Latest / Austin Signal / What it’s like to work as a Paramount usher

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What it’s like to work as a Paramount usher · Austin Signal

0:08
It's been a busy year, and KUT's
0:10
multimedia team has been capturing
0:12
the moments that defined Austin in
0:14
2025, so which one
0:16
stood out most?
0:18
KUTs visuals editor Deborah Cannon
0:20
takes us through the year in photos.
0:23
And the Paramount Theater is known
0:24
for hosting unforgettable events,
0:26
but have you ever wondered how
0:27
audiences find their seats
0:29
in the rush before showtime?
0:31
Well, Austin High School student
0:33
Rivers Newsome shares what it's
0:35
like to work behind the scenes as
0:37
an usher.
0:38
The Austin Signal is a production
0:40
of KUT News, hosted by
0:42
Miles Bloxson.
0:44
The year is winding down, but we
0:46
still have songs for you.
0:47
This time around, our technical
0:49
director, Rayna Sevilla, shares her
0:51
top song of the year.
0:53
We'll hear more coming up
0:54
right here on The Austin
0:56
Signal.
1:08
Hey, hey, Austin, it's Friday,
1:10
December 26th.
1:11
Hope y'all are having an amazing day
1:13
and that you enjoyed the holiday.
1:15
This is Austin Signal.
1:17
I'm Miles Bloxin.
1:19
Well, it has been another busy year
1:20
for the KUT Newsroom and our
1:22
multimedia team has spent
1:24
2025 documenting Austin
1:26
to help bring our reporters'
1:28
stories to life and to tell some of
1:30
their own.
1:31
KUT's Jennifer Stayton sat down with
1:33
visuals editor, Deborah Cannon,
1:36
to talk about some of those photos.
1:38
So before we get into specifics
1:41
about your pictures of the
1:43
year, I kind of want to take a step
1:44
back and if you could just describe
1:46
for us what makes
1:48
a good photo for
1:51
news coverage.
1:52
Well, ideally our news photos
1:54
will help connect the reader in
1:56
a different way to the story
1:58
that is published on our website.
2:00
A great photo, you're gonna have an
2:02
emotional connection to it.
2:03
It's going to help inform the story
2:05
in a difference way than just words
2:07
can, and so it just brings a deeper
2:09
meaning to the pieces overall.
2:12
Great photos have three things.
2:13
They have great moments, good
2:15
light, and good composition.
2:17
And ideally you get all three, but
2:18
most of the time you hit around two,
2:20
and that's a good place to be.
2:22
But to make a good news photo,
2:24
what you wanna do is inform your
2:26
viewer. You want to add depth
2:28
to it in a way that they're not
2:30
getting by just reading the story.
2:32
You want them to have an emotional
2:33
connection with the moment, and
2:35
our photographers really do that and
2:36
they knock it out of the park a lot
2:38
of the times.
2:39
Photos.
2:39
Actually have a pretty heavy lift,
2:42
like they do a lot of work in
2:43
the web posts that KUT
2:45
reads. See when they go to the
2:47
website.
2:47
They do and we take it really
2:48
seriously here.
2:49
We have three visual journalists
2:51
full-time on staff and we
2:52
have some interns as well who go out
2:54
and make photos and videos and we
2:56
love what we do.
2:57
I'm the editor and so I don't get
2:59
out that much but I love seeing the
3:00
work come in and I love
3:02
seen how our
3:04
visual journalists connect with
3:07
the subjects and how they
3:09
tell these stories in a way that
3:11
just words can't do.
3:14
You It really is true,
3:16
and there's a reason why people say
3:17
that. New sort of innovative.
3:18
Itself is it's unpredictable, you
3:21
may not know what's happening, but
3:22
there sometimes can be an element of
3:24
planning as far as location.
3:25
So how do you figure out how
3:28
you're actually going to cover a
3:30
news occurrence or event?
3:32
Visually?
3:33
Well, there's a lot of thought that
3:34
goes into that.
3:35
Sometimes it's breaking news and you
3:37
don't have a lot time, but we
3:39
do have experienced visual
3:41
journalists on staff.
