Avalanche!!!

Jeremy Levy back with you. I am really excited to report that the Colorado Avalanche went to the Stanley Cup finals. “You can go home, but you can’t Stay Here!” This Party Is Over!” The Avalanche WON the Stanley Cup Finals!” “They did it! The Colorado Avalanche are Stanley Cup Champions! The final score of the last game was 2 to 1!” said Conor McGahey, announcer of the Colorado Avalanche on Altitude Sports radio 92.5.  This is something the Avalanche haven’t done in 21 years. The last time they were in the Stanley Cup finals was in 2001. I wasn’t a fan back then. I started becoming a fan in 2009 or 2010.   Mark Moser said “those of you that are young hockey fans, you don’t know what you are in for. This is going to get fun.” Mark said this on Moser, Lombardie and Kain on Altitude 92.5.  Bret Kain is going to learn how much fun the Stanley Cup Finals are this year. Mark Moser said that he is going to learn very quickly. I learned right along with Bret. I am going to take you back through the journey of which this Colorado Avalanche have been this year in the playoffs if you didn't follow along from a radio listener's perspective.

The Colorado Avalanche started playing the Nashville Predators. They won that series in 4 games. I e-mailed Dan Mandis who is the program director of WWTN radio in Nashville and he said that Nashville was a great Hockey town. The Avalanche were very resilient in beating the Predators. Then it was on to a 6-game series with the St. Louis Blues. The Avalanche lost 2 games in that series. St. Louis won a game 5 to 4 in Denver at Ball Arena. I tried e-mailing one of the hosts of the flag ship station Michelle Smallman to ask her about the atmosphere was in St. Louis but didn’t get a response back.  The Avalanche went to St. Louis the next game and won 2 nights later to move on to the Edmonton Oilers. The Avalanche won that series in 4 games. I also tried to get a comment from their radio station Ched 630   to try and get a comment but wasn’t able to.  

The Avalanche went on to face the Tampa Bay Lightning- 2 time defending Champion. Mark Moser was looking on Monday June 13, before the series, at the games the Avalanche have won against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He said they won one game 3 to 2 and one game 4 to 3. Mark Moser and Bret Kain were talking about the goaltender for Tampa. They were saying that he is a very good goalie. The Avalanche have beaten him, so they know that they can beat him. Bret Kain mentioned the Avalanche need to mind their P’s and Q’s. They might have trouble if Tampa Bay scores 3 or 4 goals in a game. It might be difficult for the Avalanche to come back from that. That was Bret’s and Mark Moser’s opinion.

The flag ship station for the Tampa Bay lightning is 970 WFLA in Tampa. I heard from Katie Butchino, who works for 970 radio in Tampa. Her quote to me was " I am a huge hockey fan. It’s impossible not to be in Champa Bay! We are SO excited here in Tampa! Hockey fans here are incredible and very underrated! People don’t realize how much this city loves the Tampa Bay Lightning. The entire city is ready to be 3X champions. It’s very energetic here right now. It you get the chance to be inside the Amalie Arena for a hockey game, even if you’re not a hockey fan, you’ll leave one - it’s unlike any sporting event I’ve ever been to. Incomparable!

