Summer 2025 Media Updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about media changes for summer of 2025. As always if you have any tips for me about things to cover, please feel free to e-mail me at Jeremymlevy@gmail.com. I will try and get it in the next issue of the blog.

Let’s start on the TV side. In 2021, there was a weather forecaster on the weather channel in Colorado named Lauren Bostwick. She has moved to Dallas as the weekend weather person for CBS TV in Dallas. I got this information from the Mike Mcguff blog. Nicole Brady will be leaving KMGH TV in the coming month to take a job in the Denver Public school district. Nicole was a guest on Friday July 17 Ross Kaminsky’s show. Good luck to Nicole with this new chapter in her life.

Edith Chapin has stepped down as NPR vice president of News editor and chief. Good luck to her with whatever she decides to do with her life.

Kathy Walker isn’t news director of 850 KOA radio anymore. Rob Dawsin is the news director now for 850 KOA radio. Kathy will be missed by many people at 850 KOA radio. She has been there for many, many years.   

In the third week of June, Ryan Edwards was on vacation on KOA Sports show on 850 KOA radio, Benjamin Albright was hosting with Dave Logan and Shelby Harris on Monday and Tuesday, and just with Dave on Thursday. On Friday Benjamin was hosting with Dave and Orlando Franklin. Wednesday was the best day to listen because the show consisted of Dave Logan, Rick Lewis, and Susie Wargin. The whole Bronco’s on air team did a show together, and it was a classic show.

On Altitude sports radio 92.5 D-Mac was on vacation. Tuesday and Wednesday Rob Trigilio was hosting with Scott Hastings and Tyler Polumbus. On Thursday and Friday Mark Bertinelli was hosting with Tyler and Scott. On Monday, it was just Tyler and Scott with Scott being the main host of the show. This was fun this week.

Zach Bye of 104.3 KKFN radio was off for a couple of days in the mountains, and Will Peterson and Rich Carney filled in for Zach with Phil Lindsay. Those were fun shows to listen to as well.  

On 104.3 KKFN radio Colorado Outdoors show with Terry Wickstrom, the host of the show lost his best friend Chad Lachance. Terry did a tribute show to him on Saturday June 14. Dan Jacobs did a nice tribute to him as well at the start of his show. Chad did the music for Terry’s show. I think it was a fitting tribute. Chad was struggling with cancer. You can find the interview with him on the KKFN radio website.

The third and fourth of July were classic days to listen to 104.3 KKFN radio because many of the weekend show hosts got some on airtime. My favorite shows were with Mike Rice, Chad Andrus, and John Davis. It was also great to see Danny Williams getting some on airtime in the mid-day time slot as well.

Switching to a national sports story now, Rich Eisen is moving to ESPN radio from Infinity sports/ CBS sports radio. He will be heard in the Denver area on 1600 KEPN radio. This is interesting news there. He will still be doing his podcasts on ESPN radio.     

In the second week of July, Jeff Hunt and Bill Thorpe were on vacation, and Peter Boyles filled in for them all week.  Many of the hours were fun to listen to. My two favorite hours were when Peter had Mike Boyle on to talk about his trip driving the Alaska highway, and Tom Martino on to talk about his cancer diagnosis, and recovery.  

On Saturday July 19, Jon Caldara was riding in the courage classic children’s hospital bike ride. He encouraged people to donate to the cause at Thinkfreedom.org. That is the independence institute website. Jon was not on the air on this past Saturday.  Steffan Tubs filled in for him on this date.  

KRXP radio in Colorado Springs is making some changes. Carlie, who was the program director of the station, is no longer the program director. Ross Ford has taking this position over. The nationally syndicated morning show of Woody and Wilcox has been added for mornings at KRXP radio. Summer Justice will be on the show to provide news, traffic updates, and also host from 10-11 AM. Andy Crowl will be heard in afternoons. I will miss Carlie on the station. I really thought she did a great job.

The radio hall of fame inductees for 2025 have been announced and a couple of national personalities have been announced this year. Alice Cooper, who is a national personality and hosts nights on KRFX radio has been named, Colin Cowherd who hosts on 1600 ESPN radio, Scott Simon who hosts on Colorado Public radio on Weekend edition, and Julie Talbot, who is the program director of Premiere networks are now inductees. This is great news there.  

Pillar Media has appointed Tim Hager as CEO. Tim used to be president of I heart media in Colorado. Pillar Media is a Christian based radio company and owns 3 stations in the Colorado area, including 910 KPOF radio.

Some podcasting news that I would like to share: The Plugged in Podcast had an announcement on the 10th of July episode. The three hundredth episode of the podcast on August 20 will be their last episode. It takes time for them to produce these episodes, and the listenership isn’t there. This is why they are ending the podcast.  I am disappointed about this decision.  A second podcast that is coming to an end is the Odyssey Geek podcast hosted by Austin Peachey. There will be more details about this in a future blog post. Thanks for tuning in.

Bob Uecker tribute

I love listening to baseball on the radio. I might be a little bit biased, but I think that the radio personalities who do the Colorado Rockies, broadcasters Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemmel do the best job in describing the game. But for those people that grew up in the Wisconsin area, their favorite broadcaster was Bob Uecker.  Bob was the announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers broadcasts for many, many years. Bob also spent time doing some national broadcasts and had some very funny roles in a few baseball films. He was one of those guys who really knew baseball. Jack Corrigan said that he could have been a manager. He said he was a humorous guy. Jack met him in 1985 when Jack first became a broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians. Jack remembered on the Ross Kaminsky show on January 16, 2025 that Bob’s nick name for Jack was Jacky Boy. When the Rockies and Brewers met in the 2018 wild card round, Jack brought his family to the Brewers radio booth to meet Bob. Jack can remember his grandson saying to Jack after words, “Papa, he just called you Jacky Boy.” Jack will always remember that. Jack explained that Bob was more of a friend to him. They would tell many stories. He would come back from the Brewers booth, and his stomach would hurt because he was laughing so hard. Jack explained that for the last two years, he didn’t travel with the team. He was a true baseball guy. Jack said that we are losing many of the great broadcasters in baseball for sure.   I heard from the sports director of WTMJ radio that Bob, after a brief stint as a player he became a scout. Thomas Harding of MLB. Com said on the weekend of June 27 of 2025 when the Rockies played the Brewers, that what he will remember most is the honoring of Bob when the Brewers were in the playoffs in 2018. He said that they did a really good job of honoring him. Thomas could see that Bob was getting older and starting to slow down a little bit. He was very thankful to be honored in those playoffs.   He will be greatly missed not just at WTMJ, but all of the baseball world. Thanks for tuning in.

Early Summer 2025 media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more media changes. As I have mentioned before, Albuquerque is one of my favorite places to visit.  Albuquerque is close to Colorado.  Changes are coming to American General Media Hot AC “Mix 105.1” KKRG-FM Santa Fe/Albuquerque NM. Following Semisonic’s “Closing Time” at 5pm today which is Friday June 13, 2025, the station began airing mixes featuring mostly 1990s and 2000s pop songs with promos from morning hosts Brooke & Jeffrey noting “We’re re-mixing your radio station, listen Monday at 10:51am for the new sound of 105.1 FM”.  The new sound is Mix of music from the 1990’s and early 2000’s. There is a new program director, Michelle Matthews, who has spent many years in St. Louis, Michigan, and Columbus. Michelle spent the beginning of her career in Denver at KALC radio, and the Peak when that was a station. From the article on the radio insight website, it seems she is really excited to program this station.   This will be a great thing to follow.

In Aspen, Colorado, at the Public radio station there, Halle Zanders has been named program director of the station. This station is 91.5 KAJX radio. Halle Zander has recently served as local host for All Things Considered. She is really excited about this opportunity.

Mark Randall has been named Marketing director of Audacy in Sacramento. Randall was with Audacy as market manager in Colorado, Las Vegas, and Arizona since a couple of years ago. He left radio to pursue a different job. Now he is back in Sacramento. Congratulations to him for this.  

Hillary Doenux, who was with a Colorado radio station in the early 1990’s, has been named program director of XTRA radio in San Diego radio. Congratulations to her. I am hoping this will be a great move for her.

In the 1980’s, there was a radio group called Roberts Radio in a small part of Colorado. These stations were managed by a man named T. J. Philips. T.J. moved on to program a station in Tennessee, and then moved on to program radio stations in South Carolina. My friend/ adopted cousin listened to T.J. on 2 of these stations which were country radio stations. These stations were 103.5 WEZL, and WCKN radio 92.5 Kicken Country. Last Monday, Lucas called me to let me know that T.J. had passed away. WCKN radio is owned by Saga Communications. Saga noted “ While the word “legend” may be overused today, it does describe TJ Phillips. In addition to being inducted into the Low Country Music Hall of Fame for his support of the local music community, Phillips was voted Best Radio Personality by The Charleston City Paper and Mount Pleasant Magazine, Best Local Radio Show, and South Carolina Broadcasters Radio Show of the Year. Plus, he was a 16-time Addy Award winner in the area of Audio/Feature/Commercial production & Copywriting.” I would agree with what Saga said. He really sounded like a legend. Saga’s Charleston Media Solutions President Paul O’Malley said, “TJ Phillips was more than a morning DJ. He was an immensely talented broadcaster, but also a veteran who proudly served his country, a man who constantly tried to make the lives of others better, and a friend who will be greatly missed.” Janet Walsh, who worked with TJ at 103.5 WEZL radio, said "TJ was a great guy and a solid community member. He was one of the people I was working with on the morning of Sept 11, 2001. In 1997, WEZL hired me when I was almost 7 months pregnant with my daughter; Amy.  My husband and I talked with him on the air DURING my C section! Pretty sure that’s the only time that’s happened in Low Country broadcasting." Michael Meyer, who is the program director of WCKN radio, wrote this to me in an e-mail. “Those that knew him know he was way more than a familiar voice on their radio.   It is a massive loss to Charleston.   It’s a left a huge hole in our building and our community. " Lucas got to meet him, and he said he was a fun host to meet.  Both Lucas and I wished we could have interviewed him for my blog. RIP T.J.  Lucas, and I will both miss you.

Speaking of Country radio, but in Colorado Springs, J J Kincade and Dallas show have debuted on 95.1 KATC country radio in Colorado Springs. JJ was recently with 95.7 KPTT radio.

Last Friday, Bret Kane wasn’t on the morning show, so Mark Bertinoli filled in for Bret. Mark Moser, Vick Lombardi, and Mark Bertinoli had a great show together on Monday June 16.

The fourth week of June on Altitude sports radio 92.5 Altitude sports radio they are celebrating the Nuggets championship of 2022. They are giving away a  Denver Nuggets jersey signed by the 4 Denver Nuggets players Murray, Jokic, and the other 2 that were part of the run to the championship. People need to listen at 20 past the hour, and then text in the key word that they will give the listener. I think this is a fun contest.

On 104.3 KKFN radio, Mike Evans wasn’t on the morning show with Brandon Stokley and Mark Schlereth. Richey Karney was filling in for Mike Evans. This is I think his first time filling in for Mike on the show. He did fill in for Brandon back in February or March when Brandon was off traveling.  It is great to hear Richard on the air. He was a producer, but he is getting some on air time.

On 850 KOA radio Mandy Connell was still traveling, and had Jimmy Segenberger fill in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Benjamin Albright filled in again on Thursday. On Friday, listeners got a special treat!! Greg Stone from 103.5 KRFX radio filled in. The third hour of the show was interesting because Greg had on a guest by the name of Marty talking about a blind hockey event.   

There is some good news about a former radio host at KUVO radio Susan Gatchett. She is now producing for a podcast called the Brenda Fix podcast hosted by a friend of mine named Brenda Mosby. This is great news for Susan, and for Brenda. Congratulations to them both.

Speaking of podcasts, The Care of Magical Shippers podcast is no longer around. This was a podcast about Harry Potter. They might do some other podcast at a later date.

Thanks for tuning in.

End of Spring 2025 Media Updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more media updates.

Starting with the TV side of things, Jaden Knowles has joined KUSA TV 9 news as a weather forecaster. He will work weekends on KUSA TV. He came from KWEZ TV in Texas. He started his TV career in Oklahoma.  Welcome to Denver Jaden. I hope you love it here in Colorado.  

