Joe Gwathmey, the founder of Texas Public Radio, has passed away at the age of 84. His daughter announced his death on Facebook, stating he died of natural causes on March 12.
Gwathmey’s career in radio began in 1958 at KBWD in Brownwood, TX. He later managed KUT-FM at the University of Texas at Austin before joining NPR in 1971, where he helped shape its programming service. By 1983, he was named NPR’s Vice President of Programming, overseeing the network’s expansion and its award-winning content.
In 1988, Gwathmey moved to San Antonio to lead Classical KPAC-FM and launched KSTX-FM, forming Texas Public Radio through a merger of San Antonio Community Radio and the Classical Broadcasting Society of San Antonio. Under his leadership, TPR expanded in 1998 with the addition of KTXI-FM, serving the Texas Hill Country.
TPR’s vice president of cultural and community engagement Nathan Cone said, “Joe was a thoughtful and steady leader at TPR, and I appreciated the way he listened, especially to our audience. I’ve read some of the archived correspondence over the years, and no listener concern was too small for him to address.”
NPR’s Science Friday host Ira Flatow added, “Joe Gwathmey was a pioneering force in Public Radio who greatly influenced my career and the direction of Texas Public Radio and NPR in its formative years. His intelligence, instincts and intuition — as well as his great sense of humor — will be sorely missed. Condolences to his family and legions of friends and listeners.”