The Avalanche went up 2 games to zero in the Lightning Avalanche series. They got an impressive win on Saturday June 18, 2022. It was a shut out 7 to nothing.   Altitude Sports radio 92.5 the flagship station for the Colorado Avalanche had special coverage on Saturday the 18th of June with Josh Dover and Josh Grizmer, the producer of the mid-day Masters of the Mid-day “us”. Josh Grizmer asks some great questions of guests.  It was great to hear from Lauren Gardner who now works for the NHL network, and the MLB Network who also worked for Altitude TV back in the day. She is now working in Florida. She was the best guest in my opinion on the show with Josh and Josh. She said she is hoping to get out to Colorado for games 6 or 7 if there is one. She likes many of the Avalanche players. Altitude sports radio is going to broadcast after the game until after midnight Josh Grizmer will be on after Between the Pipes is over tonight until after midnight.  Bret Cain with Mark Springer will be on from 3 until 5:30 on Saturday night.  That is a great combination of hosts.  In my opinion 104.3 the fan has the second-best coverage of the Colorado Avalanche. The Friday before the second game of the series 104.3 The fan had 2 familiar voices on that morning on the morning show Mike Evans and Sandy Clough. They were together broadcasting in 2001 when the Avalanche were in the Stanley cup finals. Mike and Sandy were remembering when they were together for the 2001 run to the Stanley cup. They went to New York for 2 of the games. They went to a Yankee game together. Mike Evans remembered he got a little bit mouthy with some of the fans. Sandy Clough said the Avalanche have a chance to have a Stanley cup final game at home just like they did in 2001. Sandy seemed to think that this series is going 7 games. He was wrong. They got it done in 6 games Sandy Clough was a guest on the Dan Jacobs show which airs weekends on 104.3 the fan and he said that the 2001 Avalanche had great players on it as well as this team. He said that the 2001 New Jersey Devils were better than this year's Tampa Bay Lightning team is. Dan was asking the question of his guests on fathers day weekend which team was better the 2001 Avalanche or this years Avalanche. It is hard for me to say because I wasn’t a fan of the 2001 team. Dan seemed to think that Kale Makar would be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I agree with him on that.

 On Sunday June 19, John Davis and Rachel from 104.3 the Fan are on talking about the impressive game last night. Rachel seems to think that Tampa is going to win game 3 on Monday night. John isn’t sure about that. I think John and Rachel make a great team together.  The Avalanche did lose game 3 in Tampa, but they came back with an impressive win on Wednesday night June 22, 2022. I love Connor McGayhey’s call of game 4 “Where did the puck go?” Peter McNab who is the color commentator saw that it went in with Nelson Kadri. “It went in!” with Conor’s voice cracking. Kadri had been out for the 3 weeks but was able to come back for game 4. Andy Lindahl said he was tired of the Tampa coaches complaining there were too many guys on the ice. Vick Lombardi and Bret Cain were impressed with the Avalanches win on Wednesday night. They both thought Tampa was going to win  It  was incredible. They thought it was going to be this kind of series through out the games. Vic Lombardi was so excited that he couldn’t sleep the previous night. Vic got up early to join Bret in the 6 AM hour of the Bret Kain Show.  Warm up skate for the Avalanche on the night of June 24, 2022 was electric. Connor McGahey said he has never seen it like this. Connor also said during the pregame show that the Avalanche are prepared for this. He expects a prideful game from Tampa Bay. Don’t think that Tampa is going to go quietly. Conor also said if he could wave his magic wand he would have Gabe Landeskog to have a big game tonight. I agree with that. He is my favorite player. The most important key for today's game is  don’t let the moment  be to overwhelming for the Avalanche. I am looking forward to finding out if they do win the cup tonight. I agree with that as well. They lost game 5 but were able to come back to Tampa and win game 6.  Downtown Denver has been busy with people   Hockey fans are so excited to have their team back in the playoffs and being successful. My Dad has been telling me he has seen pictures of people celebrating downtown.

The Colorado Avalanche had a parade Thursday June 30, 2022, to celebrate winning the cup. KOA radio’s Colorado’s morning news with Marty Lenz was broadcasting live Thursday morning. Mike Rice was along as well for this special morning. Altitude Sports radio was broadcasting as well. The most fun highlight for me being a listener was on Altitude Sports radio when Peter McNabb was joking with Mark Moser about his singing with the fans. I thought his singing was good. Anne from ABC 7 news and Peter McNabb didn’t like Mark singing. I thought that Jarod Bednar’s speech was the highlight of the parade. I also loved Gabe Landeskog’s speech as well. All in all it was a great Avalanche season. The question that has been raised now on KKFN 104.3 on this forth of July weekend by John Davis and his co-host filling in for Zach Bye and Brandon Stokley is which team between the  Nuggets and the Bronco’s will be the next one for a championship? I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to find out.  Thanks for tuning in.