The best words in a sports series in my opinion- The Nuggets will be playing a game number 7. The Nuggets played the game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 18, 2025. They unfortunately lost the game. That's it for the Nuggets season. There are still many questions to be answered. Will David Adelman be the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets? The answer to this question became a yes. David Edleman was named the head coach of the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday May 28, 2025.  Will any trades happen with the team? That question still remains to be answered.  On Altitude Sports radio 92.5 radio Brett Cain was saying there are not really any trades that can happen because of the money situation they are in. Andy Lindahl and Nate Kreckman were talking about this as well. The Nuggets don’t have a pick in this years NBA draft.  They still need to name a general manager of the team.   

Memorial day was a very special day on 104.3 KKFN radio. The regular hosts had a day off, so the weekend hosts got to do some fill in work. Mike Rice and Kyle Reese were on from 6-10 AM. Then Dan Jacobs was on from 10-2 PM. John Davis and Danny Williams were on from 2-6 PM. I really enjoyed Kyle and Mike together. John and Danny Williams worked well together as a team as well. Danny Williams used to do shows on Mile High sports radio back in the early 2010’s. Also on Sunday, the second of June of 2025, Kyle Reese, was on, but he said he can’t get Marcello Romano to come back.  I think he might be joking about this. In Marcello’s place, Kyle had Danny Williams as the fill in. Dann, and Kyle used to work together on Mile High sports. Danny is doing some fill ins on 104.3 KKFN radio on Denver Sports tonight from 6-7 PM. It is really good to see Danny getting some on airtime. Marcello was back on the next Sunday after his baseball season was over.  Thursday June 11 104.3 KKFN radio is doing a golf event. Zach Bye and Brandon Stokley are going to be playing 100 holes of golf for charity. People can donate to either Stokley or Zach. The websites are Stokleycares.com and Zach’s website is Zachbyecares.com. I think that this is a great thing to support.       

On Saturday the 10th of May Jon Caldara was off, and 710 KNUS radio had a very familiar substitute host for Jon. It was Steffan Tubbs. It sounded like to me that he had a great time filling in on the show. On the Mike Boyle restaurant show on the weekend of the seventeenth of May, Mike did a tribute segment to an old-time restaurant tour named Dean Peterson who was involved with the Bull and Bush tavern for years, and years. Dean passed away the week previously. Mike had on Ed Novak who used to be with the Broker restaurant and is now with Zains Italian restaurant.  I remember when Mike and Dean Peterson did an interview back in 1997, and it was an interesting interview. It will be an interview I will always remember. Mike also had a great trip the fourth week in May to visit his daughter, Son in-law, and grand daughter. He went to Mexico.   

Tom Martino was back the second week of May in a part time capacity. He only did 2 hours of Monday and Wednesdays show, and Tuesday he was on for an hour. He wasn’t there on Thursdays show. He is slowly easing himself back into the show after his cancer surgery. Tom is now back fulltime. He made an amazingly quick recovery.

On the fourth of May of 2025, Dan Caplis was in trial all week, and so he had some fill in hosts. My favorite fill in was George Brauchler, the district attorney from Douglas County Colorado. It was good to hear George back on the air. It seems to me that Dan has been in trial many days lately. Jon Caldara filled in for Dan on Wednesday June 4, 2025. This has been my favorite fill in so far.

The first week in June on 850 KOA radio Mandy Connell was on vacation on a listener trip. Ross Kaminsky was on a trip as well to New York to visit his family there. His Neice was having her Bat mitzvah.  Krista Kafer and Ryan Schuiling were fill ins for Ross.  

Benjamin Albright filled in for Mandy on Wednesday June 4.  On June fifth, it was Jimmy Sengenberger, who also dis Wednesday and Friday the following week filling in for Mandy. Deborah Flora filled in for a couple of days as well.

On Colorado’s morning news, Wednesday June 4, 2025, Chad Bower was the main host. Marty Lenz and Jeanna Gondek weren’t on the show. David Kayle did sport, and Pat Woodard did the business news. It is good to hear Chad being the host of Colorado’s morning news.     

Good news for Chris Picket. He has joined KSBJ radio in Houston. As I blogged about in April, Chris was let go from Town Square media in Montana. He is excited to move to Houston and to be a part of KSBJ radio. KSBJ is owned by Faith radio.  They had been looking for a program director since late March. Good luck to Chris with this new opportunity.  

Brian Dub Washington is doing a great fundraiser for kids by riding his motorcycle across the country. Brian used to be on 106.7 the Bull and is most recently on KUPL radio in Oregon. Good luck to him with this motorcycle ride.

Jesse James who used to be with KWOF radio92.5 radio when that was a country station might be moving to WKDF radio in Tennessee. He is moving from KUBL radio in Utah. We will see what happens with this story.

Colorado Public radio, Aspen Public radio and KSUT radio are suing President Trump for taking away their funding. We will see what happens with this in the months ahead.  

Thanks for tuning in.

Late Spring 2025 Media Updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more media changes for Colorado.

Danielle Grant, weatherwoman for Denver 7 and formerly 9 News, is pregnant again. She will be due in late September. My dad and I were watching channel 7 news, and my dad mentioned that she looked pregnant.

A former Photojournalist who used to be with KUSA TV channel 9, Cherri Presslie, was in a pretty serious car accident the 10th of May. She was also a photojournalist in Houston and Minnesota. Good wishes go out for a speedy recovery for her.     

The Colorado Avalanche lost the series against the Dallas stars in the 7th game. The Avalanche are out of the play offs.  When things were going well for the Nuggets, is when things started to go wrong for the Avalanche. It’s an absolute nightmare for the Colorado Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen, former Avalanche, scored a hat trick to power the Dallas Stars the win. Brett Kane said bad luck causes opportunity. The opportunity was on the Dallas Stars back on Saturday the third of May of 2025. There were opportunities for the Avalanche to capitalize, and they didn’t take the opportunities that they had. What will happen in the off season? I don’t know. Do the Avalanche need a coaching change? I don’t know.

The Nuggets won their first round in the 7th game. They are moving on to play a 7th game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Russell Westbrook was the best player in the first round. Brett said that Nicola Jokic didn’t need to be the best player in the Clippers series.

On the eleventh of May, the Colorado Rockies fired their head coach Bud Black, and their hitting coach Mike Redman. The interim Manager is Warren Schafer. Where will the Rockies organization go from here? I don’t know this either. This is a story to follow in the weeks and months ahead.    

Learfield sports is launching a streaming service for those people going to college football games this season. The CU Buffs are broadcasted on the Learfield sports network. This is interesting news there.

For those of you that have been following my blog since the beginning, I am going to tell a story about one of my favorite talk radio show hosts since the early 2000’s. This would be the Troubleshooter Tom Martino. This is an amazing story. This is about 25 years Tom has been one of my favorite radio hosts to listen to. Tom has been around Denver as the Troubleshooter for over 40 years He spent about 5 to 10 years in New York. He started being the Troubleshooter about 50 years ago and has been one of my talk radio heroes for these 25 years. Sometime in January, cohost Marc Mager and wife Suzanne get a call from Tom. He went on a trip to Hawaii and he found out that he had pancreatic cancer. He has been dealing with this since January. He had sepsis along with the cancer. He had surgery the 28 of April, and they got rid of the cancer. Tom is Cancer free. This is really good news.  Tom will be recuperating the whole month of May and then he is planning to come back to the show. This is also good news there. Marc Mager has been doing a really good job filling in while Tom has been dealing with this health scare. Well wishes go out to Tom Martino and his family. Tom left the hospital on Wednesday May 7. Marc Mager gave the update on Tuesday May 6, 2025.   

Denis Prager's’ return will not happen in June as was originally predicted. Charlie Kirk will still be doing two hours of Denis’s show. The third hour will still be the fill in host. Denis has had a set back with his spine surgery that he had. Good wishes go out to Deni, and his family.  

K-love has a new schedule. The only DJ that will not be returning is Randi. The new schedule is: Carlos and Amy, Scott, from 10-1 PM mountain time and Lauree 1- 3 PM mountain time, Christina is new to the schedule, and will be on from 3-7 PM. Careth will be on from 7-12 AM. Kelly will be on late nights.

KVOQ radio has a new festival with Indy artists coming up this September. KVOQ radio is located at 102.3 on the dial and plays Indy music. This station is owned by Colorado Public radio.

KUAD radio has a new morning show. This show will be hosted by Tanner Chambers and Kerri Mac.  Kerri Mac has joined the station from New York, and she also did some work in another state as well. Good luck to Kerri with this new opportunity.  

The Kool 105 concert is coming up on Memorial Day weekend. The staff at Kool 105 are really looking forward to this.This is their big music event every year.    

Switching to podcasting notes now- The podcast For Fawkes's sake has concluded their discussion of the sixth book and movie the Half Blood Prince back Last week on May 2, 2025. They will be starting discussion of the seventh book, and movie in the next couple of weeks. The Audio Theatre Central podcast is going to be a little bit late coming out this month. J. D. Sutter had an update saying he is trying to get the episode out just as soon as he can. The listeners just need to be a little bit patient. The Newest Olympian podcast is going to be delayed for the second full week of May because Mike Schubert is going to be on a trip to Switzerland. He is hoping to have the podcast up sometime this week.

Thanks for tuning in.

Mid-Spring 2025 media updates

Jeremy at the Sportsbook Denver Tech Center

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more updates. As always: if you have anything I have missed or anything you would like me to cover please feel free to e-mail me at Jeremymlevy@gmail.com. I will try and get it into the next issue of the blog.

The 2025 country radio awards are out, and 98.5 KYGO radio won station of the year. This is really good news for them.  This is also the only station from Colorado that won an award.

Cherie Marquart has retired from West Wood radio in Colorado. She was with them for 30 years. I remember her volunteering for the Rocky Mountain PBS channel 6 auction in the early to mid- 2000’s. Good luck to her on her retirement.

In the Colorado Springs area, Royal Gorge Broadcasting’s stations in Canon City CO will be resurrected as the company has sold the former “Star Country 104.5” KSTY to ‘Meg Stanley’ Medley’s Frontier Frequencies for $30,000.

KSTY and News/Talk 1400 KRLN Canon City went silent at the end of 2024. At the time of the shutdown, Stanley told the Colorado Springs Gazette that the Nebraska based owners were ready to retire. She also said the stations weren’t adapting to listener and customer demands, “We weren’t keeping up … on the digital aspect of things, and it just came down to income versus expense. Not having the things we needed to accomplish digital demands this day and age, it just made it harder.” The stations have been owned by Norton Warner and his children since 1965. The family previously owned stations across Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. KRLN is not included in the deal as Royal Gorge retains its license, tower site, equipment and building. The seller also retains KSTY’s employee contracts and intellectual property.

Denis Prager is out of the hospital and will be coming back the first week of June for an hour show on the Salem stations. You can tune into his show in the Denver area on 710 KNUS radio, and if you are in Colorado Springs on 1460 The Answer, and on the Fm dial, you can tune into 101.1 FM. The answer in Colorado Springs. Mike Boyle played a message from Denis on his show. Denis wished everyone a happy Pass Over, and a happy Easter Saturday April 19 in the second hour of the Peter Boyles show, Peter was talking about the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing trial. Peter had a verry special guest named Steffan Tubbs. Steffan and Peter were working together on KOA and KTLK radio at the time respectively. Steffan was the morning news editor at the time. The news anchors at the time were Gus Mircus and Chris Randolf. Jerry Bell was the news director. You can catch this conversation on the podcast on the 710 KNUS radio website. I didn’t know that Steffan was working at KOA radio in 1995.  It was good to hear Steffan’s voice again. He sounds like he is doing well.  https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1270-peter-boyles-show-podcast-31129471/episode/the-peter-boyles-show-041925--272936754/

On Friday April 17 both Mandy Connell and Ross Kaminsky were up at a house at Winter Park for the annual Children’s hospital house auction. Listeners could bid on the house, and the proceeds would go to help Children’s hospital. I really enjoyed the Ross Kaminsky show on this day. It was a great broadcast. It would have been great if Rick Lewis and Kathy Lee were up there doing their morning show. Rick Lewis was talking about this day back a couple of weeks ago. One of the people with a disability he interviewed is now a public speaker. There was a text message into the show saying they wished he would do this broadcast again. Rick said that they have a staff that is really small. Ross did a great job promoting the fundraiser. Ross and Mandy did a segment at the end of his show, and a segment into Mandy’s show called ask us anything. They took text messages from listeners who wanted to ask them questions, and Mandy and Ross both answered the question. I learned that one of Ross’s influences in radio was Peter Boyles. I thought that was interesting.

