Latest / Austin Signal / Arctic front bears down on Austin, Central Texas

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Arctic front bears down on Austin, Central Texas · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  An Arctic cold front is approaching
• 0:10
  Austin and central Texas,
• 0:12
  and the National Weather Service has
• 0:13
  already issued an extreme cold watch
• 0:15
  in a winter storm warning for
• 0:17
  the weekend.
• 0:18
  We're going to have more about the
• 0:19
  latest forecasts and the ways that
• 0:21
  you can be prepared ahead of the
• 0:23
  storm.
• 0:24
  And Immigrations and Custom
• 0:25
  Enforcement operations have
• 0:26
  continued in central Texas.
• 0:28
  KUT News obtained a video of one
• 0:29
  such incident in Kyle.
• 0:31
  And as these operations increase, so
• 0:33
  does the concern for public safety.
• 0:35
  Amid reports of slack hiring
• 0:36
  practices and training regulations
• 0:38
  for ICE officers.
• 0:39
  We've got more about those stories
• 0:41
  coming up in today's show.
• 0:43
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:44
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:46
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:48
  Plus here in Austin, today is
• 0:50
  Hi How Are You Day, how
• 0:52
  you can celebrate.
• 0:53
  We hope you're doing good out there.
• 0:55
  This is Austin Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there, this is Austin
• 1:10
  Signal. Thank you for tuning in.
• 1:12
  It is Thursday, January 22nd.
• 1:15
  We appreciate you making
• 1:16
  community-powered public radio part
• 1:18
  of your day.
• 1:19
  We've got a lot going on today
• 1:21
  in Austin. It's been a busy week
• 1:23
  here. And of course, we are keeping
• 1:24
  our eyes on everything and
• 1:26
  the weather that is slated to
• 1:28
  overtake us.
• 1:29
  In about 48 hours
• 1:31
  or so, KUT's
• 1:33
  newscast editor, Trey Shaar has
• 1:35
  been following the forecast.
• 1:37
  And he is joining us now on Austin
• 1:39
  Signal. Trey, thanks for coming in.
• 1:40
  Yeah, thanks, for having me.
• 1:42
  So we know there's a lot of
• 1:44
  anxiety that builds up in the days
• 1:45
  ahead of a winter storm here in
• 1:47
  Austin and across central Texas,
• 1:49
  and the forecasts are always
• 1:50
  changing. What are the latest
• 1:52
  forecasts saying about the weather
• 1:53
  that we've got coming?
• 1:54
  Yeah, there's some
• 1:56
  trauma left over from events we've
• 1:58
  had in recent years, and that's
• 2:00
  understandable.
• 2:01
  The latest is that we've gone from a
• 2:03
  winter storm watch to a winterstorm
• 2:04
  warning.
• 2:05
  And you know how watches and
• 2:07
  warnings go.
• 2:07
  I do, but can you just remind us for
• 2:08
  the listener?
• 2:09
  Yeah, when, uh, when there's a watch
• 2:11
  that means the ingredients are there
• 2:12
  for something to happen and when it
• 2:14
  becomes a warning, that's when the
• 2:16
  national weather service is certain
• 2:18
  that this is going to happen.
• 2:20
  Okay. In this case, a winter storm
• 2:21
  warning that's, uh
• 2:23
  frozen precipitation, basically
• 2:25
  it's a forecast to
• 2:27
  fall over a wide area of Texas.
• 2:30
  And depending on how far North you
• 2:32
  are, we'll determine what kind
• 2:33
  of winter precipitation that is.
• 2:35
  And here
• 2:37
  in Austin...
• 2:38
  We're kind of on the edge.
• 2:40
  And the good news is, when I say
• 2:42
  there's a winter storm warning,
• 2:43
  you're thinking, OK, this is bad.
• 2:44
  Yeah, hunkered down is what I think,
• 2:46
  yeah.
• 2:46
  It could be, but the forecast
• 2:48
  actually is better today
• 2:50
  than it was yesterday.
• 2:51
  And, uh, that was better than two
• 2:53
  days ago.
