by Juan Raigosa
It’s not often you can pinpoint the coinage of a phrase. “Keep Austin Weird” is now so ubiquitous as a slogan that it seems to have materialized from the ether. It has been intimated (reliably) that it was first uttered on KOOP’s the Lounge Show and broadcast into the collective subconscious of the Live Music Capital of the World at 91.7 megaHertz.
The year was 2000, and native son, author, librarian, and keeper of the weird torch Red Wassenich was calling into Jay Robillard’s show to pledge his support for the station.
Twenty-six years later, the moment still resonates and seemed as relevant as ever to DJ Art(uro) of Crate Digger’s Gold when he was dreaming up a design for the current KOOP T-shirt and struck gold with “Still Here. Still Weird.”
Every membership drive, a new T-shirt design is unveiled and serves as a prime motivator in getting the community to show its support. Art(uro) felt that those who respect the city’s eccentric tradition would want to proudly display it.
“This rapid growth brought with it a great deal of change, with Austin losing many of the beloved people and places that kept it weird for so long. Still, some things endure. KOOP Radio is your personal playlist for a city yearning to feel weird again.”
Station manager Federico Pacheco sees the T-shirt as a way for listeners to find community.
“Supporters use the T-shirt as a badge. There are hardcore sustainers who want to make sure that people know that they support KOOP.”
KOOP T-shirt designs are solicited from the community and decided upon by the station staff. Over the years, they have come from listeners as well as station volunteers, including Be Kind Rewind’s DJ Alejo and The Clear Spot‘s (Grace Reyer
Art Sparks Radio Hour host Celia Hughes teaches a class for students with disabilities and one year she got her class involved.
“We put it to them that there was a design competition and they worked on it.” The class submitted a logo with the slogan: “Coloring Outside the Lines.” “They weren’t expecting to win. They loved it, to be involved in something in the idea stage and for that to become something tangible.”
Longtime supporters and volunteers end up with a collection of cool gear.
Stronger Than Dirt’s Scott Gardner doesn’t remember how many KOOP T-shirt’s he has.
“Too many to count. Double digits to be sure.” Gardner has so many that some have found new uses. “Some of the older, ratty ones have been consigned to the cats’ sleeping boxes as liners.”
Scott gets a variety of comments when he’s wearing his KOOP T-shirts around town. He says: “I’ll get someone yelling ‘I love KOOP,’” but also occasionally someone asking what ‘coop’ is.”
You never know what sort of attention you’ll draw when trying to “Keep Austin Weird.”
Show your support for KOOP today! Become a sustaining member and get your own cool T-shirt.