3:41
So if there is a wildfire,
3:44
if there's is a protest
3:46
that suddenly broke out that we
3:47
weren't expecting, if there
3:48
something else happening like
3:50
that where you didn't know you were
3:52
going to that when you woke up in
3:53
the morning, our team is prepared.
3:55
We've done the work beforehand.
3:56
We know how to approach these
3:58
situations.
3:59
It's hard, but it's
4:01
important.
4:02
The other kind of news that we cover
4:03
is stuff that we work in tandem with
4:05
with reporters.
4:07
So editors, the visual journalists,
4:08
we all get together.
4:09
We talk about what the story is
4:10
going to be like.
4:11
We do some ideation.
4:13
We find out what are the important
4:14
points of the story and we have
4:16
really good long discussions about
4:18
that before we ever step foot out
4:20
and go into the wild.
4:22
That said, as soon as you show up,
4:23
everything changes.
4:24
So that's where our photojournalists
4:26
and their experience really comes in
4:27
handy because even though you may
4:29
have discussed something, and you
4:30
think you know what the story's
4:31
about. A lot of times you show up
4:33
and it's something totally
4:33
different.
4:34
We're really good at like pivoting
4:36
and making those meaningful images
4:38
in whatever situation there is.
4:40
Well, and that sounds like life in
4:41
general, right? It is, it is.
4:42
You show up to something and things
4:43
can change and you sometimes don't
4:45
know what's gonna happen.
4:46
I'm curious when the person or
4:48
their scene is important to tell
4:50
the story, how do you work with
4:52
people so that they feel comfortable
4:53
and feel like they can participate
4:55
in helping to tell that story?
4:57
Well, you know, there are a lot of
4:58
different situations.
4:59
I always tell people, if you don't
5:01
look good, we don't look good.
5:02
And that isn't about making people
5:03
pretty, but that's about making true
5:06
images that are a slice of life
5:08
that tell their stories.
5:09
And we are very, very serious
5:11
about making connection with our
5:12
subjects, about honoring who
5:14
they are, where they're at in
5:16
that moment of their life.
5:17
You know, we take pictures of people
5:19
sometimes on the worst day of their
5:20
lives. That is really hard.
5:23
We respect where people are,
5:25
and we want to make sure to meet
5:26
them where they are, and to be
5:28
mindful of whatever
5:30
they're going through.
5:32
And it's a very serious thing what
5:33
we do, and we take it seriously,
5:35
and you know, we have compassion for
5:37
our subjects, and we make the
5:40
important images that we need to
5:41
make, but we also want to be
5:43
sympathetic and empathetic to the
5:45
situation that people are in.
5:46
So let's get to some of those images
5:48
then, Deborah.
5:49
Tell us about maybe three
5:51
of your favorite pictures from 2025
5:54
and why they
5:56
landed in that category for you.
5:57
What did you think was so compelling
5:59
about them?
6:00
One of the first images I wanna talk
6:01
about is one from our
6:03
multimedia journalist, Patricia Lim.
6:05
And it's just a wonderful slice
6:07
of life moment from Sunset Valley
6:09
Elementary.
6:10
You know, Sunset valley's been in
6:11
the news a lot lately because it's
6:13
one of the schools that slated to
6:14
close. The story was reported,
6:16
it's about their cheer squad, and it
6:18
was reported earlier in the year
6:19
before all of that came out.
6:21
And it just, it just this wonderful
6:23
image of a girl doing a tumble.
6:25
Her face is towards the camera and
6:27
it just captures this moment that I
6:28
just feel like.
6:29
When I see it, it just feels
6:31
like childhood, right?
6:32
And I hope that our readers connect
6:34
with it in that way, where they see
6:36
their children doing things like
6:37
that, or they remember doing that
6:38
and being happy about it.
6:39
And it's just this really cheerful
6:41
thing. And now the fact that the
6:43
school's closing, it feels
6:45
like it'll
6:47
be wonderful to have these special
6:48
memories in a way
6:50
of a school that's no longer gonna
6:52
be there. Okay, what about some
6:53
other photos?