Spring Update

Some weekday mornings 710 KNUS was a station I would flip to, but Peter Boyles retired from 710 KNUS on April 1. There was a going away party show for him at the View House in the Denver Tech Center. That was fun to listen to. I will be writing more about this in the future. George Brauchler has taken over as morning show host for now on 710 KNUS. 

Kelly Ford is doing internet entertainment for Live entertainment and cashless tipping app . Congratulations to her for this. Before this job Kelly was at WNSH radio in New York. She began her radio career at KYGO radio. I really miss her on the radio however, I am glad she found another job in the media universe.

Noah Ayala has joined Max Media Denver as the new morning host on Max media 101.5 KFCO radio. He came from California at from the station KDAY radio in Los Angeles. The move makes sense because the program director came from that station as well.   I have learned over the years that when a program director moves to a station he or she many times likes to bring other hosts from  the station where he or she is from. We will see what happens with this station. It is great that Max Media in Colorado is trying new voices on it’s radio stations.  

Nia Bender is now working for Audacy in Colorado as a  news reporter. Nia was most recently with Cumulus Media as a news anchor. Previous stops include 850 KOA radio and 710 KNUS radio. Congratulations to Nia.

Denise Plante of 106.7 the bull has launched a national campaign to support the American Cancer Society Researchers.   This is to honor her dad who passed away from cancer. I have met Denise before, and she is really involved with different charities. This is a wonderful project for Denise to be doing.

Carlos Lando is back working mornings on KUVO radio89.3 FM. He is on from 7-10 AM. Carlos used to be General Manager of the station. Carlos said we want to give people what they want. KUVO also had a very successful pledge drive. It was great hearing Susan Gatchett and Rodney Franks. I worked with all these people when I did an internship at KUVO and they are a great group.

Jay Williams has become 104.3 the fan’s Nuggets analyst. He will contribute to the Nuggets post game shows. Jay is familiar to fans of ESPN radio hosting from 4-6 A.M. on The Fan.  The name of that show is Kishon, Jay and Max. He is also an NBA analyst on ESPN TV as well. Also good wishes to Mark Schlerith of 104.3 the Fan.  Mark had a heart procedure. He was in the hospital for a couple of days, but is back hosting the morning show.

Congratulations to the Denver Pioneers for winning the NCAA Hockeychampionship against the Minnesota State team. Jay Stickney is the announcer for the Fan, and I think he does a great job. It was fun to hear him call the game.

It was time for the Colorado Broadcasters association dinner again. I enjoyed going to this dinner back a couple of years ago with Marc Crowley from 710 KNUS radio.104.3 won best station for covering the Nuggets. Tyler Polumbus won an award for the segment that he does on 104.3 the Fan during the afternoon show with D MAC (Darren Mckey). 104.3 the Fan also received an award for the best Nuggets podcast with Mike Evans. Best music station went to KRTR radio in Fort Collins.  They got the major market award. Small market was won by KWUZ radio which is a classic hits radio station. Large market went to KCFR radio.  Andy Lindahl of 92.5 radio won best post game show for the Bronco’s for Altitude sports radio.  850 KOA radio won for best news cast for Colorado’s morning news with April Zesbaugh and Marty Lenz. Congratulations to all of the crew out there. That is a wonderful show. I really enjoy tuning into that show. I flip back and forth from that station to 630 KHOW, 104.3 the Fan, and 92.5 KKSE Altitude sports radio station. KOA radio also got an award for best Bronco’s coverage as well. I agree they have the best coverage.

Speaking of April Zesbaugh, she is going to retire sometime in May from 850 KOA radio. I will really miss her. She has done a great job on 850 KOA radio since 1996. Steve Kelley wrote to me in an e-mail that is rare for a host to last that long at one station.  I have been a loyal listener of hers since 2003 or 2004 back when Steve Kelley and April Zesbaugh worked together. April said that Marty Lenz will do a great job hosting the show. He asks great questions of guests. A formal announcement will be in May of 2022.

