| Austin City Limits | |
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| Format | live music television series |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | PBS |
| Original run | 1976 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Austin City Limits (often abbreviated as ACL) is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States. The show helped Austin to become widely known as "Live Music Capital of the World," and is the only television show to receive the National Medal of Arts, which it was awarded in 2003.
Initially created to celebrate the music of Texas—featuring western swing, Texas blues, Tejano music, progressive country, and rock n' roll—the series has gone on to feature regional, national and international artists performing a wide range of musical styles, including jazz, alternative country, alternative rock, folk music, and jam band.
The show inspired the creation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual live music festival at Zilker Park in Austin.
Some of the performances from Austin City Limits have been released as CDs and DVDs in the Live from Austin, TX series. Full episodes can also be viewed online at the show's official website. There is an Austin City Limits store at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
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From 1976 through its 2010 season, ACL was recorded in Studio 6A in the Communications Building B on the University of Texas at Austin campus, on a stage featuring a mock skyline of Austin in the background. The studio had a seating capacity of approximately 800, but due to limited access to fire exits the audience size was limited to 300.
In 2010, the show and its original studio were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A plaque near the entrance to Communications Building B commemorating the occasion proclaims Austin City Limits as the "longest running music show in the history of American television."
On February 26, 2011, ACL held its first taping in its new purpose-built Moody Theater and studio in downtown Austin's W Austin Hotel and Residences. Despite a seating capacity of over 2,700, audiences will be limited to around 800 (the original total seating capacity of the old studio). The additional seating capacity will be used for the ACL Live concert series at the venue.[1]
In 1977, ACL producers made "London Homesick Blues," written by Gary P. Nunn, the ACL theme song. The show originally used the version performed by Nunn, but the song was rearranged several times starting in the mid-1990s. The current theme, beginning with the show's 30th season, is an original composition by Austin musician Charlie Sexton.
See: List of Austin City Limits performers
Kinky Friedman taped an appearance on the program that was never aired.[2]
As of the 2008–2009 season, the show was supported by:
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