KUT » ATXplained

By KUT & KUTX Studios

Society & Culture History

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Why Is It Legal To Be Tople...

07.29.2021

One ATXplained listener wanted to know how women going topless at public pools came to be popular in Austin.

KUT » ATXplained episodes:

07.29.2021 Why Is It Legal To Be Topless In Public In Austin? One ATXplained listener wanted to know how women going topless at public pools came to be popular in Austin.
04.21.2021 Why Are There So Many Caterpillars Hanging From The Trees This Spring? Remember the movie Die Hard? It’s kinda like that.
03.25.2021 Who Is Herman the Singing Plumber? A plumber. Who sings? As part of our Hi, Who Are You? spinoff, we get introduced to Herman Bennett.
02.04.2021 Who Is Buried In This Cemetery On 51st Street In Austin? Who will remember you when you die? Family? Friends? We got a question about a cemetery in Central Austin for ATXplained. It got KUT’s Matt Largey thinking about what happens when people are forgotten.
01.29.2021 Why Do Some People Not Develop Cedar Allergies For Years? It’s January, so that means cedar fever is at its peak. Amid a global pandemic, this is the last thing we need. But here we are. KUT’s Nadia Hamdan answers this question about the annual trial in Central Texas.
12.16.2020 Who Has The Ninja Style And Kung Fu Grip To Spray-Paint Austin’s Most Visible Graffiti? The words would appear on the bridge overnight. The artist would come and go like a ninja. But who is it? And why did they do it?
04.02.2020 What’s Story Behind The ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Mural That Was On South Lamar? If you’ve ever been near Lamar and Oltorf, you probably saw it. But what’s the story behind the now-gone mural there?
02.27.2020 What Is The History Behind Polling Locations In Grocery Stores In Austin? Voting should be easy, right? Well, can it get any easier than going to your local supermarket? KUT’s Jimmy Maas has the history behind what’s become an election season tradition in Austin.
02.27.2020 Austin’s Club Scene Has A Godfather. Here’s His Story. Yorkie Louie is known as the Godfather of Clubbing in Austin. But his story is more complicated than that. Someone asked about him for our ATXplained spin-off, Hi, Who Are You?.
02.20.2020 Who Writes The ‘Funny Little Messages’ On Signs Along Austin Roads? Traffic sucks. But every so often a sign in the distance might give you a chuckle. Or a groan. So who writes those electronic road signs with (sometimes) funny rhymes?
01.21.2020 What Happened To The Last Man On Rainey Street? A year ago, we answered a question from an ATXplained listener: Where did all the families that used to live on Rainey Street go? One man was still there. But now, even that has changed. Audrey McGlinchy has this follow-up.
01.10.2020 We’re Doing A Live Show! Last Chance To Get Tickets. Tickets are running out for our Jan. 23 ATXplained Live show at the Hogg Auditorium. Details and tickets here.
12.19.2019 Who Started Austin’s 37th Street Christmas Light Tradition? Austin’s 37th St. lights aren’t the only holiday light display in town, but it did draw this question about its origins.
12.05.2019 Who Is The One Chatty Guy Who Works At The Post Office In East Austin? Christine Hannon wanted to meet this postal worker who seems to know everyone who come into his East Austin post office.
10.03.2019 What’s The Best Way To Get Into The Chilly Waters Of Barton Springs? There are many ways. But what’s the best way? Can medical science tell us?
09.25.2019 How Did Lake Travis’ Sometimes Islands Get Their Name? They usually only appear when there’s and drought and lake levels are low. But who named them?
09.06.2019 Have Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber And Lyft Reduced Drunk Driving In Austin? Uber and Lyft said their services would give other transportation options for people who’ve been drinking in Austin. So — did they?
09.02.2019 Who Is This Texas ‘Ambassador’ Who Works At The Capitol Visitors Center? No matter how jet-lagged, or sweaty, Austin tourists may find themselves when they reach the Texas Capitol Visitors Center, they’ll find a breath of fresh air waiting for them just inside its doors: Mary Jackson.
08.13.2019 Why Do Lifeguards At Austin’s City Pools Blow Their Whistles At Break Time Like That? Madeline Fening heard the break whistle at Austin city pools and just had to know why it was so dramatic.
08.08.2019 Who Is This Woman Who Helps Older Austinites Stay Socially Connected? The aging population is growing fast in Austin. So Becky Rhodes said we should meet a couple trying to keep seniors active in the community.
08.06.2019 Who Cleans Up The Bat Guano Under The Congress Avenue Bridge? Catherine Samuel was curious about where the guano goes and who cleans it up, so she asked about it for our ATXplained project.
07.26.2019 Why Are There No Billboards On MoPac? Billboards are all over I-35 — but not MoPac and a few other freeways in Austin. Why not?