Sticking with Iheart Media in Denver, Michael Brown has been given the opportunity to host a national show called the Weekend. This show can be heard on Freedom 93.7 and 760 radio K D M D radio from 10-1 PM on Saturday mornings and early afternoons. This show was hosted by Joe Pags Pagurillo who hosts a national show in the evenings on 630 KHOW radio from 6-9 PM. Joe will continue doing the weekday show nationally but will not do the weekend show any more. Michael hosted on the second Saturday in April and the 4th Saturday in April. We are not sure yet if this is going to be a permanent thing for him, but it is a great opportunity for him. Dragon Red Beard is producing for the Michael Brown show on 630 KHOW and for the Ross Kaminsky show on 850 KOA radio.  Angie Zetas who used to be a producer for 630 KHOW and for 850 KOA wants to be a DJ instead of a talk radio producer and that’s why she is no longer with the station. .

An interesting April fool's day joke on April 1, Steffan Tubbs announced he was running for Mayor of the city of Denver. There was much reaction to this. A week later he announced it was an April fool's day joke He had me fooled for a time. During that week Jon Caldara filled in for Stefan on Thursday. He did a great tribute to Peter Boyles.  Peter was the one who gave Jon Caldara his start in radio.

Rockies opening day happened this year and it was back to the normal crowds at Cooers Field. Ross Kaminsky and Mandy Connell did a show late morning from the Rockies Opening day festivities and it was a great pairing of hosts. Dave Logan and Alfred Williams were on late morning/ early afternoon. My favorite interview they did was with Dick Monfort. Dave Logan’s most interesting question was about selling the team. Dick’s answer was that he’s afraid if he sells the team someone else might have success. He doesn’t want that to happen. I thought it was courageous of Dave to ask that question. Jerry Schemmel is back in the booth with Jack Corrigan.

Thanks for tuning in.

Colorado media update

It is with a heavy heart that the Coloradoradioblog reports that Les Shapiro has passed away at the age of 65 years old with lung cancer. I found out about this Saturday January 29, 2022. I remember listening to Les when he was on Mile High 1340 sports radio hosting most recently with Eric Goodman.  Les also worked for 105.5 radio back when that was a sports station. On 105.5 radio, he worked with JoJo Turnbeaugh.  Les also worked for Channel 4 news back in the 1990’s and late 80’s.  Vick Lombarti was another great friend of his. They did a podcast together called Unstoppable.   On this podcast they interviewed athletes and how they went through difficult times. When Dave Logan and Scott Hastings were hosting the Sports Zoo together, Les Shapiro was one of the fill ins. He filled in with Ron Zappolo. Andy Lindahl might have been a producer for some of those shows and I bet he enjoyed having them as fill ins. Alfred Williams was a friend of his as well. KOA radio did a tribute for him from CBS 4. I thought it was a fitting tribute for him. Dave Logan said to reach out to people that you haven’t seen a while because you don’t know when they will be gone.   Mike Boyle also knew him a little bit as well. Les seemed like a very passionate host about sports. Sometimes he would have a very gentle voice on the air. His gentle voice reminded me of Mr. Buck who was one of my technology teachers at Pikes Peak Community college. I will really mis Les.  I wish I could have done an interview with him for this blog. He would have given me some great stories about working in sports radio.  The thing I will always remember that I can take away from Les’s work is what Vick Lombardi said about him- he always had great connections for his sports reporting. This is important for me as I start my media career is to develop great connections with people.

Kilo radio 94.3  is looking for a night jock.  This is a full time job with paid vacation, and insurance. Radio experience is a must and social media skills are a plus.  The program director is Ross Ford. The e-mail address to e-mail your resume to is Jobs@kilo.com. No phone calls. Ross is looking forward to finding out what job applicants he will get.

