KUT Morning Edition Host Jennifer Stayton Moves to Later Time Slot

KUT reporter Jennifer Stayton, left, told KUT News that it will also allow more focus on upcoming interviews, special events and reporting on a soon-to-be-launched project on aging in the Capital City.

Jennifer Stayton, whose voice has been greeting Austinites first thing in the morning for over two decades on KUT News' Morning Edition, is hanging up her early hat, but she won’t be off the airwaves — just in a later slot.

The morning fixture will move to the 9 a.m. to noon spot Monday through Friday, once the radio station finds a new voice for the morning show. Stayton’s shift to this time will allow her to stand in as host for Jerry Quijano on Austin Signal, fill any vacancies on All Things Considered and hop in and around where needed on the broadcast schedule.

Stayton told KUT News that it will also allow more focus on upcoming interviews, special events and reporting on a soon-to-be-launched project on aging in the Capital City.

“I don’t remember what it’s like to wake up in the daylight,” Stayton said, referring to her 4 a.m. wake-up call. “It’s my decision to do this, but I gotta say, it’s not an easy decision, because it has been the professional honor of a lifetime to do this job.”

“It’s the best job in the public radio system, I am convinced,” she added. “And I have loved it dearly and will miss it dearly.”

KUT staff noted that more details will come about Stayton’s transition through the week and into the summer as they celebrate her contribution and “embarrass [Stayton] greatly when the time is appropriate to hand over the keys to someone else.”

Before her early rising at KUT, Stayton spent a few years as the Morning Edition host at WAER in Syracuse, New York. She was born and raised in Austin, with a stint in Massachusetts for undergrad. She launched her professional career there at WNAW/WMNB Berkshire Broadcasting, a family-owned company of small radio stations.