07.12.2019 Why Does The Top Of Austin’s Tallest Building Look ‘Unfinished’? Everyone’s an architecture critic. But why does the crown on “The Independent” look the way it does?
07.10.2019 Who Is That Guy With The ‘Giant Bird’ In South Austin? In our latest, “Hi, Who Are You?” story, we hear the story of a man and his bird — and the family that wanted to meet them.
06.24.2019 Answering the Unanswerable With KUTX’s John Aielli — Episode 1 We get a lot of questions for ATXplained that don’t really have answers. So KUT’s Andrew Weber put some of those to longtime KUT/X host John Aielli.
06.19.2019 Who Is The Man In Southwest Austin Who Fostered Over 100 Babies With His Wife? For the next episode in our Hi, Who Are You? series, KUT’s Nadia Hamdan introduces us to Burrell W. Lankford.
06.18.2019 Why Is Austin’s ‘Official’ Pride Festival In August — And Not June, Like Most Everyone Else’s? June is when many places celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month. So why doesn’t Austin?
06.13.2019 Who Is The Motorcycle Rider Who Does Wheelies Around Town In Pool Floaties? The second in our Hi, Who Are You? series. A low-speed chase. Revving engines. Inflatable flamingoes.
06.12.2019 Who’s That Krispy Kreme Employee Who’s So Positive All The Time? In the first episode of our spin-off series, Hi, Who Are You?, we meet Sylvester Myers. This piece was produced by KUT’s Nathan Bernier.
05.28.2019 What’s The Real Story Behind Dan’s Hamburgers And Fran’s Hamburgers? Their signs looked oddly similar. The names were pretty darn close, too. Is the origin of Dan’s and Fran’s an urban legend?
05.16.2019 People Keep Moving To Austin. But Where Are They Coming From? About 145 people moved to Austin each day last year. Where did they move from?
05.09.2019 How Did Texas Become The Only State With Its Own Toast? It started almost 80 years ago, with a restaurant and some too-thick bread.
05.01.2019 How Do Musicians Make The Cut For The Austin City Limits TV Series? Go behind the scenes at KLRU’s Austin City Limits TV show to find out how they pick their artists — how little they get paid. MORE HERE.
04.04.2019 Who Is The Crossing Guard Who Waves To Everyone Near Mendez Middle School? Are there people in your life that you see all the time, but have never stopped to meet?
03.14.2019 What Ever Happened To Austin’s ‘Spamarama’? The spiced ham product was the centerpiece of this longtime festival. For a time, the event was insanely popular — so what why did it go away?
03.11.2019 So, About The Origin Of ‘The Live Music Capital Of The World’… We Were Wrong. Here’s The Real Story. OK, now we have the definitive story of Austin’s official nickname (we think).
02.14.2019 The Last Man On Rainey Street The families who once lived on Rainey Street all left. One man is still there.
01.17.2019 Who Were The Streets In This North Austin Neighborhood Named After? Who were Miranda, Esther, Lisa and Rufus?
01.10.2019 Why Is MoPac Traffic So Much Worse In The Afternoon Than In The Morning? Does it really take longer to get home in the afternoon than to get to work in the morning?
12.18.2018 When Can You Call Yourself A Real Austinite? Y’all Had Some Ideas. Maybe being an Austinite is more than a checklist. SUBSCRIBE on iTunes or RSS
12.12.2018 Who Are Those People Who Ride Horses Around Downtown Austin? Sometimes you can find people riding horses on the streets of Austin. We went for a ride with one of them. SUBSCRIBE: iTunes RSS
11.29.2018 Why Is Austin’s Foliage So Amazing This Fall? Mose Buchele takes a walk with our question-asker to learn the science behind this fall’s colorful trees.
11.27.2018 TELL US: When Can You Call Yourself A “Real” Austinite? What are the experiences that bind Austinites together? Send us your answer at ATXplained.org or call/text to 737-443-9466 or email us at [email protected]
10.18.2018 Why Are There So Few Homes With Basements Around Austin? Basements are common in other parts of the country. So why not here? Is it the rock? The flooding? Nope.
10.04.2018 What Ever Happened To Austin’s Long-Running Aqua Fest? For decades, Aqua Fest was an annual celebration in Austin. Then, it stopped. One ATXplained listener wanted to know why.
08.24.2018 We’re Doing A Live Show! Come Be A Part Of It! Join us on Friday, September 21 at 7 p.m. at the Texas Union Theater on the UT campus. Details and tickets (they’re free) are right here.
06.28.2018 How Did These Tropical Fish Wind Up Thriving In Austin’s Waller Creek? An Austin creek is home to a wild population of platyfish, known worldwide as colorful, affordable pet-store species. But they jumped the tank as early as 2004.
06.28.2018 How Did These Tropical Fish Wind Up Thriving In Austin’s Waller Creek? An Austin creek is home to a wild population of platyfish, known worldwide as colorful, affordable pet-store species. But they jumped the tank as early as 2004.
06.14.2018 Why Are You Not Allowed To Swim In Lady Bird Lake? You can canoe, kayak, paddleboard — but don’t get in the water. Why not? MORE HERE
05.31.2018 Is It Bee Cave Or Bee Caves? And Where Are The Bees? It’s a question that’s vexed people for years. But were there ever any bees?