• 2:54
  So what I mean by that is
• 2:56
  the weather service now expects the
• 2:59
  temperature to go below freezing in
• 3:01
  Austin, not until Saturday night,
• 3:04
  around eight or nine o'clock.
• 3:05
  Okay.
• 3:05
  And it's only when that happens that
• 3:07
  all the rain that's falling can
• 3:09
  freeze on contact and become
• 3:11
  freezing rain.
• 3:12
  So that means there's a shorter
• 3:14
  window of time during which we're
• 3:15
  going to get freezing rain.
• 3:16
  And that's looking like eight, nine
• 3:18
  o'clock Saturday night until early
• 3:20
  Sunday morning. And that also
• 3:22
  going to have some sleet mixed in.
• 3:25
  So that's, you know, don't let your
• 3:26
  guard down.
• 3:27
  That's not insignificant.
• 3:29
  But it's not as bad as they were
• 3:30
  thinking it might be a couple of
• 3:31
  days.
• 3:31
  And you mentioned trauma, a lot of
• 3:33
  people have trauma from the 2021
• 3:34
  storm to 2023 storm.
• 3:36
  You dealt personally with tree
• 3:38
  limbs coming down in your yard, I
• 3:40
  guess that was a 2023 storm.
• 3:41
  Yeah. So you know personally, that
• 3:43
  is really what we're keeping our
• 3:45
  eyes on, right? This ice
• 3:46
  accumulation.
• 3:47
  Yeah, that's arguably the worst kind
• 3:49
  of winter precipitation because it
• 3:50
  can weigh down tree limbs and power
• 3:52
  lines and cause power outages.
• 3:54
  And, uh, you know, everybody remembers
• 3:55
  2021 because it was so
• 3:57
  widespread, but 2023
• 3:59
  was more localized here in Austin,
• 4:01
  but people were without power for,
• 4:03
  you know, days and days.
• 4:04
  It was bad.
• 4:05
  Yeah, and you can, if you've been
• 4:07
  to your local HEB or your local
• 4:09
  superstore lately, you have seen
• 4:11
  the impacts already there.
• 4:12
  So you mentioned that the
• 4:15
  impacts here in Austin have been
• 4:17
  pushed back.
• 4:18
  Originally, we were expecting maybe
• 4:19
  early Saturday morning, now maybe
• 4:20
  later Saturday night.
• 4:22
  Does that mean we're going to be,
• 4:23
  the storm effects are
• 4:25
  likely going to last into Monday
• 4:26
  morning.
• 4:27
  Well, the precipitation is expected
• 4:28
  to end for our area pretty early
• 4:30
  on Sunday, but the coldest
• 4:32
  temperatures of this,
• 4:34
  well, cold
• 4:36
  front, in addition to the winter
• 4:38
  storm, the coldest temperatures
• 4:40
  are not going to happen until Monday
• 4:41
  morning, and that's when we're going
• 4:42
  to be in the teens.
• 4:43
  And that actually has improved also,
• 4:45
  because just yesterday we were
• 4:46
  looking at lows in the teens in
• 4:48
  Austin for three mornings in a row,
• 4:49
  and now it's just Monday morning.
• 4:51
  Okay, well, we have about a minute
• 4:52
  left.
• 4:53
  What have we heard from local
• 4:55
  officials, government officials
• 4:56
  about the preparedness ahead of this
• 4:57
  storm?
• 4:58
  Well, TxDOT has been pre-treating
• 5:00
  roads, and that may be a problem
• 5:01
  because now we're expecting heavy
• 5:03
  rain tomorrow, and that could wash
• 5:05
  off the pre-Treatment, so I'd expect
• 5:07
  them to revisit that.
• 5:09
  ERCOT says this is not 2021.
• 5:12
  They say they've got more
• 5:13
  capacity, they're better prepared,
• 5:16
  so they're not concerned.
• 5:18
  However, were they concerned
• 5:20
  before 2021?
• 5:21
  I don't know.
• 5:23
  And the city and county are...
• 5:26
  Like the mayor and the county judge
• 5:28
  are gonna go in front of
• 5:30
  reporters tomorrow morning and off
• 5:31
  of the latest there I expect they're
• 5:33
  gonna say they're ready for this as
• 5:35
  the head of Austin Energy did
• 5:36
  earlier this week.
