A new radio station kicked off its regular programming Wednesday morning.

KUTX 98.9, a sister station of Austin’s public radio station KUT, started broadcasting its all-music format at 6 a.m. KUT 90.5 FM has switched to all news.

Singer-songwriter Sam Beam, also known by his moniker Iron & Wine, helped launch the new KUTX with a live performance Wednesday afternoon.

"It is beautiful man, it still smells like a new car," Beam said of the new studios.

The sister station system has been a dream of KUT’s management for years, but it all came together logistically last summer when an FM frequency went up for sale, a rarity in the radio world.

"The opportunities are few and far between,” director Stewart Vanderwilt said. “When a frequency became available, and this facility got completed that would accommodate two stations—those things just came together at the right time for this expansion to happen."

Both music and news stations will work under one roof at the Belo Center for New Media on the University of Texas’ campus.

"The fact that we can offer two distinct services—one all news and the other all music—is a rare thing in radio," program director Matt Reilly said.

In addition to 24 hours of music, KUTX is adding live music venues to the city and plans to host 300 live performances a year.

The venues will be open for recordings and live performances. The tickets will be free.

"It is always nice when the bad news goes away and the music comes on," Beam said.

Click below to watch a full song from Iron & Wine's sound check.