Well wishes go out from Jeremy Levy to Susan Whitken who was dealing with a back issue. She is hoping to be back on the air doing news for the Mandy Connell show soon. Susan, I hope that you get better soon David Kayle, Tom Mustin, Chad Baur, Laura Hatch, and Kathy Walker  have all been filling in for Susan. Brenda Stuard filled in Saturday afternoon February 5, 2022 for David Kayle. David is usually the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning news anchor for KOA radio.  It is great to hear Brenda back on KOA radio.

Angie Zetas, a producer, is no longer with Iheart Media producing for the Michael Brown show from 6-10 AM. Jesse Thomas has been filling in as the producer while they are looking for a replacement. I can remember a lot of fun times when Michael and Angie worked together. The time I remember most is when Michael and Angie were talking about her niece who was there for a visit and what a challenge she was. Angie and Michael got along so well as host and producer. I am hoping that they do find someone as good to replace her.  

Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor, is now on twice on 1460 the Answer KZNT radio on Sundays. He is on from 7-9 AM on Sunday mornings and he is also on from 5-7 PM on Sunday evenings.

There is some news in the podcasting world of Colorado. Lois Melkonian and Faith Donaldson have ended their "More To Life With Faith and Lois" podcast in the second week of January. The episodes can still be found on the website if people would like to listen back to the episodes. The website is Moretolifewithfaithandlois.com.

The Official Adventures in Odyssey podcast has celebrated it’s 400^th episode. This podcast talks about the Audio Theatre show on the radio Adventures in Odyssey. It is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to. This podcast has different interviews with the voice actors, producers, writers, authors of books about the show, and other things as well. The hosts of the show are Bob Smithhouser, and Jesse Florea. It is hard to believe that this podcast has been around since September of 2007.

Thanks for tuning in.

Radio updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more radio updates. Some radio stations have  an employee of the month. For Altitude Sports radio for January it is Nate Kreckman  the afternoon host on Altitude sports radio 92. 5 He was awarded this on Tuesday February 15, 2022 for the month of January. Congratulations to him for this.

At the beginning of January Jason Cosmitsky who is the regular radio announcer for the Denver Nuggets on sports radio 92.5  was in covid 19 protocall, and Nate Kreckman filled in as the main host on the Denver Nuggets radio broadcasts. It was great hearing him in this roll. Bret Cain couldn’t believe how many stats Nate had during the broadcasts. He played some of them the next day on the morning show. He said that Nate didn’t take a breath while reading the stats. He and I thought that was funny.  

Armen Williams is leaving 610 radio in Houston. If you remember from past blogs he was recently with 104.3 the Fan. He also spent some time with 104.5 the team in New York. Congratulations to Armen for this new opportunity.  Armen will not be in radio anymore. He is going into the business world.

Jason Barett’s sports media’s top 20 lists are out. Dave Tepper got 18, for altitude sports radio and Raj Sheron got 14 for sports radio 104.3 the fan.  

Salem Media in Colorado are looking for sales assistants to join their team. Look on the 710 KNUS or 94.7 KRKS websites for the e-mail address to e-mail your resume.  I have been hearing about this when I tune into 710 KNUS shows.

During the radiothon KALC radio raised 1.1 million dollars. This is great news for them.

KYGO 98.5 radio was selected as station of the year for CMA (The Country Music association). Tracy Dickson of 98.5 KYGO was selected as best morning show for a major  market. Congratulations to her for this.  98.5 KYGO keeps it in the family and gets Mike Fisbeck as it’s next morning show co-host along side Tracy Taylor. Congratulations to him for this. I enjoy listening to them in the mornings. My favorite segment of the show is Tracy’s College of Hollywood knowledge where callers try and beat Tracy with Hollywood questions. If they beat her then they get 100 dollars of Tracy’s money. This happens at 7:30 AM every week day morning.

Way FM which is a Christian Cuntempory Music station has brought on 2 seasoned programmers for their music stations in Colorado. Robyn Sedgwick has been named General manager for Colorado and Kansas. Mike Weston is named Station Manager of Denver. Sedgewick spent the past couple of years as station manager of KCME radio in Colorado Springs. She also spent time at K200em Jazz radio in Colorado Springs.  Before that she spent time at a Christian radio station in Colorado Springs. Weston will report to Robbin. Congratulations to the both of them.  