Older episodes

KUT » ATXplained

What's KUT » ATXplained about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

KUT » ATXplained episodes:

Why Is It Legal To Be Topless In Public In Austin?

Why Are There So Many Caterpillars Hanging From The Trees This Spring?

Who Is Herman the Singing Plumber?

Who Is Buried In This Cemetery On 51st Street In Austin?

Why Do Some People Not Develop Cedar Allergies For Years?

Who Has The Ninja Style And Kung Fu Grip To Spray-Paint Austin’s Most Visible Graffiti?

What’s Story Behind The ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Mural That Was On South Lamar?

What Is The History Behind Polling Locations In Grocery Stores In Austin?

Austin’s Club Scene Has A Godfather. Here’s His Story.

Who Writes The ‘Funny Little Messages’ On Signs Along Austin Roads?

What Happened To The Last Man On Rainey Street?

We’re Doing A Live Show! Last Chance To Get Tickets.

Who Started Austin’s 37th Street Christmas Light Tradition?

Who Is The One Chatty Guy Who Works At The Post Office In East Austin?

What’s The Best Way To Get Into The Chilly Waters Of Barton Springs?

How Did Lake Travis’ Sometimes Islands Get Their Name?

Have Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber And Lyft Reduced Drunk Driving In Austin?

Who Is This Texas ‘Ambassador’ Who Works At The Capitol Visitors Center?

Why Do Lifeguards At Austin’s City Pools Blow Their Whistles At Break Time Like That?

Who Is This Woman Who Helps Older Austinites Stay Socially Connected?

Who Cleans Up The Bat Guano Under The Congress Avenue Bridge?

Why Are There No Billboards On MoPac?

Why Does The Top Of Austin’s Tallest Building Look ‘Unfinished’?

Who Is That Guy With The ‘Giant Bird’ In South Austin?

Answering the Unanswerable With KUTX’s John Aielli — Episode 1

Who Is The Man In Southwest Austin Who Fostered Over 100 Babies With His Wife?

Why Is Austin’s ‘Official’ Pride Festival In August — And Not June, Like Most Everyone Else’s?

Who Is The Motorcycle Rider Who Does Wheelies Around Town In Pool Floaties?

Who’s That Krispy Kreme Employee Who’s So Positive All The Time?

What’s The Real Story Behind Dan’s Hamburgers And Fran’s Hamburgers?

People Keep Moving To Austin. But Where Are They Coming From?

How Did Texas Become The Only State With Its Own Toast?

How Do Musicians Make The Cut For The Austin City Limits TV Series?

Who Is The Crossing Guard Who Waves To Everyone Near Mendez Middle School?

What Ever Happened To Austin’s ‘Spamarama’?

So, About The Origin Of ‘The Live Music Capital Of The World’… We Were Wrong. Here’s The Real Story.

The Last Man On Rainey Street

Who Were The Streets In This North Austin Neighborhood Named After?

Why Is MoPac Traffic So Much Worse In The Afternoon Than In The Morning?

When Can You Call Yourself A Real Austinite? Y’all Had Some Ideas.

Who Are Those People Who Ride Horses Around Downtown Austin?

Why Is Austin’s Foliage So Amazing This Fall?

TELL US: When Can You Call Yourself A “Real” Austinite?

Why Are There So Few Homes With Basements Around Austin?

What Ever Happened To Austin’s Long-Running Aqua Fest?

We’re Doing A Live Show! Come Be A Part Of It!

How Did These Tropical Fish Wind Up Thriving In Austin’s Waller Creek?

How Did These Tropical Fish Wind Up Thriving In Austin’s Waller Creek?

Why Are You Not Allowed To Swim In Lady Bird Lake?

Is It Bee Cave Or Bee Caves? And Where Are The Bees?

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