• 5:37
  He said they're already preparing.
• 5:39
  Alright, well, we will continue to
• 5:41
  bring you the latest updates from
• 5:43
  the city officials tomorrow on
• 5:44
  Austin Signal.
• 5:45
  We have a bunch of ways for
• 5:47
  you to be prepared ahead of
• 5:49
  the storm moving in over at
• 5:51
  KUT.org.
• 5:53
  And of course, KUT's newscast
• 5:55
  editor, Trey Shaar, will be
• 5:56
  following it just like the rest of
• 5:57
  us. And maybe we'll have him back on
• 5:59
  the show. Trey, thank you for coming
• 6:00
  in. We appreciate the update.
• 6:09
  Central Texas cities continue
• 6:10
  confirming immigration and customs
• 6:11
  enforcement operations, the latest
• 6:13
  being the city of Elgin on its
• 6:14
  Facebook page.
• 6:16
  Yesterday KUT News shared on social
• 6:17
  media an interview and video of
• 6:19
  a woman who saw first-hand operation
• 6:21
  in Kyle while she was waiting in the
• 6:23
  drive-thru line to get some coffee.
• 6:25
  As these operations increase, so
• 6:27
  does the concern for public safety
• 6:29
  as reports of slack hiring practices
• 6:31
  and low training regulations for
• 6:33
  ICE officers continue to surface,
• 6:35
  sometimes in the forms of viral
• 6:36
  social media videos.
• 6:38
  For more insight, we're talking with
• 6:40
  Alain Stephens, who wrote about this
• 6:41
  for The Intercept.
• 6:42
  He's an investigative reporter
• 6:43
  covering gun violence, arms
• 6:45
  trafficking, and federal law
• 6:47
  enforcement. Alain, thank you for
• 6:48
  being on the show.
• 6:49
  Thanks for having me. So can you
• 6:50
  first just tell us a little bit,
• 6:52
  we're gonna talk about the training
• 6:54
  that is required.
• 6:54
  Can you tell us little bit about
• 6:55
  your background with law enforcement
• 6:57
  training?
• 6:59
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:00
  So, you know, I'm coming in
• 7:02
  a little bit hot on this one.
• 7:03
  I'm coming a little big, not only as
• 7:05
  just like a journalist, but like,
• 7:07
  because I was a police officer, I
• 7:09
  was a Police Officer from Texas.
• 7:11
  And I'm very well aware
• 7:14
  of the municipal law enforcement
• 7:16
  training pipeline, the state law
• 7:17
  enforcement training, pipeline, and
• 7:19
  the typical federal law enforcement
• 7:20
  training pipeline.
• 7:22
  And so but I'm
• 7:24
  here to just kind of tell you from a
• 7:26
  perspective.
• 7:28
  So we're just going to separate the
• 7:29
  philosophy of what they're doing
• 7:31
  from a tactical perspective.
• 7:32
  This is a disaster.
• 7:34
  And when you're in the police
• 7:35
  academy, one of the things they hone
• 7:37
  in is an officer safety.
• 7:39
  You do a little bit of CCP, you do a
• 7:40
  bit of law, but
• 7:42
  the majority of what you're doing is
• 7:44
  how to walk.
• 7:46
  How to not drop your gun,
• 7:48
  how to not slip on your ass when you
• 7:50
  have body armor, right?
• 7:51
  How to, you know, not lock yourself
• 7:53
  out of the car, how to control,
• 7:54
  right, a real time environment
• 7:57
  and keep people in custody
• 7:59
  and keep people safe.
• 8:01
  Well I mentioned earlier that these
• 8:03
  viral videos of ice encounters,
• 8:05
  some critics of ice have found them
• 8:07
  comical, you use the phrase
• 8:09
  dystopian cringe,
• 8:11
  but in the article you say that
• 8:13
  these videos show something that's
• 8:14
  more worrisome, it sounds like
• 8:16
  that's what you were kind of about
• 8:17
  to get into right now.
• 8:19
  I mean, the first thing is it's
• 8:21
  inherently, and I just cannot
• 8:23
  overemphasize enough,
• 8:25
  it's dangerous.