The Colorado radio blog sends it’s condolences to Joel Folger. Joel did some work for KBPI radio back a long time ago and he is best remembered in the Minnesota and Dallas Texas area. Joel died of a heart attack last Thursday he was 65 years old. Services will take place at the beginning of March. I didn’t get a chance to listen to him on KBPI, but I’m sure he was a great DJ.  

Thanks for tuning in.

Colorado radio updates

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more news about Colorado radio and TV

The summer books are in for sports radio stations in Colorado. 104.3 the fan came in at number one in the sports category. KOA radio 850-94.1 fm came in second and Altitude Sports radio came in third. Altitude sports radio is maybe going to be making some changes. We will see what happens. As I have mentioned before Altitude sports radio  has started out a little bit slow with hosts and programming.  The big news is that Altitude 950 will now become a betting radio station called VSIN betting network. Altitude sports radio used to carry programming from Fox sports radio. Altitude Sports radio 92.5  will now carry this programming when there is not local programming or a sports event Nuggets or Avalanche or Rapids game . This is really exciting for them to add another betting sports radio station. One of the hosts, Michael Prichard, was on with Vick Lombardi, Mark Moser and Bret Cain. He will be hosting a show on the station 950.  I remember Mike from when he was with 104.3 the fan in Colorado.  He has been in Las Vegas hosting a show on 920 AM, the Raiders radio station. This is exciting news for him.  

Kelly Ford has left her New York country radio station post at Audacy country WNSH radio. That station has switched to playing hip-hop. I do hope that Kelly does find a new radio job soon. She was great on 98.5 KYGO back in the old days of KYGO radio.  

If you were wondering, like I was, what happened to Deborah Flora and why she hasn’t been on 710 KNUS for the past couple of months- well, she is running for Colorado State Senator. I really think she did a great show on 710 KNUS radio and I will miss her on Sundays.  There is a whole on 710 KNUS radio from 1-4 PM on Sundays now that Deborah has left the station.  They are playing Jill on money now in that time slot. George Brauchler has now moved into a week day show from 9-10 AM on 710 KNUS radio At the beginning of December. George went to do some army duty and Jon Caldara filled in on KNUS. It is always great to hear Jon. It was a surprise to hear him on 710 KNUS radio. He had some great shows.

 The Jimmy Segenberger show has moved into that 6-9 AM time slot on Saturdays.   From 5-7 PM on Saturdays is national programming Town Hall Weekend, and Hollywood 365 will air during that time slot I really wished that they would have found a local host for that time slot. Also Mark Howington is no longer with 710 KNUS radio doing news. I will miss him. I am not sure what happened to Scott Curtis in the afternoons. I am not sure where Rich Robinson is. Blake  Ulsin is doing the news now in the afternoons on 710 KNUS radio.

 Big Rob Lewis has moved from Iheart media Fort Collins where he was on KSME radio to  Town Square media Fort Collins. Rob was the program director of KSME, KOLT, KPAW, and a couple of the I heart media radio stations in Fort Collins. He resigned from I heart media the first week in October after his contract ran out. He is now doing afternoons on KKPL radio in Fort Collins. This is great news for him.

John Moug  is back in radio doing mornings in Seattle radio on Lotus communications star 101.5 KPLZ radio.  Angie Parker will be joining him in mornings on KPLZ. Salem Communications has promoted Santrella to Chief Operating officer. Back in overseeing president of Colorado Springs cluster and Denver Cluster. Congratulations to him for this. This is great news. Some of you might remember him when he worked on a Colorado radio station.

