Tom Gimbel, who has served as general manager of the Austin City Limits TV series over the past 12 years, stepped down earlier this month to start an artist management agency based in New York City.
As noted in a 2018 Chronicle profile, Gimbel was instrumental in expanding the ACL brand globally by building the for-profit subsidiary Austin City Limits Enterprises. As president of ACL Enterprises since its launch around 2013, Gimbel grew profitable licensing and partnership opportunities previously unavailable to the nonprofit producer of the Austin City Limits television show, Austin PBS (KLRU-TV). Those efforts included the launch of ACL Radio, new festivals in Australia and New Zealand, partnerships with American Airlines, and the launch of the ACL Hall of Fame.
“In the letter that I sent to the staff, I quoted Eddie Vedder, who said that Austin City Limits is a monument to music, and when you play the show, it’s like you put your brick in the monument,” offered Gimbel by phone last week. “Each of us who have been lucky enough to be a part of this show, even as someone who works behind the scenes, the best you can hope for is to kinda leave your brick, leave your contribution to the organization. And I think over the last 12 years, we did make some lasting contributions to the show.”
In a 2022 Austin PBS restructuring, Gimbel says he changed from simultaneous titles as GM of Austin City Limits and president of ACL Enterprises to solely serving as GM of ACL Enterprises.
Austin PBS, Austin City Limits‘ parent company, does not currently have plans to fill his position, and Gimbel plans to continue some contracting work with the show. In an email statement to the Chronicle, representatives for KLRU said: “Austin City Limits general management will be the responsibility of several key leaders at Austin PBS. Marketing and Communications will be overseen by our newly hired Chief Marketing Officer, Carolyn Connolly, production and distribution oversight will fall under Sara Robertson, the Chief Content Officer, and the iconic Terry Lickona will continue to be the Executive Producer as he has for 47 seasons.”
Gimbel’s exit comes as KLRU looks to restructure and align the longest-running music program in television history more closely with the Austin PBS brand. Station representatives also said:
“Austin PBS (KLRU-TV) has been the longtime producer and distributor of Austin City Limits the show and while most Austinites are aware of this relationship many are not. We are looking to enhance the brand association and leverage each other’s media assets to grow both in terms of audience engagement and distribution. By uniting the two brands in a much more strategic way we plan to elevate the community’s experience of each and find new and diverse audiences that might not have realized that the ACL brand is a product of public media and our mission to inform, educate and entertain our local communities.”
Next year Austin City Limits will celebrate the 50th anniversary of filming its pilot episode with Willie Nelson. KLRU will continue its ACL brand partnerships, including with C3 Presents, which licenses the brand for the ACL Music Festival; with Waterloo Media, which owns and operates ACL Radio; with University of Texas Athletics, which produces Longhorn City Limits; and with the music venue ACL Live at the Moody Theater, which was recently acquired by Nashville’s Ryman Hospitality. Austin PBS also stated that they are exploring a number of new partnerships and collaborations with “Made in Austin” brands.
As for Gimbel, he plans to split time between New York and Austin. His new Story Artist Management launches with NYC-based, ATO Records-signed singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy on its roster. He will also continue his longstanding relationship representing Daniel Johnston’s estate.
Gimbel began managing Johnston in the early Nineties and has focused on expanding the late artist’s legacy since his death in 2019, including via apparel deals with Supreme and Vans. He looks to put together another tribute album following the success of 2004’s The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. He will also continue his work with the Hi, How Are You Project – the mental health awareness nonprofit he co-founded in 2018 – which is currently looking to hire its first executive director.
“The wonderful thing about Austin City Limits is you get to work with so many artists and their management teams and publicists and record labels throughout the course of the year, but it’s a fleeting engagement. It’s one night,” said Gimbel. “You can feel some pride in that, but it’s much deeper when you’re an artist manager and you’re there for the entire journey. That’s an ongoing relationship, and that’s the draw for me. So it’s really about being involved in all aspects of an artist’s career, and helping somebody realize their creative vision and hopefully have some bigger success.”
This article appears in March 31 • 2023.