• 8:27
  It's just straight up dangerous,
• 8:28
  right?
• 8:29
  Some of the stuff that you're
• 8:30
  seeing, like when you're in the
• 8:31
  police academy, just keep it real,
• 8:32
  there's a saying, how many guns are
• 8:34
  on the scene at any given time
• 8:36
  when you show up?
• 8:37
  At least one, your own.
• 8:39
  So I'm over here watching federal
• 8:40
  agents, right?
• 8:42
  And they're dropping guns.
• 8:43
  They're waving guns around.
• 8:46
  There's incidents of crossfire.
• 8:47
  U.S. Marshal got injured, right.
• 8:49
  And so when you're looking at some
• 8:50
  of these situations, like
• 8:52
  the shooting of Goode
• 8:55
  in Minnesota and stuff like that.
• 8:57
  I'm here to just tell you that like
• 8:59
  what people are seeing is an
• 9:01
  absolute training failure.
• 9:02
  It's people putting themselves in
• 9:04
  situations where they have
• 9:06
  to shoot themselves out of.
• 9:07
  And I'm even going to put it
• 9:08
  further. And I want people to start
• 9:09
  looking at this when you're trained.
• 9:11
  You're not only trained to hit the
• 9:12
  target. You're trained to know what
• 9:14
  lies beyond that.
• 9:16
  And so I'm going to
• 9:18
  sound pretty brutal here.
• 9:19
  But if that was Osama
• 9:21
  bin Laden in the car, who
• 9:23
  was behind the car?
• 9:24
  Agents?
• 9:26
  Civilians?
• 9:28
  Children, and he's throwing rounds.
• 9:31
  So I'm even going to back up here
• 9:32
  and just kind of give you some
• 9:33
  examples of how the training
• 9:35
  pipeline, we'll do a little fun
• 9:37
  math here. Go ahead.
• 9:38
  So even in this state that we're in,
• 9:40
  the average police academy time
• 9:42
  in Texas is about 40
• 9:44
  weeks.
• 9:45
  Austin PD is 32 weeks around
• 9:47
  there. Texas state troopers is 30
• 9:49
  weeks in resident.
• 9:50
  You got to there.
• 9:52
  ATF, the Waco guys who,
• 9:54
  you know, typically kind of get
• 9:56
  booted on for not having the
• 9:57
  greatest tactics, right, 27
• 9:59
  weeks. And when you look at this,
• 10:01
  you know, the six week pipeline
• 10:03
  compared to ICE, like we could put
• 10:04
  it in numbers, they're 83%
• 10:06
  less trained than your average
• 10:07
  police officer.
• 10:09
  79% less training than the average
• 10:11
  Austin police officer.
• 10:12
  When you see an ICE agent running
• 10:13
  around with all this gear, all this
• 10:15
  body armor, there's 77%
• 10:17
  less train than a Texas state
• 10:18
  trooper.
• 10:19
  Like we could put some math on it,
• 10:20
  right? And it shows.
• 10:22
  It's almost like in the military,
• 10:23
  there's certain stuff you
• 10:25
  don't want to cheat on.
• 10:26
  You don't wanna cheat on the
• 10:29
  fighter pilot tests.
• 10:31
  Because why?
• 10:32
  Because if you get up in the air and
• 10:33
  you don't know what you're doing,
• 10:34
  you're gonna crash a billion dollar
• 10:36
  plane and create an international
• 10:38
  incident.
• 10:38
  You talked a little bit about the
• 10:41
  amount of money that has been
• 10:42
  budgeted for immigration and customs
• 10:43
  enforcement.
• 10:44
  So how do you think we ended up
• 10:46
  in this situation that we are seeing
• 10:48
  play out across so many cities
• 10:50
  in the nation?
• 10:52
  Well, quite frankly,
• 10:54
  I mean, and I'm just going to
• 10:56
  say this for any sort of
• 10:58
  massive hiring situation
• 11:00
  when it comes to law enforcement.
• 11:02
  And this is what's quite concerning.
• 11:04
  Any police department will tell you
• 11:06
  this training is a
• 11:08
  long pipeline.
