{"id":338755,"date":"2026-06-16T19:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338755\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:20:14","slug":"ut-austin-names-gerald-johnson-as-kut-interim-general-manager-a-day-after-firing-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338755\/","title":{"rendered":"UT Austin names Gerald Johnson as KUT interim general manager a day after firing leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Texas at Austin has announced Gerald Johnson as the interim general manager of KUT Public Media, a day after firing former General Manager Debbie Hiott<\/a> following a major dispute<\/a> over the KUT Festival. <\/p>\n

Johnson is listed as the executive director for innovation and partnerships<\/a> at the Moody College of Communication. He is also the former director of Texas Student Media<\/a>, which includes The Daily Texan, and has worked with KUT and Hiott on revenue operations for the stations. He previously managed advertising and revenue at the Houston Chronicle.<\/p>\n

“His depth of understanding of media operations, sales and marketing will ensure the continued success of the organization during this transition,” said Anita L. Vangelisti, the interim dean of the Moody College of Communication, in an email announcing the appointment on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The Moody College houses KUT and KUTX, and staff are university employees. The newsroom is editorially independent <\/a>from UT.<\/p>\n

Vangelisti and Johnson spoke to KUT staff at an in-person meeting Tuesday about the transition. Vangelisti said firing Hiott was her decision, and that officials plan to launch a search for a new general manager as soon as possible. Johnson said he only plans to serve as interim general manager for a few months, but will be involved in the search for a permanent leader.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he wasn’t involved in firing Hiott and declined to comment on whether he agreed with the decision. He said he’s close friends with Hiott and spoke with her Monday. <\/p>\n

Johnson said he doesn’t see KUT’s work changing as a result of the transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a hatchet man,” he said in the meeting. “I am here to take care of you, to make sure that the work continues.”<\/p>\n

UT Austin has made major changes in recent years, including the consolidation of academic departments<\/a>. When asked if something similar could happen to KUT, Johnson said he had no indication that was the case but also wouldn’t be involved in that type of decision.<\/p>\n

Hiott’s departure was announced via an email Monday afternoon from Vangelisti. The email didn’t provide a reason for the decision. In the Tuesday staff meeting, Vangelisti was asked multiple times for more details on the firing and declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Hiott told KUT News<\/a> she was called into an unscheduled meeting on Monday with Vangelisti, an official with UT’s legal affairs department and UT’s human resources director. Hiott said she was shown a resignation letter and a termination letter, and was encouraged to resign. After she declined, she was told to leave immediately. <\/p>\n

Hiott said the termination letter cited “planning problems with the KUT Festival and security issues” as reasons for her firing.<\/p>\n

The inaugural KUT Festival, which took place last month, was thrown into disarray days before kickoff due to a last-minute venue change. UT Austin, the festival’s original venue, ordered KUT to move large parts of the event off campus<\/a>, among other changes, citing insufficient safety planning by festival organizers. Hiott publicly disputed the university’s account.<\/p>\n

Democratic Congressman Greg Casar, who was a speaker<\/a> at the KUT Festival, called Hiott a hero for speaking out and cast her firing in a political light. <\/p>\n

“The White House, and now UT, are trying to crack down on those they think are disobedient,” Casar wrote in a post <\/a>on social media on Tuesday. “I demand full transparency about what led to Debbie’s firing.”<\/p>\n

This is a developing story.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story was not reviewed or edited by the station\u2019s executive leadership or any university official before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Texas at Austin has announced Gerald Johnson as the interim general manager of KUT Public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,101366,27875,120780,120781,6481,120782,33867,2471],"class_list":["post-338755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-debbie-hiott","tag-fired","tag-general-manager","tag-gerald-johnson","tag-kut","tag-new-leader","tag-npr","tag-ut-austin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}