Tom Spencer, voted Best Televised Moderator / Gardener by readers in The Austin Chronicle 2004 Best of Awards, is an award-winning independent producer and free lance writer. Employed by KLRU for more than 20 years. Tom has served as a manager and producer of local and statewide public affairs programs, nationally distributed documentaries on art and architecture, and a wide variety of special projects.

Throughout his association with KLRU he has also served as a host for many of the station's local programs. Currently he is one of the producers and the host of the weekly public affairs series Austin Now.

During his career at KLRU, Tom has won many awards and honors. A singular honor came in 1994 when he was appointed to a select task force by the PBS president to reshape public affairs programming for the national system. Tom's documentary projects have included: The Painted Churches of Texas, a program honored by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) as the "Historical Documentary of the Year" in 2001; Rio Grande: La Frontera, on the architecture and history of the Texas-Mexico border; Austin Remember When, a series of documentaries on the history of Austin; Building the American City: San Antonio, about the history, architecture and culture of San Antonio, Texas; and James Michener and the Art of Collecting, a profile of writer James Michener and his collection of 20th century American art.

Since 1983 Tom has also produced and hosted a weekly radio program on gardening for KLBJ-AM. He is the author of numerous articles and columns on gardening and landscape design. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including: The Good Life, Domain Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, and The Austin American-Statesman. And in The Statesman, he has recently been written about!

He also currently hosts Central Texas Gardener. An accomplished photographer, his work has appeared in galleries and has been published along with his written work. His current projects include the Web site www.soulofthegarden.com.