Premiere Radio Networks is going to be starting a new radio show that started out as a podcast. This podcast is the verdict with Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson. Ben is from Tennessee, and hosts a Sunday night radio show from there. Ted Cruz is a senator from Texas. There is no word yet if this show will be coming to any stations in Colorado. The radio insight article didn’t say. The article said that it will be on 100 radio stations.  I think it would be great if the show did come to some Colorado stations. Premiere networks have many shows on I heart radio stations.   https://www.premierenetworks.com/

The 2025 NFL draft happened on Thursday the 24th through the 26th of April. The sports radio stations in Denver covered this. KKFN 104.3 was at a restaurant on Thursday called the Sportsbook. My family and I went to go to and support them. The Bronco’s picked number 20 a corner back from Texas CB Jahdae Barron, I think 104.3 KKFN had the second-best coverage. 630 KHOW radio and 850 KOA radio had the best coverage on this weekend.  My favorite player picked was WR Pat Bryant, a wide receiver from Illinois. I think he will help Bo Nicks out. I am really looking forward to this.

On the weekend of April 19th and 20th the Nuggets and the Avalanche won their first playoff games But they lost their second and third games and won their fourth games.  The Avalanche were on 92.5 radio, and the Nuggets were on AM 950.  Altitude Sports radio calls this a double dipparoo. Bret Kane, Mark Moser, and Vic Lombardie really enjoyed how the Avalanche played. They were also excited for the Nuggets win They are both looking forward to finding out how the rest of the playoffs go.

Altitude sports radio has a contest going on where the hosts give a key word at 20 past the hour, and listeners need to text in that word, and then they pick one person and that person will win tickets to that nights' Nuggets game. I think this is a fun contest idea. The next day for this contest is Tuesday the 29th.

JohnJay and Rich are on Kiss FM in Fort Collins, and the Springs on 96.1 radio.  They have won the Kidd Kraddic award for 2025. This is great news for them. https://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n46966#:~:text=Named%20in%20memory%20of%20the%20late%20radio%20icon,to%20other%20shows%20and%20personalities%2C%22%20according%20to%20MSBC. Their show is based out of Phoenix Arizona and is distributed to hot adult contemporary stations.  

KALC radio is adding a new person to its afternoon The Slacker Show. If you remember back last May Steve Weed left the Slacker and Steve show. They have filled the opening of Steve’s departure with Erica Shea. Erica was a part of the I heart media cuts last fall. She was with KZHT radio in Oklahoma City and was a part of I heart media in San Diego and Los Angeles. This will be an interesting show for KALC radio. I am hoping the show does well for the future of the station.  

K-love is making some on air changes to their lineup. Scott and Kelley, who currently host from 3-7 PM on K-love 91.1 radio in Colorado are not going to be on in the afternoons anymore. They have been with K-love since 2008. Kelly will be on late nights from 1- 5 AM and Scott will be on from 9 AM to 12 PM weekday mornings. There will be more changes coming in the future. https://www.klove.com/music/blog/current-events/fresh-faces-different-drive-times-check-out-the-new-k-love-on-air-lineup-10218

Thanks for tuning in.

Spring 2025 media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about recent media updates.

The Rockies opening day happened on April 4, 2025. I was in California, and I didn’t get to hear the KOA radio broadcasts, but I think it was a great day. It is really great to hear Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemel broadcasting the Rockies games. The Rockies have gotten off to a slow start. I think it will turn around, but I don’t know when.

On the Sunday half an hour show on Sunday April 6, 2025, Jack Corrigan interviewed Jenny Kavnar who is the TV voice of the Athletics. This was an interesting interview because Jenny is  the first woman to be the main voice of a baseball team. It was very fascinating to hear her journey of how she got her start in baseball media industry.

Sticking with I heart Media, the Colorado Broadcasters award dinner was held the 5th of April at a Sheraton hotel. KOA was named the station of the year. Mandy Connells’ producer A-rod was named the producer of the year. Also, KWBL 106.77 got an award for Denise Plante and Jonathan Wild. These 2 hosts are on from 9- 1 PM., and from 1PM. to 3PM respectively. KUSA TV was named Denver Station of the year.  You can find the rest of the awards, and stations by checking out the Colorado broadcaster's awards website. https://www.coloradobroadcasters.org/awards-of-excellence/

Are the Nuggets done for the season?” Darren Mackey asked on the show Polumbus Hastings, and D-mac on the 7th of April of 2025. “The Nuggets are done for the season”- Quote by Vic Lombardie on Monday April 7, 2025. The Nuggets are struggling at the end of the season. After this game the Nuggets organization fired Michael Malone the Nuggets coach. The assistant coach David Adleman is the head coach for now. They ended up getting a win against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday April 9, 2025. The Nuggets won 2 games and locked up the #4 seed. They will be playing the Clippers coming up on Saturday April 20, 2025. I am not confident that they can do well in the play offs this year.

The Colorado Avalanche are in the NHL playoffs this year as well. They are in the third seed. They will be facing the Dallas Stars. I am more confident in the Avalanches’ chances than I am about the Nuggets chances. They got their captain back, Gabe Landeskog, after he missed two years with an leg injury nobody has ever came back from. My Dad had the same surgeon as Gabe, but for a much more minor injury.   

Brett Kain was sick a couple of days at the end of March of 2025 and Nate Kreckman was sick as well. There must be an illness going around the Altitude sports radio studios. D-mac had it too.  Mark Bertinoli was the substitute host for Brett on these days.

On Sunday April 6, 2025, on the Fan weekend show on 104.3 KKFN radio, Kyle Reese and Marcelo Romano were not on. They got a weekend off. The substitute hosts on this day were really fantastic. These hosts were Chad Andrus and Mike Rice.  I really think they should do more shows together as they made a great team together. They talked about the Avs, the Rockies, and the Bronco’s maybe getting a new stadium in the next couple of years.

Town Square Media has been quietly making some cuts. One of those affected so far that has some Colorado ties has been Chris Pickett. I remember Chris from his time at 560 KLZ  radio He did some producing work there. He was a producer there back in the late 1990’s early 2000’s. He is looking for his next opportunity. He can be contacted at ChrisPickettRadio@outlook.com.

J. R. Jeffries, who used to be the assistant program director of KDHT radio 95.7, has been named program director of Town Square media radio station in Maine WJBQ radio 97.9. This is great news for him.  

The nationally syndicated Dave and Mahony show is going to be on in the mornings on KCRT radio in the Colorado Springs area. This is good news there. Dave and Mahony are originally from Las Vegas.   I would like to remind you readers of my blog and other readers that are familiar with the Mike Boyle restaurant show that people can listen to the shows on the podcast. You can find this on his website at WWW.Mikeboyle.com. The link is easy to find.  Both his Denver shows and his Colorado Springs show are both podcasted there.

On April 4, of 2025 in the last hour of the Peter Boyles show, Peter celebrated the 10th anniversary of the April Fool's day joke that he and 4 or 5 other people at the time pulled. Peter had Casey Bloyer, and his wife named Bethanie on. Tom Moller was on from California, and local producer Mark Crowley was also on. This was an exciting interview to listen to, and I remember that day. The 710 KNUS radio station was turned into a Spanish radio station back in 2015. People were confused and calling into the station like crazy. It was hilarious. I remember asking Casey Bloyer about this in my interview with him.

Speaking of podcasts that do a great job, the Plugged in Show podcast had a great episode on April 3, 2025. This was the first time that Adam Holtz or Paul Asay wasn’t the host of the podcast. Bret Eckleberry was the host, and I think he did a great job with the podcast. The next podcasting note that I would like to mention is that the Toast Masters podcast had a great episode at the end of March of 2025 For those of you that are new followers to my blog, I have been involved in a couple of toastmasters groups, one in Colorado, and one virtually on zoom. Greg Gassen had on Phil Wilkes from Australia He was an interesting guest. He was a ski instructor, and he teaches people how to fly airplanes. He also wrote a great article for the Toastmaster magazine for 2024.

Your Fellow Odyssian podcast also had a great episode on April 1st. Austin Peachy was the guest, and the host Daniel Roth and Austin talked about the April fool's day. https://open.spotify.com/show/2blgZA9Z6G3HVgFaL9VPyc

I really enjoy it when Austin is on different podcasts.  

Thanks for tuning in.

Spring 2025 media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about media updates.

Let’s start with a TV story I learned about through the Mike Mcguff blog. This story was from Brooks Gardner who is now with fox 35 WOFL TV in Orlando Florida. He used to do the weather for Fox 31 in Denver. The Fox 35 studios in Orlando got hit with a tornado while Brooks was on the air. He reported live on this story as it was going on. There were no serious injuries, and no one died. I really enjoyed hearing Brooks on the air when he was in Colorado.

Switching to radio. Peter Boyles interviewed Dave Menough and his brother Scott Menough who used to host bird talk on 710 KNUS radio. It sounds like they are doing well after their retirements. It was good to hear them again. I still miss their show. They said that they were on many radio stations in the Colorado area. I first started listening to them on KTLK 760 radio.  

Congratulations to Mike Boyle from the Mike Boyle restaurant show, and also to his daughter Kaylee Boyle. Kaylee and her husband have had their first child. It is a girl named Sofia Melana. This is really exciting news for him.  He shared it with listeners because he considers his listeners family. Mike had a very successful event at Dickey’s Barbecue in Castle Rock. My family and I brought some delicious ribs home to our house on Saturday March 15th.

Sticking with 710 KNUS radio, and 1460 KZNT radio which are both owned by Salem Communications, Charlie Kirk who is a national personality is going to be taking over for Denis Prager until June. Denis will come on after Charlie’s show for an hour after June. Denis has had an operation that required him to have some recovery time. This is why the switch has been made.  

Mandy Connell did a fun broadcast from Rockies’ Spring Training on Tuesday March 18th. I really enjoyed the interview she had with Jesse Thomas, the remote producer for the Colorado Rockies.

Ross Kaminsky is back after a vacation with 30 listeners. On his first show back he had on Pat Boone as a guest. I learned that Pat is in his 90’s, but still going strong. I remember listening to some of Pat’s music during 1993’s Easter Seals Telethon when I was the Colorado Easter Seals poster child. He was on the national broadcast.  

A second name has come forward that was affected by the Audacy cuts. This would be Guy David. Guy used to be with KYGO radio in Colorado from 2017 to 2020. He was most recently with KFRG radio in Sacramento, California. Good luck to Guy with whatever he decides to do with his career.

Benjamin Albright was under the weather the week of March 15th. That means that Nick Ferguson had some different co-hosts working with him. My favorite has been Bri Mastas.   I really think she does a great job co-hosting with Nick Ferguson. Benjamin was back on Thursday and Friday of that week. He had pneumonia. His voice is finally returning to normal.  

The CU Buff’s women’s basketball team got a surprising win against West Virginia on Wednesday March 12, 2025. They moved on to play Houston which is one of the top seeds in college basketball and unfortunately lost. It was a good season for them.  

In April, the podcasting network that Leo Laporte started, the Twit Network, is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. I have been a fan of this network since 2007. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the main show TWIT podcast Leo is asking watchers’ and listeners to send in videos of how TWIT has affected their lives. They will play them on the show. You can find the e-mail address of where to send this video on the TWIT website or, you can listen back to the Security Now episode where he mentioned this on Episode 1015. https://twit.tv/

Thanks for tuning in.

Late Winter media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more updates for late Winter 2025.

Dan Thomas has been named program director of 7 Mountains media in Pennsylvania. Dan used to do some work for Town Square Media in Colorado which is the reason why I bring this up. Congratulations to him.  

KALC radio had another successful radiothon for Children’s hospital. They raised over a million dollars. This is great news.

Janae Martinez is joining KOBQ radio in Albuquerque New Mexico. She was with them for the start of her career. This is really good news for her. 