• 11:09
  It is a incredibly long pipeline,
• 11:11
  all the stuff that I also said, once
• 11:13
  you get out of the academy, you go
• 11:14
  into field training with a
• 11:16
  essentially a one-on-one
• 11:18
  field training officer who's going
• 11:20
  to monitor you for another six
• 11:21
  months before they let you really
• 11:23
  start operating independently.
• 11:25
  And so when you start
• 11:27
  seeing these rushes
• 11:30
  of throwing money and
• 11:32
  bodies at people under a
• 11:34
  promise of a very
• 11:36
  short timeline, There's
• 11:38
  just no way you can deploy
• 11:40
  those people out there with adequate
• 11:42
  knowledge of the criminal courtroom
• 11:43
  procedures, adequate knowledge is
• 11:44
  the law, and especially adequate
• 11:46
  knowledge of literally
• 11:49
  safety tactics, literally
• 11:51
  how you carry yourself.
• 11:52
  And a lot of the stuff is just
• 11:54
  basic, you would be smoked in in
• 11:56
  a typical police academy, they would
• 11:58
  not let this fly.
• 11:59
  Nevertheless, have you out here with
• 12:02
  rifle resistant plate carriers,
• 12:04
  and all your tactical doodads and
• 12:06
  which you do not even know how to
• 12:07
  operate, homie.
• 12:09
  Let's just keep it real.
• 12:10
  Like even in the basic police
• 12:12
  academy.
• 12:13
  Like you still have to do additional
• 12:14
  advanced rifle courses to even
• 12:16
  operate all of these tools.
• 12:18
  And so It's
• 12:20
  just kind of sad because what
• 12:22
  they're doing is quantity over
• 12:23
  quality.
• 12:25
  And here's the thing that I'm super
• 12:27
  afraid of is that
• 12:29
  right now, I'm just going to put
• 12:30
  this out here. The situations that
• 12:31
  ICE is confronting with, thank God,
• 12:33
  the American public has
• 12:36
  been essentially docile
• 12:38
  in this because when
• 12:40
  you started looking at law
• 12:41
  enforcement encounters, which is
• 12:42
  what I also do a lot of work
• 12:44
  on historical ones and stuff like
• 12:46
  that, you know, if
• 12:48
  they do come across a suspect that,
• 12:51
  that is you got two suspects with
• 12:53
  the weapon, it's almost always a
• 12:54
  law enforcement encounter where law
• 12:56
  enforcement injury is going to
• 12:57
  occur, like historically.
• 12:59
  And so like, we're not even talking
• 13:00
  about hard law enforcement tactics.
• 13:02
  It's really literally like they
• 13:03
  cannot control the streets that
• 13:04
  they're on.
• 13:06
  And so I'm really kind of raising
• 13:07
  the alarm and just saying,
• 13:09
  listen, this is
• 13:11
  sliding sideways into
• 13:14
  stuff. That's going to be a lot
• 13:15
  worse because an
• 13:17
  untrained agent is a dangerous
• 13:19
  agent, period.
• 13:21
  An unconfident agent is dangerous
• 13:23
  agent period.
• 13:25
  I know this is going to sound wild,
• 13:26
  but if you're ice agent, listening
• 13:28
  to this, I'm
• 13:30
  here as someone who's
• 13:32
  former law enforcement and been
• 13:33
  through the training pipeline and
• 13:34
  talking to other federal agents
• 13:36
  who are currently in there,
• 13:38
  including within HSI.
• 13:41
  And I'm here to tell you,
• 13:43
  they're making, they are putting you
• 13:44
  in danger as an agent.
• 13:46
  Okay, Alan, we only have a minute
• 13:48
  left.
• 13:49
  You talk in the article about the
• 13:51
  public credibility that law
• 13:52
  enforcement has been working to gain
• 13:54
  over so many years and how that
• 13:56
  is sort of being eroded by what we
• 13:58
  are seeing play out through
• 13:59
  immigration and customs enforcement
• 14:01
  situations.
• 14:02
  Do you expect that to change since
• 14:04
  now there is sort of credibility
• 14:06
  being lost among local law
• 14:08
  enforcement when it comes to ICE?
• 14:10
  I mean, we're seeing it in real
• 14:12
  time.