6:54
Other photos. So we do a lot at
6:56
ACL Fest.
6:57
A lot. We take photos, we make
6:59
videos for KUTX.
7:00
You can go to our KUTx
7:03
Instagram website and see some of
7:04
those videos.
7:04
Our sister music station, KUTX, yes.
7:06
Yes, exactly.
7:07
We made some great photos this year.
7:08
We put out a couple of photo pages.
7:10
And one of my favorites was from
7:12
Lorianne Willett, who's one of our
7:14
new multimedia journalists.
7:15
She just perfectly captured what
7:18
it's like to be in the audience
7:20
and you're just in the moment
7:22
and you are feeling the music.
7:23
She is a woman who's up on someone's
7:25
shoulders and all you can see from
7:26
everybody else, they have their
7:28
hands up, they've got their There's
7:29
smoke in the air, you can see.
7:31
A little bit of some city lights in
7:32
the background and you just feel the
7:34
moment. And as you really captured
7:36
the feeling of being in the
7:38
crowd and just loving
7:40
where you are and what you're
7:41
listening to.
7:42
The last photo I wanna discuss is
7:44
one from our senior multimedia
7:45
journalist, Michael Manassi.
7:47
And it's from a reporting trip he
7:48
did with Texas standards, Michael
7:50
Marks. They did a story on
7:52
Mason Brick-Ledoux.
7:54
He was working in the music
7:56
world and he was working with Post
7:58
Malone. He discovered that he really
8:00
wanted to work on a ranch.
8:02
And so Michael and Michael went out
8:04
to the ranch.
8:05
So the photo I really love from this
8:07
reporting trip is one that Michael
8:08
made that is, it's a closeup
8:10
shot. And it really
8:12
shows the old world and the
8:14
new world of the subject in
8:16
a way that came together in this
8:17
wonderful moment.
8:18
And what you see is you don't even
8:20
see the face.
8:22
You see this cowboy hat and it's
8:23
turned down. And then you have these
8:25
hands that are completely covered in
8:26
tattoos. Right, so it's speaking to
8:28
the old, but he's got
8:30
a rope and he's like working on
8:32
his roping and you have a closeup of
8:34
that. And it's just this sweet
8:36
moment that I think just
8:38
shows the old world and the new
8:40
world all in one image.
8:41
And that's what a great
8:42
photojournalist can do, right?
8:44
You look at that picture and you
8:46
spend a few minutes with it.
8:47
You see the history,
8:49
you see the future, you see it
8:51
all kind of encapsulated in this one
8:53
image and It's
8:55
just a really, really nice one and I
8:57
really like it.
8:58
We look forward to many more images
9:00
from the KUT multimedia
9:02
team in 2026.
9:04
Deborah Cannon is KUT's visuals
9:06
editor. Deborah, thank you so much
9:07
for walking us through some of your
9:09
favorites from 2025.
9:11
Thank you for having me.
9:13
You can keep up with much more work
9:15
from Deborah and the KUT
9:17
visuals crew at KUT.org.
9:27
If you've ever been to the Paramount
9:28
Theater in downtown Austin,
9:30
you probably remember the artists on
9:32
stage, the historic paint work,
9:34
the plaster molding and the
9:36
chandeliers of our downtown gym.
9:38
But do you remember how
9:40
you got to your seats?
9:41
That's where the volunteer ushers
9:43
come in.
9:43
During a summer journalism workshop
9:45
at the Austin Public Library,
9:48
Austin High School student Rivers
9:49
Newsome wanted to know what
9:51
it's like to usher at the Paramount.
9:54
So she went straight to the source,
9:56
and here's what she found out.
9:58
My name is Felicia Williams.
10:00
I am Thomas Minor.
10:02
My name Lois Goodman and I'm
10:04
an usher at the Paramount.
10:10
When I moved here in
10:12
81, I bought
10:14
a season ticket
10:16
package at Zach
10:18
Scott Theater.
10:20
And it was $20 for five shows,
10:22
and I just thought it was
10:23
outrageously expensive.
10:25
When I was there, somebody said, you
10:27
could usher here.