Good wishes go out to Dan Jacobs. At the end of January Dan had some leg surgery. He fell off a step wrong. He said on the air that he has no one to blame but himself. He took 2 weeks off. He did come back at the beginning of February. Dan also was the fill in on Presidents' Day from 10-2 PM. At the beginning of February Dan Jacobs has had a listener of his named Matt the fighter. Matt was in the hospital many times with a disease. Matt got to come to the radio station. I think this is a great story. On Presidents' Day Chad Andres was on with Mike Evans and Mark Schlereth. Chad was substituting for Brandon Stokley. In the afternoon Kyle Reese and John Davis were on the show substituting For Zach Bye and Phillip Lindsey.

It is almost Spring, which means that Spring training for the Rockies has started. It started Friday February 21, 2025. The first game is being broadcast on 850 KOA radio. I am really looking forward to hearing Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemel broadcasting the games.  

Winter Park had their annual fund raising for the blind ski program. This year KOA wasn’t out there. Maybe next year. I heard from Gary Defrange that they raised a lot of money though.   

A change is coming to Adventures in Odyssey after Spring of 2026. There will no longer be CD’s available of the show Adventures in Odyssey. Those that want to listen to new shows will have to listen on the radio and join the club. Marshall Younger and Dave Arnold said on the official Adventures in Odyssey podcast that CDs are becoming dinosaurs. Not many people have them. Those that want to get the CDs of the old episodes still can.  I have been a fan of this audio drama ever since 1998, and still have a couple of tapes and a couple of CDs of my favorite shows.   After album 80 there will no longer be downloads. I don’t have the Adventures in Odyssey club, so my main way to listen to the new episodes would be a downloadable version of the show. I will really miss this.  They said that this will give them the opportunity to tell more stories. People will not have to wait as long to get more stories. This will be a good thing. Followers of my blog can join the club at -https://www.adventuresinodyssey.com/your-next-great-adventure/ This is interesting news. I don’t know what to think about this. I might have more thoughts about this later on as it gets closer.  Those that want to listen to this episode can listen to it by going to apple podcasts, and searching for the Official Adventures in Odyssey podcast. You can also listen to it on the Adventures In Odyssey website. If people have questions, they can contact them on this website as well.  There is also an audio theatre central bonus episode talking about the changes. I would encourage you to check this out as well, and to send in your feedback to J.D. There also links in that episode to send the team at Adventures in Odyssey team your thoughts as well. The All things Adventures in Odyssey podcast has an episode has information about this as well.  I really think the host does a great job in reviewing episodes and I think he does a great job with this episode about the changes as well.

One other podcast I would like to mention is that the Sword and Laser podcast has their annual March Madness tournament going on in March. They do some fantasy, and science fiction books. People can vote for these books on their good reads page. https://www.swordandlaser.com/ Many of these authors I have never heard of.

Thanks for tuning in.

Mid-winter blog of 2025

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about media changes.

The Colorado radio blog is saddened to report that Tom Kraeutler, the host of the show The Money Pit radio show, has passed away after a surgery. He was in his 60’s. It said on Ramp radio that he had hosted the show for many years. I would listen to this show sometimes on Saturdays when I would be traveling in San Francisco, or Arizona, or Texas. The article on Ramp radio said that the show will continue on with Leslie Segrette as the host. They are looking for a new co-host for the show. Leslie did say in the Ramp radio article that Tom was with her through many important milestones of her life. She will miss him, as will many long-time listeners of the show will.  If Paul Macgregor were still alive, I think he would be a great host of the show. Ken Moon might be a good host as well. Ken Moon was the host of the around the house program on 630 KHOW radio. He also hosts the show on KRDO radio in Colorado Springs. This might be good if this were to happen.   

Switching to a happier story, Albuquerque is one of my favorite places to visit. KiKi Hernandez is un-plugging from the station KOBQ morning show from Carlos and Kiki in the Morning. She is moving down the hall to host a solo show for sister station KMGA radio. This is good news for her. Leah who used to be with Cumulus radio in Albuquerque and was with KBPI radio in Colorado before that, is re-joining Cumulus media Albuquerque alongside Carlos. This is good news there. Good luck to Leah with this new show. Chris Hoffman, who was with Kool 105 back in the 1990’s and now is the program director of Cumulus media is excited to have Leah back with them.

There is a new executive producer on 850 KOA radio Colorado’s morning news show. It is Michelle Belden. She started with them back at the end of January. Marty Lenz and Jeana Gondek are glad to have her as part of the team. I heard her doing an event for the Friday segment called what’s going on for the weekend. Michelle took over for Cole Peterson who left at the end of December.

On Wednesday February 12, 2025, Ross Kaminsky of 850 KOA radio announced that he is running the contest this year where e-mailers need to pick what number the S&P 500 will be at near the end of the year of 2025. People that are interested in this should e-mail him at Ross@iheartmediacolorado.com. The person that gets closest gets a prize of either lunch with Ross, and a guest and the person that wins, or they get to come to the studio and watch him, and his producer do the show, so they can see how the show works. I think this is a great prize. It would be great for someone to win who follows my blog. This is why I am mentioning this in my blog.

Good wishes go out to Peter Boyles of 710 KNUS radio. He had heart surgery this past week and is now recovering at home. Peter said when he called into the show hosted by Jon Caldara that one of the lessons in life is that you can’t fix a heart valve by yourself. Peter had been struggling with this for a couple of years. He will be back in the next couple of weeks hosting the show from 9 AM to 1 PM on Saturdays on 710 KNUS radio.  Peter said on the air that he is laying on the couch not doing much. I was maybe hoping that he might be able to ski with Gary Defrange and I in February at Winter Park. This might have to be put off. Health comes first. 

If you are a fan of nighttime radio, and late-night talk radio, you are probably familiar with the show Coast to Coast. This show was originally hosted by Art Bell and is now hosted by George Nurry. Amazon and a second company are both trying to get the rights to produce a movie about Art Bell. Art is going to be played by Paul Giamatti.

The Barrett’s media top sports markets for the year of 2025 are out and here are the Colorado results:

Top 20 stations of 2024

#14 104.3 The Fan

#20 92.5 Altitude

 The program directors are:

#13 Amanda Brown

#19 Kevin Shockey

Morning

#11 Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth,

#16 Moser, Lombardy and Kane

 Congratulations go out to Murphy Huston who is retiring from Kosi 101 radio. His last day on the air was Tuesday February 11, 2025. I have been a fan of his since 1996 when he used to do shows with Hal Moore on 630 KHOW radio. I have followed his career to 1430 KEZW and then to Kosi 101 radio.  Many long-time hosts knew him including the Gabby Gourmet and Mike Boyle. Mike used to do a tip about restaurants on the show with Hal and Murphy. Murphy said in an e-mail to me that he will do some fill in work at Kosi 101 radio.

KALC radio had their annual Children’s Hospital Cares for kid’s radiothon on February 13, of 2025. This is always a wonderful event. I always mention this every year because I think it is a great cause. Children’s hospital helps many children from the most serious physical issues to the least serious physical issues. I encourage those of you who follow my blog to donate to this. You can find the donation link on KALC’s radio website.     

A deal has been worked out with Comcast and Altitude TV to broadcast Nuggets and Avalanche games. This is really good news there.  Many people have been missing out on watching the games. The Nuggets, and Avalanche are on their half season break right now the week of February 10th through the 22nd of February. They will both start back up near the 22nd of February. In the meantime, here are some podcasts for listeners to tune into. The Audio Theatre Central podcast had a great episode in February. J. D. interviewed Tory Martin a previous writer of Adventures in Odyssey audio theater drama. Tory has started his own podcast called of Moose, and Men. https://www.audiotheatrecentral.com/ Tory also explained of the creation of the character of Wooton Bassett. That was interesting.  The last podcast I would like to mention is the Tomorrow Society Disney podcast, https://tomorrowsociety.com/podcasts/ hosted by Dan Heaton has come to an end. He did his 250th episode at the beginning of February. He said in an e-mail to me that he might be a guest contributor to some podcasts down the road. Dan, your podcast was really fun for me to listen to, and you had a great run with the podcast.

Thanks for tuning in.

Betty White: A Compassionate Person

Jeremy Levy back with you.

Today I would like to write a blog post about one of my favorite TV actresses Betty White. Before I got interested in Talk Radio heroes, and around the time that Bob Mcgrath started to become one of my heroes, I had a TV hero. You guessed it!  Betty White.  Betty was born on January 17, 1922, and passed away on December 31, 2021. The way Betty became one of my heroes was through a book that Ginny Cassano gave me called the leading Lady by Tom Sullivan and Betty White. I got this book on tape when I was 5 or 6 years old. Betty, and Tom both wrote, and narrated the book together. I could tell by listening to the book that they really enjoyed being together. Betty was a compassionate woman. When I got the book on tape, I memorized pretty much all of the book.  She wasn’t very good about asking people to her house for dinner. She wrote in the book that “As much as I enjoy having them there, I am neither a secure host nor a comfortable one. This is in spite of the fact I had a lovely housekeeper, Edna McNair, who did all of the hard part.  As a result, the ones who got invited were usually cherished friends of long standing.” She was talking about Tom and his wife Patty Sullivan.  Betty, Patty, and Tom knew each other since the early 70’s. When Betty and her husband Alan Ludden at the time were doing a play called Bell Book and Candle, would visit a restaurant called Deakin’s Perch in Massachusetts.   After meeting when they would visit the restaurant, Tom would quickly launch into their favorite tunes when he heard they were in the restaurant. After the show closed, Betty’s husband knew he couldn’t leave this kind of talent behind. He called a friend of his named Mike Douglas, and Mike invited Tom to sing on his show. Alan helped Tom finish college.  Tom thought that it is amazing how life turns.   Betty, Patty, and Tom spent many dinners together. They were really good friends.  They would have dinners together at Betty’s house, or sometimes they would have dinners together at Tom and Pattie’s house. In the first chapter of the Leading Lady, Betty talked about one special dinner, in April of 1987, which was the year I was born. During the dinner Betty asked how Tom and Pattie’s animals were. Betty was a big animal lover. At the time, she had 2 dogs and a cat. Tom and Pattie had 4 dogs. One of these was Dinah, his guide dog (his eyes), for 9 years. She guided him everywhere.  She taught lessons to him, and that was her personality.  It soon became abundantly clear to Betty that everything wasn’t great. Tom explained it was Dinah. Dinah was going through some depression. She couldn’t do her job as well as she did at the beginning. She was a different dog.  Tom and Patty had taken her to the Vet, and he checked her over. The vet said it is like some men who were fine as long as they had a job to go to. Then they retire and bang and they fall apart. Tom knew that he had to get a different guide dog. This is where Nelson came into the picture. When Nelson came into the picture, this is where Dinah started developing the depression.  Tom was very confused about what to do with this situation. He didn’t want to burden Betty with this problem. He knew how busy Betty’s life was at the time. She already had two dogs and a cat, and her busy schedule with acting in movies, and new TV shows. Tom thought his only option was to take Dinah back to leader dogs where they got her, and they would give her fine care for the rest of her life. After Tom had told Betty about the situation,  there was a pause. Betty said, “Would you like me to try her Tom?” Betty was surprised that it was her own voice that spoke those words.  They finally decided that they would think it over, and if it still seemed the right thing to do, they would bring Dinah over to Betty’s house on Easter Sunday of 1987. Betty didn’t realize at the time that she was the next passage in Dinah’s life. I can relate to this because some people when they meet me don’t realize that they are the next passage into my life. When Dinah came to Betty’s house, she checked everything out. Betty said in an interview on YouTube that Dinah gave her a different element to life.  I really liked this particular story because it shows Betty being compassionate with animals, and with people with a disability.  The story of Betty White and Tom Sullivan shows that animals can communicate if you just listen. Also, it shows that people who have a disability can communicate just as well as other people can. Sometimes people with a disability send people messages, and it takes special people to recognize the message they send. My teacher Robert Thomasson(my Elementary and Middle School teacher) has told me many times that I am a teacher for people, and that I was a teacher for him when he had me in his classes. I was a challenge for him, and I think that’s wonderful that I present a great challenge for people.

