AUSTIN, Texas — The "Austin City Limits" stage at the KLRU studio has been trod by Willie Nelson and R.E.M. It's been host to sets from Fats Domino and Johnny Cash, Wilco and Richard Thompson, Spoon and Norah Jones, and Merle Haggard and the Drive-By Truckers. Monday night, the Dave Matthews Band recorded a show.
No wonder, then, that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will designate the "Austin City Limits" music television show a historic rock 'n' roll site. The commemoration recognizes both the show and its studios.
"They preserve and they archive the greatest American artists and, really, the greatest world artists," said Terry Stewart, president and CEO of the rock hall of fame in Cleveland.
Stewart made the announcement Monday with the show's executive producer, Terry Lickona.
"I was speechless," Lickona said of Stewart's suggestion that the "ACL" studio be included on the list of historic sites. Other sites so designated include the Whisky a Go-Go club in Los Angeles and Brooklyn High School in the Cleveland area, where Elvis Presley played his first concert north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Stewart said that a plaque will be placed at the "Austin City Limits" studio on the University of Texas campus and that another plaque will be placed in the show's new, 2,500-person capacity studio in Block 21 on West Second Street, which is scheduled to open in 2011. (The current studio holds about 300 people.)
About to embark on its 35th season, the KLRU-based program is the longest-running music series in American TV history.
The Austin skyline backdrop behind the stage will not move to the new space; a new backdrop is slated to be designed. The old backdrop will remain in the current studio, which will continue to be used.
The formal presentation of the plaque and designation will be Oct. 1, which is also the date of the show's first hip-hop taping. That show is a double shoot with Mos Def and K'naan, both of whom will play the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which is Oct. 2-4 in Zilker Park.
On Oct. 2, the studio will host two educational panels on the history of the program. Other ACL Fest performers taping sets include Pearl Jam on Oct. 3 and Sonic Youth on Oct. 5.
Joe Gross writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: jgross(at)statesman.com.