• 14:13
  Um, I actually think that
• 14:15
  it's a little bit more of a complex
• 14:16
  situation because you
• 14:18
  know, historically, yeah, like one
• 14:20
  of the things is that, you know even
• 14:21
  if you look at entertainment shows
• 14:23
  like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and stuff
• 14:24
  like that have had to contend with
• 14:26
  the fact that the public does not
• 14:27
  see law enforcement even
• 14:29
  broadly as credible as it once was.
• 14:32
  And so law enforcement's response
• 14:33
  has been to kind of do a whole
• 14:35
  bunch of things from even hiring
• 14:36
  their own PR firms to try to do
• 14:38
  more community action, et
• 14:40
  cetera, et I think when I say it's
• 14:42
  a little bit more complex in this
• 14:43
  situation is because if
• 14:45
  local police
• 14:47
  you know, it always ends up kind of
• 14:49
  the buck always ends up kind of
• 14:50
  stopping with them no matter what.
• 14:52
  If you know in some of the police
• 14:54
  departments in the few police
• 14:55
  departments across America that
• 14:56
  said, listen, we're not going to
• 14:58
  have this, you know untrained guys
• 15:00
  on the street creating more public
• 15:02
  safety chaos that's antithetical
• 15:04
  to public safety.
• 15:06
  I actually can see a little bit
• 15:08
  of boost in that.
• 15:09
  But for the local law enforcement
• 15:10
  who, you know,
• 15:12
  bend or stay silent
• 15:14
  on this This is gonna
• 15:16
  create more credibility problems.
• 15:19
  And so people don't see
• 15:21
  ICE agent running around.
• 15:22
  They see police.
• 15:24
  That's what ICE puts on.
• 15:25
  They say ICE police on their patch.
• 15:28
  And people are just gonna shortcut
• 15:29
  that. So I'm almost
• 15:31
  saying for other officers and stuff
• 15:32
  like that, for people who
• 15:34
  are in public safety training,
• 15:37
  for the guys who are actually
• 15:38
  wearing the ICE badge right
• 15:40
  now and are in this car,
• 15:42
  these guys are robbing you, man.
• 15:44
  They're ripping you off and they're
• 15:45
  putting you in danger.
• 15:47
  All right, we have been speaking
• 15:48
  with Alain Stephens.
• 15:49
  He is an investigative reporter at
• 15:50
  The Intercept. We're gonna have a
• 15:51
  link to his reporting in our show
• 15:53
  notes and at kut.org slash
• 15:55
  signal. Alain, thanks for coming on
• 15:57
  the show.
• 15:57
  Thanks for having me.
• 16:03
  And thank you out there for making
• 16:05
  Austin Signal part of your
• 16:07
  day. We have more coming up after
• 16:09
  this break. And don't forget, you
• 16:10
  can find more in our show
• 16:12
  notes and at kut.org
• 16:15
  slash signal.
• 16:31
  This is Austin Signal.
• 16:33
  Thanks for being here.
• 16:34
  We wanna talk a little music on
• 16:36
  today's show and to help us
• 16:38
  do just that, we are joined by
• 16:40
  Miley Carballo from our sister
• 16:42
  station, KUTX.
• 16:44
  Howdy Miley.
• 16:44
  Well, hey, Jerry, how's
• 16:45
  I think this is your first
• 16:46
  appearance in 2026.
• 16:48
  Oh my stars!
• 16:49
  Happy new year and there's
• 16:51
  not just a regular old Thursday,
• 16:53
  right? What is today?
• 16:54
  It is not.
• 16:55
  Today is Daniel Johnson's birthday.
• 16:57
  He would have been 65, but it's
• 16:59
  also the Hi-Ho Are You Day.
• 17:01
  Yeah, yeah, so what is high?
• 17:03
  How are you day in case someone out
• 17:05
  there isn't familiar?
• 17:05
  Yeah, so if you're familiar
• 17:07
  with, you know,
• 17:09
  Daniel Johnston, he was an
• 17:11
  outsider artist of many means,
• 17:13
  but most famous probably for his
• 17:16
  Hi How Are You Frog mural.
