There's a lot of fun in the Austinite character, so much so that the city started advertising its weirdness as a positive to business and people. In 2000, a radio call-in show put community college librarian Red Wassenich live on air during a fundraiser. Wassenich told the presenter he was donating to help keep Austin weird. Businesses and residents adopted the phrase as their own, and it stuck. Don't be surprised to see it emblazoned on anything from T-shirts to shop fronts.