In the book, The Leading Lady, Betty was so impressed with how much Tom could memorize. She was also impressed when they went to the San Diego Zoo that Tom was able to describe the animals he felt so clearly. His descriptions of the way he saw the world were amazing to Betty. Betty wondered if the way Tom described the animals at the zoo were similar to the way he would describe Dinah. After they had the little interview in the book, when Tom left he said next time we are going to talk about your Dinah. Betty started to get the idea that she had things to describe to Tom as well.  Betty explained her trip to the guide dog place in San Rafel California. She really thought it was amazing how they worked with the guide dogs there. A few years later, Jennifer Owens (one of my skiing teachers) gave me a tape of different people reading the childrens book of virtues. Betty read two stories I really enjoyed which were The Little Red Hen and Why Frog and Snake Never Play Together. Betty had a great expression when she read out loud.  Betty and Tom collaborated on two other books together- A Story of Shared Vision and Alive Day. Betty was also an actress in the Golden Girls. I remember listening to an episode one Saturday night, and hooking up my microphone from my Karioke Machine, and taping the episode. Betty had a great sense of humor. She appeared on the game Password. She did well on that game show.   I really appreciate the people in my life who are compassionate with me.   A few of the people in my life who fit this description are Gary Defrange, Deb Mathias, and Lois Melkonian.  Gary wasn’t afraid to teach me skiing these last couple of years when other instructors didn’t have confidence in me. Deb wasn’t afraid to try new things to help, like teaching me math. Lois wasn’t afraid to have me in her workshops that she did at her house, and she wasn’t afraid to teach a different workshop to our Toastability Toastmasters group. When I meet people like this, I feel like there is real chemistry, and I really feel like I can trust these people. They became and stayed my close friends.  People like Gary, Lois, and Deb have become part of my family, just like Betty and Dinah became part of Tom’s family.  

Betty wrote at the end of the leading lady that sharing these thoughts has been a joy. She knew with conviction, even if others couldn’t see Dinah, that the leading Lady Dinah will always be stretched at Betty’s feet.  The way I heard about Betty’s death was listening to the news on 850 KOA radio. Susan Witken said in the news casts that many people loved Betty’s work. I certainly agree with this.   I will always remember Betty for her friendship with Tom and her compassion for the blind.

To wrap this up, on the afternoon of September 3, 2023, during a radio program I listened to hosted by Ron Caskey, Ron reminded us that everything happens for a reason. I believe that the people I have met along my journey have a special reason for being in my life. Even though I never met Betty White, although I hoped that someday I would, she was still a very special person in my life and a special hero to me.

Thanks for tuning in.

Winter 2024/25 media changes

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more Radio, TV, and Podcast changes,

I’m going to start with the TV side of things. Anusha Roy has joined Channel 7 KMGH TV in December of 2024. She might be replacing Ann Trujillo who left the station earlier this fall. Anusha comes from KUSA TV.  There is no word yet on the replacement for Anusha on KUSA TV.  Ann Trujillo retired from KMGH TV. Ashley Ryan left KDVR TV. Ashley had sleep issues, and this is the reason for her departure. Andrea Henderson has been appointed as co-anchor for Fox31 Morning News. Andrea is from Ohio. Kirk Younk is from Ohio as well, so the team on Fox31 KDVR TV has two anchors who are from Ohio.  

Kosi 101 radio played their Christmas music from November 10, 2024 and it continued through the beginning of the year.

Steve Marshall has joined the morning show from100 KIMN radio, where he was previously program director. Kimn 100 is looking for its next program director. You can apply on the station's website. Kosi 101 radio program director isn’t with Kosi 101 radio. That has been filled by Brian Michelle of Kosi 101 radio’s sister station KYGO radio. Tammy Oakland has joined Kosi 101 radio as its new mid-day host. Sticking with Bonneville, 104.3 KKFN radio has a new weekday schedule. Mike Evans and Mark Schlereth are now joined by Brandon Stokley. Mark Schlereth joins the show from New York for 2 hours. Cecil Lammey has now joined by Josh Dover in Mid-days from 10 AM to 2 PM. That is interesting news there. Chris Dempsie is no longer with Altitude sports radio. Alex Raj has taken over for him with Mike Sandford. Their show is on from 10-12 PM. There is no word yet on what happened to Chris.

Dom Testa and Melissa Moore are the new morning team on Kool 105 radio. On December 15, 2024, 850 KOA radio celebrated their 100th anniversary.  This is very exciting for them. I have been a listener of theirs ever since the late 1990’s. I have been a guest of theirs's many times on different shows. My first one being on the Dan Daru show. I think that 850 KOA radio is the best radio station to get news from.

There are some difficulties in the radio industry. One of these being layoffs with different radio companies. This happened to be the case with 850 KOA radio. I Heart, who owns them, has let go 3 different employees. Alfred Williams is no longer the co-host of KOA sports from 3-6 with Dave Logan, and Ryan Edwards. Brandon Kristal has been let go from KOA radio’s morning news show as the sports anchor. Also, Michael Coover has been let go from the producer’s spot on KOA’s afternoon sports show. Zach Seegers has been a new producer on KOA radio as well.  Zach has been a great producer. I like it when he chimes in with Benjamin Albright on his show. Jimmy Lakey has been let go from 600 KCOL radio Fort Collins Colorado. Also, in the Fort Collins group of stations, there is a new station. 1073 is playing alternative rock. This in competition of Town Square Media’s alternative Rock stations.

Cumulus media has also let go of some Colorado Springs employees, Bobby Irwin, Bobby Adan, Mason Stanfield, and his co-host were let go as well. Also, KBIQ radio in Colorado Springs has been sold to Educational Media. They are no longer with Salem Comunications. Dean and Rog have been let go from their show in Houston Texas. They used to be with 106.7 KBPI radio when that was a station.

There are 2 podcast celebrations I would like to talk about now. Security now podcasts with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte has reached a big milestone. They are celebrating their 10000th episode. That was done at the end of November of 2024. Congratulations to them. The Sward and Lazer podcast with Tom Merrit and Veronica Belmonte have celebrated their 5500th episode. This show has been around ever since 2007. They talk about fantasy and science fiction books. This is a great podcast for book recommendations.

On the Audio Theatre Central podcast on episode 2007 of the podcast, J. D. mentioned that it has been a difficult year for him in 2024. A couple of weeks ago the hard drive for his computer crashed, and he needs to get a new computer. It costs money for him to do this. He feels a little bit uncomfortable to ask listeners for help, but he is asking for people to donate money to help him out. This computer is very important because it helps him do everything for the website and for the podcast. You can donate on the audio theatre central website, and you can also buy merchandise on there as well- https://www.audiotheatrecentral.com/. You can also sign up for Back stage where you get bonus material. I really want to see this podcast and website continue. It is where I learn about new audio dramas to listen to. I would really encourage all of you to donate to this website.

Thanks for tuning in.

Late Summer early Fall media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more radio, TV, and podcast stories.

Kathy Hernandez is now back with KPRC TV in Houston. Kathy started her career with KDVR in Colorado. She had a baby boy back in May. Congratulations to her.

Troy Renk is no longer with KMGH channel 7. He has moved back to the Denver post. He will be covering sports for the Denver Post again. Lionel Bienvenu has taken over Troy’s sports reporting for channel 7 for now. 

Sticking with former anchors that used to be in Colorado that have moved on to Texas, Crystal Ayala has been named co-anchor of Telemundo Houston evenings. Crystal was an anchor in Colorado back in 2007 or 2008 for Univision in Colorado. Good luck to her with this new position.

Mark Schlereth has started a new Sports TV show from 6-8 on the TV station FS1 alongside Danny Parkins from Chicago, and a third host Craig Carton who was with WFAN and KKFN back in the late 1990’s. This show will be on for 2 hours. Is Mark Schlereth leaving 104.3 KKFN radio? No, he isn’t. After he is finished with TV, Schlereth is going to join 104.3 KKFN’s morning show for two hours from 8-10 AM every weekday morning. Mark Schlereth said that it’s the best of both worlds. He has moved to New York and will join the show from New York remotely from the New York studios. Mark really likes KKFN radio and the listeners of the show. Mike Evans seemed really happy about Mark still being on the air on KKFN radio. If you would like to read the article you can read it by clicking on the article on the Barrett’s sports media website. https://barrettmedia.com/2024/09/30/mark-schlereth-brings-a-team-oriented-focus-to-fox-sports-breakfast-ball-on-fs1-104-3-the-fan/

Also on the Barrett Media website there is an article put out on Thursday August 30, 2024 about Mike Gallagher getting new listeners to his program on the Salem news channel on Tv. The channel is called Pluto. You can catch the Mike Gallagher show in Colorado on 560 KLZ radio. Mike seemed happy that he was getting new listeners to the show.  https://barrettmedia.com/2024/08/28/mike-gallagher-ive-seen-my-audience-expand-since-salem-news-channel-was-added-to-pluto-tv/

On September 2, 2024 on The Fan, Chad Andris and John Davis filled in for Zach Bye and Phillip Lindsay. I really like this combination of hosts.  Also, NPR is adding a segment to their news programming called a joy segment covering positive stories without political or news related stories. This will be on the radio broadcasts, but not digital yet. Perhaps this might come in the future.

KUVO celebrated their 40th anniversary on August 30, 2024. Congratulations to that station. I interned there about 15 years ago.

A couple of radio stations in Salida Colorado are being sold. Three Eagles’ communications is selling three stations in Salida Colorado to Highwater House Media.  These stations are : KVRH Hot Adult contemporary 92.3, KWUZ radio Classic hits 97.5 radio, KBVC radio 104.1 country, and KGKG soft adult contemporary 102.9 radio.

107.5 radio is changing the name of the station to throw back’s 107.5 radio. That is interesting news there.  

When 107.1radio and 101.5 radio made the transition to Pillar Media, some of the staff was let go from 910 KPOF. 3 members of the staff retired -Roy Hanshke, Denise Washington Blomberg, and Jack Peelin all retired. Good luck to all 3 of them. Becky Ross was the one who stayed and is now the program director of 910 KPOF radio.  I really enjoyed Roy and Denise as a team. Jack Peelin was fun to listen to on Sundays. I remember Roy and Denise from their time on 91.1 KWBI radio.   

Bryan Avila who was a DJ on KTCL radio is no longer with 97.3 KTCL radio due to budget cuts. That is too bad for him. I really enjoyed his work with I heart media, and I enjoyed his producing work for KOA radio, and 630 KHOW radio as well. My best memory from his time with 850 KOA radio was when he was involved as a producer for the Big Al and JoJo show. He was a good contestant on the Initials game. I enjoyed the couple of times when he and his wife were playing the game on the show. Good luck to him with whatever his next career move would be.

Switching to sports now. Jeff Strigle, who is with the Motor racing network, is calling it a career after the 2024 season of Motor racing. He has spent close to 20 years on the Motor racing broadcasts. I have only listened to him for 2 or 3 years, but my friend Lucas from South Carolina has listened to him for many more years. There is no word yet on who will replace Jeff on the radio broadcasts. Good luck to Jeff Strigle. I have enjoyed your coverage over the years.  Lucas can recall many dominant wins that Jeff Strigle called with our favorite driver Martin Truex Jr.

Mark Johnson who is the announcer for CU Buffs football had some hip surgery over the summer, but he announced the first game on 850 KOA radio tonight August 30, 2024, a big CU Buffs win. Mark was doing some horseback riding and fell off the horse. He is recovering. It has been a month since the surgery. His voice is good, and his eyes are good even if the rest of his body isn’t. He is going to be sitting to do the games.  The Buffs won the game 36 to 28. That was a close win for them.  

Tuesday August 28,2024, I got to meet Jeff Hunt, and Bill Thorpe from 710 KNUS radio. I met them at Doug’s Diner in Parker near where I live. They have a good burger and French fries by the way. While meeting them, they wanted me to come on their show to promote my blog and podcast. I did this appearance on August 30, 2024. My Dad and I will be put a link on my website where you can listen to this.  www.jeremysjourneyllc.com or directly from this link. https://omny.fm/shows/the-jeff-and-bill-show/jeff-and-bill-8-30-24-9am I am hoping many of you tuned into the show or will listen to the rebroadcast from the link.

Thanks for tuning in.

