For much of the 1980s, he was Music Director of KLBJ-FM in Austin. In October 1990, he joined crosstown Adult Alternative KGSR-FM as Program Director. Over the next two decades, Jody Denberg emerged as an influential hit predictor, with a shift to Asst. Program Director by late 2008. One year later, he would leave KGSR and in 2010 resurfaced at the University of Texas-Austin’s radio operations.
This move to noncommercial radio saw Denberg launch a successor in many ways to KGSR, which changed frequencies in late 2009 and competed against Denberg’s new home since January 2013: KUTX-FM 98.9.
Now, Denberg is ready to conclude his career in radio some five years after the end of his former longtime home, KGSR. His final show will be from Noon-4pm Central on Friday (8/2). Denberg will be celebrating — it will be his 65th birthday.
“After so many years of full-time radio work, he’s ready to rest up, escape the summer heat, and enjoy his free time,” Jeff McCord of KUTX said. “Yet there are certain constants in Austin, and he leaves behind a real void in the Austin airwaves.”
KLBJ was his first radio home; Denberg is from The Bronx and relocated to El Paso as a teenager. He landed his role at KLBJ after expressing criticism of the station’s abrupt shift to Album-Oriented Rock. This resulted in station management offering Denberg an opportunity to host the Sunday morning “Critic’s Choice” program. It was successful enough to yield a job offer Denberg accepted.
“I was not a radio guy,” Denberg confessed to McCord. “I came up under a lot of knowledgeable people. One of my mentors was a fellow DJ named Ed Mayberry. He taught me a lot. And the music director and program director above me, Jeff Carrol and Clark Ryan, I just watched them. Eight years into it, the music director quit and I applied for the job. They were hesitant to give it to me because of my lefty music leanings, but they did allow me in there, and I proved that I could play baseball, I could do what those guys were doing. I still had that oasis of a specialty show where I could play Television and Eno, the things that I thought were cool that they weren’t playing. I just absorbed it.”
Is he bittersweet about retiring? He told McCord, “My wife retired in March. I want to be with her. I’m going to be 65 the day I retire. I want to get some time in a cooler climate and not have to work. I’ve been on the air five to six times a week for 40 years. I just feel like it’s a good time to bow out at the top. KUTX won all these awards this year. Somehow I won the best DJ award this year – 37 years after I won it the first time – before anyone knew I was retiring. It was sort of like a gift from the heavens.”