10:29
And then when I was ushering,
10:30
someone said you could also usher at
10:32
the Paramount.
10:34
Then I don't have to pay for the
10:35
shows.
10:35
My girlfriend.
10:37
She was an usher here.
10:38
I had retired,
10:40
so she suggested to me
10:42
that if I wanted to,
10:44
I could usher her.
10:46
Then you're allowed to sit down if
10:47
there's seats available or go in and
10:49
watch the show, which is part of
10:51
the perk of ushering.
10:53
You get to see the show.
10:54
We get to ensure that the patrons
10:55
are having a great time, and we
10:57
also get to have that same
10:59
experience, and that's one of the
11:00
hardest parts of being an usher,
11:02
is that we have to not get caught up
11:04
in our own fun and make sure that
11:06
we're doing what we're supposed to
11:07
be doing.
11:15
The Paramount has a community
11:17
engagement and education program
11:19
and I've been lucky
11:21
enough to partner with them
11:23
to provide and expose
11:25
youth and others that don't
11:27
normally come to the theater with
11:29
opportunities to come to the theater
11:31
and sometimes it's their first time
11:32
ever to the Theater.
11:34
You see their eyes light up and
11:35
they're just looking all around,
11:37
I say we're changing lives one
11:39
ticket at a time.
11:46
What was my favorite show?
11:47
Recently, I was
11:49
ushering The Water Boys.
11:52
And I gotta say, that was one of the
11:54
most fabulous shows that
11:56
I ever ushered, that people were
11:57
really great.
11:59
When you're an usher, seating people
12:01
and being polite, no matter
12:03
what the situation might
12:05
be or circumstance that happens
12:06
there, is to make sure that you
12:08
kind of wow the customer
12:10
and make sure they're happy and they
12:12
come back.
12:12
The best story ever
12:15
was that the Coen
12:17
brothers were in here being
12:19
interviewed, and there was
12:21
nobody here yet.
12:23
Joel Coen walked into the
12:25
theater and started
12:27
asking questions about
12:29
the theater, and how old it was, and
12:31
I got a little personal tour
12:33
with him.
12:39
I think the atmosphere here
12:41
has stayed the same and that people
12:43
come here to kind of get away
12:45
from everything.
12:47
It's a peaceful, relaxing place
12:49
and where people can
12:51
be on one accord despite
12:54
what's going on, despite the
12:55
differences in the world back
12:57
from 1915 to now.
13:00
I've been here for over 40 years,
13:02
and every time I come in, I still
13:04
pinch myself that I get to work in
13:06
such an incredible place.
13:08
There's nothing changed in this
13:09
grand old lady.
13:11
I mean, she's been around for 110
13:13
years and it
13:15
is the same, the original.
13:16
If you look around, it even has
13:19
some say, the hauntings of
13:21
past shows that are floating
13:23
around here.
13:24
And the pictures on the wall tell
13:25
the story of everybody that's been
13:27
here, so.
13:28
Down here on Congress and Sixth
13:30
Street, the venues and
13:32
the places that you can view music
13:33
have changed constantly,
13:35
but there's only one constant And
13:38
that's all for this video. At the Paramount
13:39
Theater.
13:48
This story was produced with help
13:50
from the Texas Standards, Sarah
13:51
Asch.
13:52
There's more Austin Signal coming up
13:55
right after this.
13:56
Stay with us.
14:04
You're listening to the Austin
14:05
Signal.
14:06
My name is Rayna Sevilla, and I'm an
14:08
audio engineer for KU-TX.
14:10
I'm also the technical director for
14:11
the Austin signal.
14:15
One of my favorite songs out of
14:17
Austin this year is Dog in the
14:19
Street by Stab.
14:29
I found out about this band when I
14:31
was working at my college radio
14:32
station not too long ago
14:34
and they were the first local
14:36
awesome band I would follow wherever
14:38
they played around town.
14:44
They have this amazing live presence
14:46
and every show I've gone to always
14:48
feels so intimate and DIY.
