: Live at Webster Hall at 10:35pm on KLRU-Q

Sunday, December 18
Financial Fitness After 50! With Paul Merriman at 1pm
3 Steps to Incredible Health with Dr. Joel Fuhrman at 2:30pm
Great Performances: Andrea Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas at 4:30pm
Great Performances: Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me In Concert at 6:30pm
Masterpiece Theater: Downton Abbey (Season 1, Episode 1)
Aretha Franklin: Soul Rewind at 10pm

We hope you’ll tune in to KLRU for Viewer’s Choice Weekend – and call in or go online to make a gift of support. This will be the last week that many of the incredible thank you gifts will be available – including Andrea Bocelli tickets, Straight No Chaser tickets, seats on the KLRU Drink Up bus, and tickets to the KLRU Appraisal Fair – so be sure you make your gift soon!

Get your tickets for the KLRU Drink Up! #whyKLRU

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Thanks to everyone who has made a gift to KLRU during our drive so far! We’re at $107,000 as of this morning and getting closer to our goal of $240,000.  If you haven’t made your gift yet, then tonight is the night for you: we’ll be live in the studio with an encore presentation of Ken Burns’ Prohibition and we’ll be offering tickets to the first ever KLRU Drink Up, a tour of local distilleries and breweries for KLRU donors!

The tour is a great representation of what Austin has to offer! We’ll board a bus at KLRU then head out for tours (and tastings!) at Live Oak Brewery, Tito’s Vodka, Treaty Oak Rum, and wrap up the afternoon with food and drink at BlackStar Co-op – a great selection of local business, innovation, and delicious beverages. The Drink Up is Saturday, February 4.

For your gift of $150, you’ll receive two (2) tickets to the Drink Up (which includes the price of the tastings and food), plus the Prohibition DVD set and the book, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. The Drink Up would make a fantastic gift or a great outing for a group of friends – be sure to tune in tonight at 7pm for all the details.

Bonus: We’ll also have the Tipsy Texan, David Alan, live in the KLRU Studios tonight mixing up the best holiday cocktails and giving away tickets to tomorrow night’s Drink Local Austin event! Tell your friends and be sure to watch!

The Jacob and Terese Hershsey Foundation renewing support of Central Texas Gardener

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The Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation has just renewed its support of Central Texas Gardener (CTG), KLRU’s educational horticulture series, with a $3,000 grant.  We are delighted that they have chosen to continue partnering in informing our community how to be good stewards of our natural resources.

CTG brings viewers the latest information about gardening the Austin way:  creating gardens that are fun, beautiful, manageable, and kind to our environment and wildlife.  Central Texas Gardener champions the use of xeric and native plants, urging viewers to eliminate or reduce their use of harmful chemicals, and show them how to reduce the demand for our most precious resource:  water.

This gift will help us demonstrate viable alternatives to “chemically-dependent gardening” that help to transform attitudes and behaviors in Austin and beyond.  Thank you!