Dr. Joy Brown tribute

Jeremy Levy back with you. Today, I’m going to be writing about a radio host I started listening to when I was 10 or 11 years old, Dr. Joy Brown. Dr. Joy Brown was born on October 24, 1944, and lived in Colorado for a time. She also lived in St. Louis and New York. She died in August of 2016. Dr. Joy Brown hosted the Dr. Joy Brown show first on the WOR radio network, and she then hosted a nationally syndicated show after that. I first heard her on 710 WOR radio when I visited my grandpa and Grandma Steinmuller in New York. I was a listener to Dr. Laura at the time when I would be at home from school in Colorado Springs at CSDB. When I visited New York, I realized that there was an alternative to Dr. Laura. Sometimes I thought that Dr. Laura would be rude to callers. Dr. Joy Brown wasn’t that way. She would listen to their concerns and try to help them with their problems.  The calls I really enjoyed of hers were the calls about parents calling in about their children. Parents would call in asking about problems they were having with their kids. I really thought that Joy Brown had some good tips for parents having trouble with controlling their kids. Also, she had one piece of advice which people can use when you are in a situation that is difficult with another person. Instead of bringing it up to them, which you know will cause an argument or friction between the two of you, be stupid and cheerful. This way the situation between the two of you might not happen. People can use this around difficult people. Some people didn’t understand that the best way for her to help them was to call at the beginning of the hour or when the hour started. Many people would wait to call near the end of the hour, and she would not have time to help them. Many times, she would try and make this clear to the listeners at the beginning of the hour.  Dr. Joy Brown was nationally syndicated by a couple of different radio networks. One of my favorite memories is listening to her in Kauai Hawaii on 570 KQNG radio. She would be on from 11 AM-. 1 PM in the afternoon. One of the days I was there during Christmas, and at the beginning of that our she played Alvin and the Chip Monks version of the 12 days of Christmas. At the end of the song, she was glad it was over. She didn’t really like that version.  Back in 2014 or 2015, I found her at night on 760 radio in Colorado from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Her show did evolve over time to include the producer reading comments from listeners about a topic that Dr. Joy Brown would pose at the beginning of the hour. The listener would respond to the question on Facebook. She had some great producers during this time period. One of them was named Greg, and I really liked that he would talk back and forth with her during the show. Her show was also broadcast in Canada.   I found a you tube video of when she had an appearance in Canada, and that was good. She really enjoyed visiting Canada. She had a great affiliate there. The radio station that she was on was a more news radio station. I think the only talk show was hers on this station. One call I identified with was a caller from New York who was blind. This caller was a teenager. He wanted to have some purpose in his life. Dr. Joy had the wonderful suggestion of volunteering. I took that suggestion back in 2016 or 2017, and started volunteering at Life Care of Stonegate playing the piano for the patients during their dinners. I really enjoyed this, and it seemed the patients did as well. One year I won regional volunteer of the year. During the 2010’s shows, one day during the week she would devote a segment of her show to movies. She had a link on her website for movie reviews. She wasn’t as good as Reggie McDaniel was, but her movie reviews were really great.    Many people will miss her including me. She had a great radio career. Thanks for tuning in.

September 2024 Media Updates & Changes

 Jeremy Levy back with you with more media changes and updates.

If you are a Spanish listener in the Fort Collin area, there is a new station called La Guapa. La Guapa Radio Ideas has closed on its $200,000 purchase of Classic Country "K96.9" KYAP Nunn/Fort Collins CO from Northeast Digital and Wireless’ Appaloosa Broadcasting Company and has flipped the station to Regional Mexican. That is interesting news there.

Tim Ryan has retired from KUSA TV. Good luck to him. Speaking of KUSA TV, Chris Speers has returned as a part time forecaster for KUSA TV after leaving KCNC TV. He still owns the Outside the Box stores near Denver Colorado. This is good news there. This is not a fulltime position for Chris right now. Chris is pretty busy these days. He is doing some part time teaching while owning that business.

Switching to the southern Colorado and New Mexico area, Megan Marie has been named mid-day host for KRST radio in Albuquerque. She is the mid-day host on 95.1 KATC country radio in Colorado Springs. This is due to the departure and retirement of Eddie Haskell who retired from KRST radio. Good luck to Megan with this new opportunity. She will be heard in both markets.

Melissa Moore is leaving Kosi 101 radio. This was a surprise to me. She had been with Kosi 101 since 2017 or 2018. She started with Kosi 101 back in the early 2000’s. She then was with KYGO radio 98.5 and then moved back to Kosi 101 radio. She has worked in a couple of other markets such as Minnesota and Orlando, Florida. What does this mean for Kosi 101 radio? Well, Kosi 101 radio is looking for a new afternoon host. You can apply for this through the Bonneville website. It has the full job posting there.

VSIN sports network is making changes to their lineup. You can find this on 950 radio on Colorado dial. The lineup is built around a new morning show “The VSIN Morning Line” hosted by Michael Lombardi and network newcomers Harrison Sanford and Grace Remington from 7-10am Eastern/4-7am Pacific. Sanford will continue to host weekends on ESPN Radio and work at MSG Network in New York. Remington joins VSIN from CBS Sports HQ and 24/7 Sports and has previously held local television positions in Tampa, Charlotte, Birmingham and Gainesville. Gill Alexander’s “A Numbers Game” will follow from 10am-12pm and “Money Moves” with Lombardi’s former co-host Stormy Buonantony from 12-2pm. John Hansen joins to host “Prop Points” from 2-3pm. Hanson and Adam Schein will lead “Make It Rain” from 3-4pm. The former morning show “Follow The Money” hosted by Mitch Moss and Paul Howard will move to afternoons from 4-7pm Eastern/1-4pm Pacific. Evenings will feature “VSIN Primetime” with Matt Youmans, Jonathan Von Tobel, and Tim Murray from 7-11pm Monday through Thursday and Youmans and Van Tobel from 7-9pm Fridays. Joe Ceraulo will host “Cashing Out” from 11pm-2am Sunday through Thursday. Youman’s “Circa Friday Football Invitational” will air on Fridays from 9-11pm with Sean Green and Ryan Kramer’s “Sports Gambling Podcast” following from 11pm-2am.

VSIN also adds former NFL quarterback and CBS Sports NFL analyst Rich Gannon to co-host “VSIN’s Pro Football Tailgate Show” on Sunday mornings and contribute to other shows during the week. Gannon also currently hosts for SiriusXM. Former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz will appear on “Live Bet Saturday” and “Live Bet Sunday” as well as make appearances on Buonantony’s show. Schwartz continues to co-host shows and a podcast for Fox Sports Radio and SiriusXM.

Switching to News Talk radio, on the Barett’s media news website on Tuesday September 10, 2024 Mark Lavin wasn’t on Mondays show because of an injury he suffered. He tore his quadricep in his knee. He wrote in a Facebook post that he would be out the next couple of days. He had surgery on Tuesday September 10. Good luck to him with this and hoping for a fast recovery. I hope the surgery goes well, and I hope that he recovers quickly.  Ben Ferguson substituted for Lavin on Monday and Thursdays show. Brian Mudd from WJNO radio in Florida substituted on Tuesday.  Rich Valdez was in for Mark on Wednesday 9/11 of 2024.  Mark Laven has been doing 2 hours of his show in a wheelchair while recovering.

Thanks for tuning in.

More August media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about Colorado Radio, TV, and podcast changes.

Ed Green has retired from KUSA channel 9 TV.

John Rayburn who was with KUSA TV and might have done some music radio shows on KEZW 1430 radio when that was a station passed away. Condolences to his family.  

105.9 KALC’s morning show hosted by Jamie White, and B.J. Harris has gotten a contract extension to remain for 4 more years at the station. This is good news there. There is a new mid-day host for KALC radio as well. Heather Collins is on KALC from 10 AM to 3 PM. She started in Las Vegas at a station there. She also tracks for WTDY radio In Philadelphia.  This is good news also.

I don’t like what Audacy has done locally by bringing in people from other parts of the country to do shows. It doesn’t bring the local flavor into the station.

Joel Burke, who used to be with KYGO radio back in the late 1990’s early 2000’s, who was with Southwest Media Group, is no longer with Southwest Media group. These stations are in Texas. He was with the country station there. These stations are being sold. There is no word yet on where he is headed next. I really miss him on KYGO radio.

In Colorado Springs, the Bob and Tom show has been extended to still carry their show on KKFM radio in Colorado Springs.  Kendra Carr has been named new morning host on KRCC radio also in Colorado Springs. She is the new host for morning edition. Luke Story has been named as one of the board members of the Colorado Broadcasters association. He came from Arkansas.  A couple of names from the Colorado Springs I heart media have been laid off. Tammy Oakland is no longer with Sunny 106.3 radio in Colorado Springs. She has started her career with Cumulus media on 95.1 KATC Country, and then to 92.9 KKPK radio. I really enjoyed listening to her on the Peak, and on Sunny 106.3 radio. She was a great host, and a great interviewer of Mike Boyle. Mike used to come on Tammy and Jim Berry’s show on Friday mornings at 8:30. Tammy, you are certainly someone I would like to interview for my podcast one of these days.  Also Kevin Chiba Hopkins is no longer with 96.1 KIBT the beat radio. He had been with them since the early 2000’s as well.

Rameen Madani has also exited I heart Media in Phoenix; He was in Colorado Springs in 2008 until 2013. He was a digital program director there.

Jeffrey Ramsey has also exited as afternoon host at 95.7 KDHT radio in Denver. He came from Maryland before that.     

Bronco’s training camp is wrapping up this week, and it has been a good camp. My dad and I went out there this past Monday. I really appreciated how we were both treated by the Bronco’s organization, and I enjoyed watching training camp. I will be talking more about this on my September podcast. I didn’t see any of the media out there like I thought I was going to. Maybe next year or in the next couple of years.

One highlight from Altitude Sports radio’s coverage from Wednesday August 14, 2024 was when Mark Moser was being followed by a wasp. He tried to kill the wasp and was like a sports person in the Olympics. This took a whole segment of the show. You can listen to this on the podcast on apple podcasts. https://www.altitudesportsradio.com/static-pages/moser-lombardi-and-kane-podcasts/

The first pre-season game was broadcast on 850 KOA radio. It was great to hear Dave Logan, Rick Lewis, and Susie Wargin on the call of the game.  

Alex, who is a weekend producer on 104.3 KKFN, is doing some different things for the station, and won’t be producing on Saturday mornings any more for the Terry Wickstrom outdoor show anymore. Good luck to him with whatever he is doing for the station. A producer Joe will be now producing on Saturdays. That is good news there.  Also, on 104.3 KKFN radio, Matt Smith has been filling in for Mike Evans this week. Brandon Stokley and Mark Schlereth have a little bit of a mystery going on. The microphone that they use in the studio has something sticky on it. Brandon thinks it is Mark while Mark thinks it’s Brandon. This is entertaining to listen to.

On the first weekend of August, Focus on the Family had a celebration. Focus on the Family is who produces Adventures in Odyssey. They had a celebration for the one thousandth adventures in Odyssey episode that will be coming out next Spring. Many fans of the show, including some that do podcasts about the show, were there, and it sounded like it was a big success. That is great news there.

During the first weekend of August Peter Boyles left for the annual trip to Sturgis, South Dakota for the annual motorcycle rally. He has always had a great time doing that, and this year was no exception. He was a guest on the Jeff and Bill show on Monday the fifth of August, and it sounded like he was having a great time. He was back on the air on Saturday August 11, 2024.

Jon Caldara also took a bucket list trip to England to see the studio where the Beatles recorded their music. He said it was a great trip.  He actually got to go in the studio where they recorded the music. It makes me think of starting a bucket list of places where I would like to travel. When I hear Mike Boyle talking about places where he has traveled it makes me think about this as well. Speaking of Mike Boyle, “The 22nd annual Taste of Douglas County was a ball this year!” Quote from Mike Boyle. Many people came up to him at the event, and he enjoyed that. He is looking forward to the next one coming up next August 2025.  