• 17:18
  Yeah, just down the street from us
• 17:20
  over here.
• 17:20
  Right down the street.
• 17:21
  Super cool. Right now it's just a
• 17:23
  standing wall, unfortunately.
• 17:24
  I think it's even cooler that
• 17:26
  way for some reason just that one
• 17:28
  wall in the middle.
• 17:29
  I really like that
• 17:30
  I mean, it does show how important
• 17:31
  he was, like we're going to preserve
• 17:34
  his art no matter what.
• 17:35
  But essentially, the Hi How Are
• 17:37
  You Project has kind of
• 17:39
  claimed this day as Daniel Johnson's
• 17:41
  birthday and also kind
• 17:43
  of as a way to advocate for their
• 17:45
  platform, which the HiHowAreYou
• 17:47
  Project just kind of aims to
• 17:49
  educate young adults about the
• 17:51
  importance of mental health, which
• 17:52
  was something that Daniel Johnston
• 17:54
  did suffer from.
• 17:56
  Um, just kind of through creative
• 17:58
  elements like music and art
• 18:00
  and things of that sort.
• 18:01
  And I know that they normally do
• 18:03
  some events around, hi, how are you
• 18:05
  day? What are they doing this year?
• 18:06
  They do, yeah.
• 18:06
  So there are multiple events.
• 18:08
  Typically they do a benefit concert
• 18:10
  and that will be happening tomorrow
• 18:12
  at the Paramount Theater.
• 18:14
  Nathaniel Rateliff is soloing.
• 18:16
  He's gonna be performing and
• 18:17
  headlining the show and I just,
• 18:20
  I cannot recommend it enough.
• 18:22
  I went last year, Madison Cunningham
• 18:24
  played with Andrew Bird and it
• 18:26
  was just a wonderful way to
• 18:29
  celebrate Daniel Johnston.
• 18:30
  They sang some of his music and
• 18:33
  also to fundraise for the event.
• 18:34
  Yeah, to support a good cause.
• 18:36
  And if you can't make it out, maybe
• 18:37
  you can buy some merch.
• 18:39
  I have a hi, how are you
• 18:41
  beanie.
• 18:42
  That is the most complimented
• 18:44
  item I have ever had in
• 18:46
  my life. So maybe you grab one
• 18:48
  of those as well.
• 18:50
  OK, so let's switch things up a
• 18:51
  little bit and talk now about AI
• 18:53
  and the music industry.
• 18:55
  What's going on with Bandcamp?
• 18:56
  What is Bandcamp for someone who
• 18:57
  might not be familiar?
• 18:58
  Right, so Bandcamp is
• 19:00
  a platform, it's an app.
• 19:01
  Post MAlaine has gotten famous off
• 19:03
  of it, Billy Eilish.
• 19:05
  Essentially new artists can just
• 19:07
  freely upload their music and
• 19:09
  it's findable for
• 19:11
  most people on the internet.
• 19:13
  A lot of rappers will do that,
• 19:15
  Bandcamp's kind of famous for its
• 19:17
  type of trap rap.
• 19:18
  Okay, and and sort of
• 19:20
  like an ability to directly buy from
• 19:22
  the artists in a lot of cases,
• 19:24
  right?
• 19:24
  Yeah, that is true.
• 19:26
  And we've talked about AI and the
• 19:27
  signal before Universal
• 19:30
  Music Group has partnered with
• 19:32
  Suno and UDO,
• 19:34
  which are different AIs that their
• 19:36
  artists can use.
• 19:38
  But Bandcamp is saying no to that.
• 19:40
  They're saying no AI
• 19:42
  is allowed on Bandcamp
• 19:44
  music that is generated wholly
• 19:46
  or in substantial part by
• 19:48
  AI is not permitted.
• 19:49
  And all of the styles
• 19:51
  that AI can replicate is also
• 19:53
  not permitted So they're
• 19:55
  encouraging users to
• 19:57
  send in flags for their team to
• 19:59
  review to keep everything as
• 20:01
  human and creative as possible.
• 20:04
  Before you get out of here for
• 20:05
  today, let's bring it back home to
• 20:06
  KUTX, who is the
• 20:08
  Artist of the Month for January?