15:06
It is my destiny
15:09
Whether it's on a random bridge or
15:11
in a tunnel somewhere in Austin, or
15:13
just a small dive bar, I always find
15:14
myself having so much fun in the
15:16
crowd at their performances.
15:32
They've got a really cool heavy
15:34
Midwest emo thing budding right
15:36
here in Austin alongside a lot of
15:38
other Texas rock bands and I'm
15:40
so here for it.
15:43
All I am is
15:48
They've been building a community
15:50
and picking up a lot of fans on tour
15:52
in and outside of Texas as well.
15:56
One word I would use to describe
15:57
their vibe is lit.
16:17
I am Rayna Sevilla and I'm an audio
16:19
engineer for KUTX.
16:21
You can find more of our favorite
16:22
songs from 2025 at KUTx.org.
16:25
This is the Austin Signal.
16:37
This is The Austin Signal.
16:39
Thank you so much for tuning in.
16:41
Great news for Austin.
16:42
There is more local news coverage
16:44
coming to the city with the launch
16:46
of Austin Current, a
16:48
new local newsroom connected to the
16:49
Texas Tribune.
16:51
KUT News is going to be in
16:52
partnership with Austin Current.
16:55
Host Jerry Quijano sat down
16:57
with the managing editor of KUT
16:59
news, Ben Philpott, and Austin
17:01
Current's editor-in-chief,
17:03
Melissa Taboada.
17:04
To learn more about what this
17:06
new collaboration means for local
17:08
news coverage right here in Austin.
17:12
Melissa I want to start with you.
17:13
You're coming to the Austin Current
17:14
from the Boston Globe having spent a
17:16
few years there But you have a deep
17:18
connection to the austin journalism
17:19
scene for our listeners who might
17:21
not be familiar Can you just tell us
17:23
a little bit about your background
17:24
and your connection to this idea?
17:26
Right. I was at
17:28
the Globe for four and a half years,
17:30
but spent most of my journalism
17:32
career in Austin.
17:34
I was the Austin American
17:36
Statesman for over 21 years
17:38
and covered everything
17:40
from county government,
17:42
city government, education, and
17:44
then eventually became an
17:46
editor there.
17:47
Okay, now you are the editor in
17:49
chief of Austin Current.
17:51
What is the Austin Current?
17:52
Austin Current is a
17:54
new non-partisan,
17:56
non-profit news organization.
17:59
We are really going to be focusing
18:00
on collaboration with other
18:02
news organizations, including KUT,
18:05
to bring the best news,
18:07
the best information to
18:09
our audience, to readers,
18:11
to listeners, just to
18:13
try to reach as many people as we
18:14
can.
18:15
And with your decades of experience
18:16
here in Austin, what are some
18:18
of the needs you're hoping to fill
18:19
with Austin Current? How do you
18:21
think this outlet could be better
18:23
serving the community?
18:24
Well, I think maybe
18:26
what's missing in some
18:28
news landscape is
18:30
the explanations as
18:32
to why things happen, not
18:34
just that news is happening,
18:36
but the reasons behind it.
18:38
And we're hoping to bring some light
18:40
to that, some long-form stories,
18:42
short-form stories,
18:44
explainers, just everything that
18:46
we can to, you know,
18:48
give our audience
18:50
a understanding of what's
18:52
happening.
18:53
In Austin and what they can do about
18:55
it to let them have
18:57
some agency in
18:59
the world that they live in, in the
19:01
city that they live.
19:02
We're in the last week right now of
19:04
2025, when is Austin
19:06
current? When do you go live?
19:07
We have started our
19:10
newsletter that started in November,
19:12
but our first stories will start
19:13
rolling out January 12th.
19:15
Okay and some of those stories are
19:16
going to be in partnership with the
19:17
KUT newsroom.
19:19
For that I'm going to bring in Ben
19:20
Philpott, again the managing editor
19:22
of KUT News.
19:23
Ben, so let me ask you simply
19:24
enough, how did this partnership
19:26
come about?
19:27
Well, you know, KUT and the Texas
19:28
Tribune have had a long partnership.