Some podcasting news that I would like to share now. There is a podcast that has been around since February of 2006, and is celebrating its 2000th episode this past week Thursday August 8, 2024. This was one of the first podcast that I subscribed to when I was taking some computer college classes at Pikes Peak Community college.  This podcast is called The Giz Wiz. Back in 2006 it was hosted by Leo Laporte and Dick Debartolo.  After 2015 or 2016 it was canceled by Leo Laporte and the TWIT network, and Chad Johnson took over hosting the program with Dick. Chad has his own channel for podcasts. This could be found here. https://www.gizwiz.tv/ This podcast is about different gadgets that Dick and Chad have both discovered. I have enjoyed the music that is used on this show which is done by Dan Leuters. It is so hard to believe it has been 2000 episodes already, and I am hoping that it will continue for years to come. They were the first ones to get me interested in podcasting. Thanks to Leo, Chad, and Dick for getting me interested in podcasts. I am also hoping that my podcast will be around for this long as well.

Thanks for tuning in.

August 2024 media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about Colorado radio, TV, and podcast changes.

Pillar Media’s 107.1 radio is changing the name of the station again. It is going back to Flow 107.1. It will be a hip-hop format. That is interesting news there. There are 2 new program directors to the Pillar Media formats. Becky has been named program director of 910 KPOF radio, and Tony V.  has been named program director of 107.1 radio which is the hip hop station. Becky is on in the afternoons on KPOF radio. Tony V used to be with Jefferson Pilot communications when that was a group here in Colorado. He did some work for the hip-hop station KQKS and some work with KYGO radio. Becky has been with 910 KPOF radio since the early 2000’s.  

Switching to the Colorado Springs side of things, KILO 94.3 rock radio is searching for a DJ to work nights on the rock station. This station is owned by Bahakel Communications. They would like a DJ who has some experience with being on a rock station. They are looking for someone who knows rock music as well. They also are looking for someone who is good at creating bits and content to bring the show to the next level.  If anyone is interested they need to e-mail a resume and a cover letter plus a sample of their work to jobs@kilo943.com. No phone calls please.

Kosi 101 radio is doing a great promotion for first responders. This is put on with Smash Burger. People who donate new teddy bears will be given a smash burger. Smash burger will give the Teddy Bears to first responders who will then give them to children who have experienced tragedy in their lives. The program director Jim Lawson said that he likes doing events like this in the community. I also like it when radio stations do this kind of event. You can take a look at participating locations of Smash Burger by going to the events page on the Kosi 101 radio website.   

Albuquerque is one of my favorite places to visit, and Albuquerque is relatively close to Colorado Springs (5 hour drive). On July 28, 2024 Juan Valesco passed away. He was the host on KRST radio. Many listeners, and the staff will miss him. He did mid-days for a while when he was on that station, and then he moved to afternoons in 2019. RIP Juan. Many people will really miss you. He was in his 60’s.    

Switching to the sports radio side of radio: there was an interesting article about Mark Schlereth on the Barrett media website. The title of the article is: Mark Schlereth doesn’t like statistics. Mike Evans, and Mark Schlereth were talking about Nicola Jokic being in the Olympics. When Nicola wasn’t on the court his team was outscored. When he was on the court the score was tied. Mark Schlereth said he likes statistics when they mean something. He doesn’t like people throwing out statistics just to throw out statistics. I thought it was an interesting article. If you would like to read it for yourself, you can do this by clicking here. https://barrettmedia.com/2024/07/29/mark-schlereth-i-only-like-using-stats-when-it-fits-my-narrative/

Also, on the Barrett media news website there was an interesting article about Dave Ramsey who is on Freedom 93.7 radio from 7-10 PM. This article had to do with an expression that he uses on the show when callers ask how he is. He responds with Better than I deserve. An e-mailer into the show asked him how they can practice contentment without feeling guilt, Ramsey said having the recognition is half the battle, leading him to tell thousands of callers that he’s better than he deserves. Dave quoted in the article that he balances consumption with his  generosity,” He went on to explain that the blessings in his life are beyond his smarts and his hard work. I really liked that, and it gives me a good understanding of why he uses this phrase when callers ask that question of him. If you would like to read this for yourself, you can do that by clicking here. https://barrettmedia.com/2024/04/18/blake-thompson-led-a-digital-revolution-for-dave-ramsey-and-ramsey-solutions/

Clay Travis isn’t going to Israel for a trip this year. Maybe in future years. A couple of other national hosts are there this week. Mike Galigher and Tony Katz being two of them. 

Larry Elder is re-joining Salem Communications to host from 4-7 PM mountain time. This includes stations 710 KNUs and 1460 KZNT radio in Colorado Springs. He will be replacing the Officer Brandon Tatum show time slot. Brandon told radio insight that he will still be broadcasting on his you tube channel, and he is excited to welcome Larry back to the air waves.  Larry tried for some political positions in California and didn’t get them. Good luck to Larry with the new show.

Back Bone radio is no longer on 710 KNUS on Sunday nights anymore. That show was originally hosted by John Andrews, then by Krista Kafer and Ross Kaminsky, and finally by Matt Done. Good luck to Matt with whatever he is going to do now. Ark Midnight with John B Wells is on from 5-8 PM in the time slot that was the Back Bone radio time.   

A couple of podcasting notes. Sometimes when a podcast that has been going on for a couple of years needs a transition. Transition can be a little bit hard for the listeners. The listeners gets used to hearing how a host does things or hosts the podcast when a different host takes over it can be a little bit difficult with the changes. This being the case with the Freedom Scientific podcast= https://www.freedomscientific.com/training/podcast/ - put out by Vispero, who developed and maintain the screen reader jaws. This podcast has been going on since 2007 and was originally hosted by Johnathan Mosen from Australia. A couple of years ago in April of 2020 a second host took over for Johnathan named Glen Gordan. Glen Gordan has been a wonderful host on the podcast, and he has enjoyed interviewing different people who are with Vispero, and people who are blind. Glen enjoys working on Jaws as well. He wants more time to work on Jaws, and not spend time with the podcast. In episode 247 of the podcast, Glen introduced the third host of the podcast who will be taking over for him. His name is Oleg Shevkun. Good luck to Glen and good luck to Olev. I know the podcast will be great in your hands. Thanks to Glen Gordan for doing such a great job over the years with hosting the podcast. Your information was always great.   

Thanks for tuning in.

Summer 2024 media updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more summer 2024  radio, TV, and podcast changes.

Katie Orth has left Channel 2 news to move back to Texas, this time to Austin, Texas. She will be the new evening anchor alongside Dave Fruelick. Good luck to Katie. I remember when she was on channel 2 in Colorado. I also remember when she moved to channel 2.  

Sometimes in radio interesting things happen to hosts that they think about how they would handle a situation. This was the case with Mark Bertagnoli on Altitude sports radio. Mark was filling in for Andy Lindahl this past Monday, and that past weekend he had a story to tell. At altitude sports radio they have doors that go into the studio, and these doors are really heavy. Mark was doing the pre-game, and post-game show for the soccer game that was happening on the station on Sunday. After the post-game show Mark was going through the door, and the doorknob came off in his hand. This meant that he was locked in the studio. He was thinking to himself how am I going to get out. He tried calling the engineer who works at the station, and the guy said to send an e-mail. I think Altitude sports radio might need to get a more caring engineer for Altitude sports radio 92.5. He was the only one in the building. He tied his shirt around the door to open it, and after a couple of minutes he was free from the studio. Nate Kreckman asked an interesting question which was "were you nervous about coming back to do the show today?" Mark said no. He wasn’t nervous to do the show today. They spent a whole segment on that which was humorous. The other guests for the rest of the week were Jeff Legwald from ESPN on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Mark Springer was on Thursday for Andy. Mark Bertagnoli was on again on Friday. Andy was on vacation. Since Mark Springer was hosting, a different producer named K. J. was producing the show and did a fine job.  Nate Kreckman also said he did a fine job.

Sticking with Altitude sports radio, the NBA draft happened on Wednesday June 26 and Thursday June 27, 2024. There was an article on the Barrett’s sports media blog that a couple of the national guys were putting out the picks on Twitter before they were announced on the TV broadcasts. Brett Cain didn’t like this. He thought it took away from the enjoyment. Vic Lombardi explained why they did that was to get attention for reporting the pick first. If you would like to read the article, you can do this by clicking here. https://barrettmedia.com/blog/

 Also, during the 4th of July week, Altitude sports radio 92.5 did something fun and special on the third of July. It was their summer switching around of hosts. This meant that different hosts worked together with other hosts on the station. Starting out the day they had Darren Mckey, Chris Dempsey, and one of the other hosts. Then they had Andy Lindahl, Brett Cain, and Kim who usually hosts some days with Chris Dempsey. That was a fun hour. Then they had Vick Lombardi, Alex Raj, and Tyler Polumbus on. Then they had Nate Kreckman, Mark Moser, and Mike the coach on. Each show had some good parts to it for the hour. The only one that wasn’t a part of this was Scott Hastings. Scott was on vacation that week. They said this isn’t going to be the last time that they do this kind of a day.  My favorite segment is the beginning of the Bret Cain, Andy Lindahl, and Kim segment where they talked about sports injuries that they have suffered. I got a chance to know Kim a little bit better. Kim used to work for Disney on Ice and told a story about an injury that she suffered. When Mark Moser and Coach Mike did their show with Nate, Nate played a game with them called: Who is more wrong? Mark Moser or Coach Mike. He would ask them sports related questions, and then he would decide which one of them was more wrong. Mark and Coach Mike didn’t know that Nate was Judge, Jury, and executioner. Coach Mike ended up winning the game.

On 104.3 the fan this week Matt Smith got to fill in for 3 days with Brandon Stokley. That was fun to listen to.  Matt was filling in for Josh Dover. They were talking about the Bronco’s training camp that is coming up.  Usually, Matt Smith is filling in for the morning show with either Mike Evans or Mark Schlereth.

On 850 KOA radio, one of the listeners to Mandy Connell’s show developed a song for her show. She had the listener on, and said she really liked the song, and would start using it for the beginning of her show. Mandy went and broadcasted from the Republican Convention. Mandy will also be broadcasting from the Democratic National convention. I really think these will be fun shows to listen to.

Mike Boyle has had podcasts of his Denver Show, but now he has the Colorado Springs show podcasted as well. I am really looking forward to catching the Colorado Springs show as well as the Denver show. https://710knus.com/radioshow/the-restaurant-show

 On the fifth of July, KKFN radio 104.3 had some great substitute hosts. From 6-10 A.m. was Matt Smith and John Davis, and then from 10-2 p.m. was Mike Rice and Kevin Kisner. That was a really special treat. From 2-6 P.m. it was Dan Jacobs. That was good as well.  That was a fun day to be a listener.

On Saturday, when I tuned into the Dan Jacobs show, I found out that he is going on a trip to Africa for a couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to hearing about the trip when he gets back.

I would like to now give a podcast recommendation to the followers of my blog. This podcast is called the Fantasy for The Ages podcast. This podcast is hosted by Jim Scriven and his son Zach. Jim Lives in the state of Washington, and Zach is going to college somewhere. They try and get together every couple of weeks to record episodes. They talk about Fantasy books, Science fiction books, and other nerdy things they enjoy. Many of the episodes are hosted by Jim, because Zach isn’t available to record. I really like this podcast because at the beginning of the month Jim has a monthly reading plan that he talks about, and he and the listeners come with him to see how many books he gets through that particular month. He has 3 different categories of books- physical reads, books that he reads on his kindle, and audio books. At the end of the month, he talks about how many of these 3 categories he has read. I have found some new authors through this podcast. I am hoping if you like fantasy books and podcasts that you will check this podcast out.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-for-the-ages/id1544680047

Thanks for tuning in.

Early summer 2024 colorado Radio, TV, and Podcast news

eremy Levy back with you with some Radio, Podcast, and TV news. I am really looking forward to the summer. I am hoping all of my readers are as well.

Scott Ginsburg the owner of Chansler Media who had some stations in Colorado including Kool 105 ,KALC( in the 1990’s), KIMN radio, and KRRF radio 1280 in the late 1990’s has passed away. Chansler Media had many stations across the United States. Scott was in his 70’s. I remember many fun times in the late 1990’s listening to Kool 105, and 1280 KRRF radio.