• 20:09
  Absolutely.
• 20:10
  Our first artist of the month this
• 20:12
  year is Annabel Cherlegs.
• 20:13
  They're a super great kind of surf
• 20:15
  rock, kind of psychedelic
• 20:17
  adjacent group led by
• 20:19
  singer Lindsay Macken.
• 20:21
  And a fun fact about them is
• 20:23
  actually that Annabel Cherleg's was
• 20:25
  her alter ego and her original
• 20:27
  college rock band.
• 20:28
  An amazing name.
• 20:30
  The group itself though is
• 20:32
  wonderful.
• 20:33
  Nolan Potter kind of A
• 20:34
  Psych God here in Austin is the
• 20:36
  guitarist.
• 20:37
  Their new album, Waking Up, is
• 20:39
  releasing.
• 20:40
  And speaking of Psych Gods, Ty
• 20:42
  Siegel produced the album,
• 20:43
  super cool.
• 20:44
  It's their third full length album
• 20:46
  and I'm super psyched
• 20:48
  about it.
• 20:49
  We got a chance to speak with
• 20:50
  Lindsey Macon when they were doing
• 20:52
  their studio 1a and you
• 20:54
  said psych I saw that they're gonna
• 20:55
  be performing at psych fest with Ty
• 20:57
  Siegel lots of great names there
• 20:59
  So an exciting time
• 21:01
  for live music and I know Annabelle
• 21:03
  chair legs I believe is gonna be
• 21:05
  having a album release show
• 21:06
  next month We're gonna have more
• 21:08
  about that We I said as I said
• 21:10
  got a change to talk with Lindsey
• 21:11
  Mackin and we'll have that coming up
• 21:13
  next week on the Austin signal
• 21:15
  We've been chatting with Miley
• 21:17
  Carbio from our sister station
• 21:19
  in KUTX.
• 21:20
  Miley, thanks for the update, as
• 21:21
  always. Thank you, Jerry.
• 21:25
  And in addition to
• 21:27
  the Hi How Are You Day events that
• 21:28
  are happening this weekend,
• 21:30
  our Art Beat desk has you covered
• 21:32
  on other happenings going on here
• 21:34
  in Austin, including a
• 21:36
  gallery opening at Women and Their
• 21:39
  Work and a short fringe at
• 21:41
  Frontera Fest.
• 21:42
  You can find out more about those
• 21:44
  at kut.org
• 21:46
  slash Art Beat.
• 21:47
  And one thing that's not happening
• 21:49
  this weekend because of the weather
• 21:51
  that we are expecting, is the
• 21:53
  screening and Q&A for the short film
• 21:55
  Walk With Death, which we told
• 21:57
  you about yesterday.
• 21:58
  We had a conversation with filmmaker
• 22:00
  Melissa Nguyen.
• 22:02
  Again, that Q& A that was scheduled
• 22:03
  for this Saturday has been
• 22:05
  postponed until Saturday, March
• 22:08
  21st because of
• 22:09
  that inclement weather that we are
• 22:11
  expecting.
• 22:12
  So we'll remind you in March
• 22:14
  about the Q&a and screening.
• 22:16
  And let me take this moment now to
• 22:18
  remind you that we have.
• 22:19
  Plenty of ways for you to prepare
• 22:21
  ahead of that weather that we
• 22:23
  are expecting.
• 22:25
  Trey Shaar was with us earlier in
• 22:26
  the show. He said that city
• 22:28
  officials here in Austin will be
• 22:29
  meeting tomorrow morning.
• 22:31
  Of course, we're gonna have an
• 22:32
  update for you on the Signal
• 22:33
  tomorrow.
• 22:35
  So we will talk to you then with
• 22:37
  the latest that we have and we look
• 22:38
  forward to chatting with you
• 22:40
  and we hope you have a wonderful
• 22:42
  day. Thanks for being with us
• 22:44
  here on Austin Signal.
• 22:46
  Kristen Cabrera is our managing
• 22:47
  producer.
• 22:48
  Rayna Sevilla is our technical
• 22:51
  director, and I'm your
• 22:52
  host, Jerry Quijano.
• 22:54
  Have a great day.