19:30
I mean, from day one, really,
19:32
I was brought on as a
19:34
kind of joint reporter with KUT
19:36
and the TeXas Tribune when they
19:38
first launched years ago.
19:40
And, you, we have a lot of
19:42
similar goals, right?
19:44
We are both two nonprofit
19:46
news organizations in the city
19:48
wanting to do the
19:50
work that sometimes is
19:52
getting lost in commercial
19:53
journalism.
19:55
Do those explainers, you know, let
19:56
people know exactly why they should
19:58
care, how things are affecting them.
20:00
And so when the Tribune decided
20:02
they were going to go into local
20:04
newsrooms, they've got one in
20:06
Waco, we also have one here in
20:07
Austin, we just knew we wanted to
20:09
be a part of that.
20:10
That's a really good point about the
20:12
long-standing relationship between
20:13
the two newsrooms.
20:14
I feel like if you read the website,
20:15
you know about that a lot.
20:16
You see a lot of Texas Tribune
20:17
articles.
20:19
Should we expect more radio stories
20:20
possibly in connection with
20:22
the Tribune as well?
20:23
Some of the stories that they're
20:24
working on, perhaps?
20:26
Well, we don't want to scare off the
20:27
Austin Current staff.
20:28
I mean, they are coming on as
20:30
mostly print journalists.
20:33
But yes, we very specifically
20:35
want to be able
20:37
to have their stories reach our
20:39
audience, whether that's on our
20:40
website or on Austin Signal.
20:42
Obviously, they can come on and do
20:43
exactly what Melissa and I are doing
20:45
today, talk through those stories
20:46
with you.
20:48
And I'll turn it back to you,
20:49
Melissa. How do you think this
20:50
partnership, I kind of asked you
20:51
this already, but how do you the
20:53
partnership between KUT, between
20:55
Austin Curran is gonna benefit
20:56
Austin and its citizens?
20:59
Helping them, sounds like what
21:00
you're saying, helping them to
21:01
figure out how to do something about
21:03
what's happening, not just to take
21:04
in what is going on around them.
21:06
Yeah, absolutely.
21:07
You know, we will be pulling our
21:09
resources, we will be sharing our
21:11
story budgets.
21:13
This allows both KUT
21:15
News and Austin Current to
21:17
broaden our reach,
21:19
deliver more comprehensive coverage
21:21
than we could as standing
21:24
alone.
21:25
And, you know, just jumping into
21:26
that real quickly, you know,
21:28
KUT has one
21:30
education reporter,
21:32
Austin Current has one education
21:34
report. Well, that's even those
21:36
two together aren't really enough to
21:38
cover K through 12 and
21:40
higher education in Austin.
21:41
But we are going to be very
21:43
specifically working together with
21:44
those two reporters, you know, to...
21:47
Work on the basics, not duplicating
21:49
efforts, digging into bigger
21:50
stories.
21:51
We're actually gonna be meeting
21:52
together, having those two reporters
21:54
come together and have a little meet
21:55
and greet soon on that.
21:56
Well, I think two reporters might be
21:58
enough, Ben. I don't know if you've
21:58
been paying attention to the news,
22:00
but it's been a quiet year for
22:02
education here in Austin.
22:03
So I think to reporters should do
22:05
the job.
22:06
We've been speaking with Ben
22:07
Philpotti as the managing editor of
22:08
KUT News and Melissa Taboada.
22:10
She is the editor in chief of
22:12
Austin Current.
22:13
Thank you both for your time.
22:14
Thank you. Thank you
22:24
That's it for us here on
22:26
Austin Signal.
22:27
Thanks so much for hanging out with
22:28
us on this beautiful Friday.
22:31
Special thank you to KUT's Deborah
22:33
Cannon, Melissa Taboada from
22:35
Austin Current, and Rivers Newsome.
22:38
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
22:40
director, Kristen Cabrera is our
22:41
managing producer, and we've got
22:43
more about the show in our podcast
22:45
notes at kut.org.
22:49
I'm Miles Bloxson and for my friend
22:51
Jerry Quijano, I hope you have
22:53
a wonderful weekend and be safe
22:54
out there.
22:55
This is Austin Signal.