Switching to a lighter note, good wishes go out to Jon Caldara. During the week of the 16th of June, on that Tuesday, Jon wasn’t feeling well, and it turns out he had a heart attack. He was in the hospital for 2 or 3 days. I have been listening to him since the early 2000’s, and I am glad that he was back on the radio Saturday the 22nd of June. He said he is really happy to be with the listeners on Saturday.

A quick KNUS note also, I found out that Leroy Daughenbaugh who was a producer on 710 KNUS radio passed away in April of 2024. He passed away in his sleep. He was a truck driver, but he also was a producer for several radio stations including 710 KNUS radio. I remember him producing for the Steffan Tubbs show and Wake Up with Randy Corporon. I will remember him the best as one of the Mike Boyle Restaurant show producers. He did a great job producing for that show.  Condolences go out to his family. He is survived by his 3 sons, and many nieces, and nephews.     

On Memorial day,  104.3 the Fan had a good fill in show for the morning hosted usually by Mike Evans, and Mark Schlereth. Matt Smith and Kyle Reese were on. They are normally the hosts on Sunday mornings on 104.3 the Fan. They are a good team together. They were talking about the Bronco’s, the Nuggets, and the Avalanche. They were also on for Josh Dover and Brandon Stokley.

On 850 KOA radio, Grant Smith did a great interview that aired on the Taking it for Granted podcast. His interview was with Dave Logan. You can find the podcast by searching for Taking it for Granted on the KOA website or by clicking here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/taking-it-for-granted-ep-162-dave-logan/id1548380354?i=1000652786441.

Andy Lindahl was doing a show in the middle of the Nuggets and Avalanche run in the playoffs. This was a classic show hosted by Andy because he had 3 different co-hosts. For the first hour, he had Jason Cosmitsky on as a co-host. Then in the second hour Connor Mcgahee was the co-host for the second hour, and Jeff Legwald from ESPN was on for the last hour talking about the Bronco’s and the draft.

Speaking of the Nate Kreckman and Andy Lindahl show, one day at the beginning of June Nate was not on for an hour and a half because of some water that was coming out of a pipe at his home. Andy Lindahl did a great job hosting for that hour and a half. Nate learned an important but funny lesson. The room where this room was located didn’t have a name for the room. He learned that his wife, and him needed to come up with a name for that room so they would both know what they were talking about.     

I found out on the Mike Boyle restaurant show that Louis Gonzales, the Sunday producer of the Mike Boyle Restaurant show, has moved to Florida. He got married. I will really miss him producing for the Mike Boyle Restaurant show. The one memory I have is one Sunday when Mike was on vacation, Louis Gonzales was the fill in for him. This was a fun show. He talked about different sandwich places. Good luck to Louis. I will miss you.  You were a great addition to the weekend programming on the station.

850 KOA radio Ben Lasiter is no longer with 850 KOA radio. He is moving on from that station. He said on the air that he really enjoyed doing the news for Mandy’s show. He also really enjoyed the Of the Day segment. He did pretty well. On his last day he lost in the jeopardy round by one point. We will have to see who fills that position. I am personally hoping it will be someone who can do a better voice for of the day.

The Avalanche, and the Denver Nuggets were in the playoffs this year, but neither made it out of the second round. The Nuggets lost to the Timber Wolves, and the Avalanche lost to the Stars. Dave Logan said on the Dave Logan podcast that the Nuggets needed to be tougher against the Timber Wolves. It was fun having both these teams in the playoffs. Perhaps next year they will get further.

Speaking of Sports, there is a new documentary coming out called Receiver. This documentary is about some of the receivers that are in the National Football League. There was an article about this documentary from the Barrett’s sports media blog about Mark Schlereth’s thoughts about this documentary. Matt Smith who was filling in for Mike Evans on Friday June 14 asked Mark Schlereth would he watch this documentary? Mark Schlereth said no. He wouldn’t watch it. He watched the first one called Quarterback. He thought it was boring. At the end of the segment Smith asked Schlereth if he would watch a documentary that was called Offensive Line? Schlereth said he wouldn’t. He had played that position and wouldn’t want to re-live this experience. He thinks that his life as an offensive lineman in the NFL was boring. My thought on this is that I don’t think so, and I am maybe looking forward to doing an interview with Schlereth sometime down the road. I think he would be an interesting person to interview. If you would like to read the article, you can find this at the sports radio news of the Barrett’s sports media blog. You can also find the podcast of this on the KKFN radio podcasts or by clicking here https://barrettsportsmedia.com/.  

The Rockies have had a slow start to the season, but I enjoy listening to Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemel. Not having the Nuggets and the Avalanche in the playoffs has given me a chance to listen to podcasts as well.

Some podcasting news. The audio theatre Central podcast celebrated its 200th episode at the beginning of June. It’s hard to believe it has been around that long. It was a wonderful episode filled with industry guests that I was familiar with, and others that I wasn’t so familiar with that I would like to check out. A couple of the guests I was familiar with were Katie Leigh, Phill Loller, Paul McCusker, and Marshall Younger. One of the guests I wasn’t as familiar with was Jason from Marquail productions. I will have to check some of the shows when I have an opportunity. Also in this episode, J.D. had listeners call into the voice mail line to tell him their congratulations. I did this, and my voice was featured on this special 200th episode of the podcast. This was really special for me, and I think it was special for J.D. . You can find this episode at Audiotheatrecentralpodcast/200.

One other podcast note that I would like to mention is that the For Fawkes Sake podcast episodes in their episode 221 of the podcast they had a question for the listeners to respond to. This question was should Harry Potter have put in the luck potion into Ron’s drink. How should Hermione should have handled this when she found out that Harry faked putting in the luck potion? They asked listeners to call into the voice mail line for them to hear the listeners thoughts on this were. I did this, and my voice was featured in the 222 episode of the podcast. It was hard for me to think what the right decision would be. It was fun calling into the podcast voice mail line.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-222-drama-drama-drama/id1485908641?i=1000658968098  

Thanks for tuning in.

Spring 2024 radio/TV changes

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more radio and TV changes in 2024. I am certainly ready for Spring. I hope everyone had a great Winter season.

Kristine Noell had a baby in February of 2024. Congratulations to her. She is still not sure what she is doing yet for a career. Right now, she is in Colorado, but might be moving back to Houston. She was most recently with KPRC 2 in Houston. Before that she was with KUSA TV in Colorado.

There is still no word yet on who is replacing Rob Quirk who retired at the end of 2023.  Hope media Group is looking for a program director to lead its radio stations. Hope Media group owns 910 KPOF radio and 101.5 radio. You can find the details on the Hope Media website and apply there.

In February of 2024, Robbie Knight who was a Westwood one, and 995. KQMT radio DJ for many years has passed away from a form of throat cancer. This started back in 2022. Mike Casey former program director at the station will best remember her from her voice. She had a very distinctive voice. I will best remember her from when she was supporting  KBDI channel 12 during a TV auction they had. This was on a Sunday evening. Robbie and Jackie Selby, who was with KOSI 101 radio, talked about some items. I really thought that Robbie and Jackie did a great job. She seemed like a wonderful lady.  

Charlie Cook of cumulus Nashville retired. He worked at “95.5 Nash Icon” WSM. He spent a little time in Colorado during the 70’s and 1980’s. Good luck to him in his retirement.   

It is great to hear that a long-time country program director has been hired in Colorado. That’s right!   Johnathan Wild: Yes, the Johnathan Wild who was with Steve Mudflap Mcgrew and Kelly Ford back in the 1990’s and 2000’s has been hired to do mornings at KXBG radio in Fort Collins/ Wyoming. He is doing mornings on the station. That is great news there. I really enjoyed his work at KYGO radio, and I am quite confident that he will do well on KXBG radio.   Good luck to him with that wonderful career move. Speaking of Johnathan Wild, Kelly Ford, and Steve Mudflap Mcgrew, Kelly has been named the Beasley Media nighttime show host at the country radio stations. She has taken over for the host there. That is great news there. She started last week. Who knows! KYGO radio might be picking up the show.  

Raj Sharon has been named afternoon host at KATC Country 95.1 radio. Raj was most recently with 104.3 The Fan as it’s program director after exiting KKFN radio. I didn’t know that he was into Country music. I am thinking that Country music and sports radio have really similar listenership. Good luck to Raj.

On Altitude sports radio, Marty O, The Altitude sports radio morning show producer got the award for best employee of the month back in February of 2024. Bret Cain wasn’t there that day and the promotion guy Rob Trigilio was filling in. Marty and Rob talked about this. That is good news there.

Also, congratulations are in order for Baylee B who used to be on 97.3 KBCO radio. She is still looking for a radio job, but in the meantime, she has gotten her Real Estate license. That is good news there.

On February 11, 2024, KALC 105.9 had their annual radiothon to help Children’s hospital. They had another successful year.  On February 23 and 24 of 2024 Winter Park and the NSCD had their annual fund raiser up at Winter Park Colorado. Ross Kaminsky was up there for Friday the 24th to do his show. He did a wonderful job with the interviews. My favorite interview was when he interviewed a lady who was a blind skiier, and she teaches P.E. at a school near Winter Park. The only disappointing part of the day was that Mandy Connell wasn’t up there this year. She had a trip scheduled for that next week with her mom, and husband. Hopefully, she will be there next year.         

There are some interesting changes happening on 710 KNUS radio on Saturdays. The Jimmy Sengenberger show that used to be on from 7-10AM is no longer on the air. He had been with 710 KNUS ever since 2013. It’s hard to believe it has been that long. I remember when he started on 710 KNUS radio. His time was 5-8 PM on Saturday nights. Then his show was moved to Saturday mornings from 6-9 AM on Saturday mornings. Starting in January of this year, his show moved to 7-10 AM on Saturdays. What made this show fun for me to listen to was the music guests that he had on. He would have blues musicians on to talk about their music. I also enjoyed it when he had a voice actor Jimmi Viles on. Jimmy has started a couple of podcasts. One of them is relating to music. His first episode should be released as of this posting.  What does this mean for the Peter Boyles show? Well, Peter Boyles show has been moved from 9-Noon to 10 AM to 1 PM.  Jimmy invited people to check out his website Jimmy.segenburger.com and subscribe to his newsletter to find out what his next activities would be.  His newsletter is the Intrepid Inquiries. Jimmy said he really enjoyed doing the show and he will miss doing it. He has some other projects on the horizon that would prevent him from continuing the show. Jon Caldara has been put into that 7-10 AM time slot for now.   

Speaking of 710 KNUS, this time it is the weekday schedule that has gone through some changes. George Brauchler is no longer on 710 KNUS doing the morning show. He is running for Douglas County Commissioner in DC 4. What has replaced this show? Well, Jeff Hunt and Bill Thorpe have started the Jeff, and Bill show from 6-10 AM Monday through Friday. Jeff Hunt is from the Colorado Conservative Summit and Bill Thorpe is from Colorado Christian University. That is interesting news there. One more note about 710 KNUS radio, Denis Prager’s show has been cut back an hour, and now is on for 2 hours. Denis is a national personality. His show used to air from 11 AM to 2 PM. It is now on from 11AM to 1 PM. These are certainly interesting changes.   

A couple of quick podcast notes. The Giz Wiz podcast hosted by Dick De Bartalo, and Chad Johnson celebrated their 18 anniversary. This podcast started back in 2006 with Dick and Leo Laporte, and Chad started hosting back in 2014. I started listening in 2007. This show is about different gadgets that Dick and Chad have discovered.  Chad and Dick had a cake made for them. The next quick podcast note is that I found a couple of new Harry Potter podcasts to listen to. The first one is For Fawkes Sake podcast. This is hosted by 2 friends who decided to host a Harry Potter Podcast together. They also have a YouTube cooking show together. They celebrated their 200th episode in January of 2024. I really think they do a great job covering the books and they bring up some good questions. The only criticism I have about their show is they do have a tendency to swear. If kids are listening, they would want to be aware of this, or parents would want to be aware of this. The second podcast I found is called Broomsticks, and Butter Beer podcast. This show is hosted by Daniel Rino and his wife Jessica. They are from St. Louis.In January of 2024, they celebrated their 200 episode. That is wonderful news there. They also bring up some good questions while reading the books. Both of these Potter podcasts are talking about book 6 Harry Potter, and the Half Blood Prince.

Thanks for tuning in.