Colorado Public radio and PPCC radio in Colorado Springs are trading signals. PPCC’s radio station KEPC radio Will change their call letters to KXRE radio. That will air on 102.1 radio and 1490 radio on the A.m. dial. CPR’s public radio music station KVOQ radio will air on 89.7 radio. It will also air on 93.3 radio in Pueblo. The switch will happen in early 2022. This will give students an opportunity to intern with KRCC radio in Colorado Springs which is the CPR radio news station in Colorado Springs. Also Kosi 101 radio has started  playing Christmas music. That started at the beginning of November and will air all the way through the new year. The program director said that this has been a challenging year and they decided to make the switch at the beginning of November to make listeners happier. This is a great decision on their part.

Jerry Bell has retired from 850 KOA radio. I will miss him on KOA radio. I am hoping to stay in touch with him for years to come. I really enjoyed my interview with him. A lot of great people worked with him.

Thanks for tuning in.

Colorado Radio News and Changes

Jeremy Levy back with you with some more 2021 radio Updates. 

On KNUS radio Peter Boyles celebrated his 7 year anniversary with the station. Congratulations to him for this.

Steffan Tubs got Covid 19 and was off the air for a while. He is back and he is sounding better.  My favorite fill in for Steffan was Randy Corporon because he has a very calming voice on the air.

George Brauchler has had a busy summer. He has had some fill ins for his show while he has been doing some presentations for other states and he has also been working on finishing up some trials that he had when he was District Attorney. My favorite fill ins have been Chris Holbert and Debrah Floria.

Mike Boyle had his 30^th  anniversary of being on the air in Colorado radio. He had a fun event in Castle Rock at the Black Eyed Pea that I attended. This is a great restaurant. Congratulations to Mike for this. Also on Saturdays Mike has a new producer named Jean. Jim Nichols is still producing the Sunday show.  

Tom Moller has retired from 710 KNUS radio on October 15, 2021. I really had a wonderful time meeting him at the Colorado radio broadcasting dinner back a couple of Aprils ago.

 Coming up starting November 10, Casey Bloyer has started a new show. The Bloyer Effect is coming back from 7-9 P.m. This is great news for Casey and for KNUS radio.

John Morrisey is  retired from his full time traffic reporting  with KOA radio.  He will fill in on occasion on KOA radio in the mornings if the replacement traffic reporter isn’t available. The replacement reporter is Dave Hunter. I like Dave’s way of telling about the traffic. Congratulations to John on his retirement and also congratulations on Dave Hunter becoming the replacement for John.

Jerry Bell was off the air for a while. He had some surgery and he is back at work now. He is sounding better than ever.

Benjamin Albright got Coved 19. He didn’t go to the hospital and he was vaccinated. He got some medicine and he is back on the air. This is great news for Benjamin. I also enjoy Benjamin’s interviews during the different shows on KOA radio.  

Koa and 630 radio have new schedules. The KHOW radio schedule is as follows: from 6-10 AM-  The situation with Michael Brown. Then from 10 AM – 2 PM is the Trouble Shooter Show with Tom Martino. From 2-4 PM. is Leland Conway. Then from 4-6 is Dan Caplis. The KOA radio schedule is Colorado’s morning news show from 5-9 AM. Then from 9 AM to 12 PM. is the Ross Kaminsky show. From 12-3 PM is the Mandy Connell show. Then from 3-6 PM is the sports zoo with Dave Logan ,Alfred Williams, JoJo Turnbeaugh and Rick Lewis. From from 6-9 PM is Bronco’s Country Tonight with Benjamin Albright and Ryan Edwards.

Also the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche were in the play offs again this year. The Nuggets made it to the second round. In the first round they played the Trail Blazers. The Nuggets won that series. I e-mailed Chad Doing who is a sports radio host there and he said that there were a lot of fans there. “The atmosphere for the limited capacity was exceptional. “

Then the Nuggets played the  Phoenix Suns. I e-mailed a couple of the people who work in the media there and two of my friends that lives there and here are some of the comments.

From Mack Watson: The atmosphere around Phoenix is electric! This town hasn’t seen the Suns in the playoffs for over a decade and everywhere you look people are wearing their Purple and Orange, PROUDLY!

 From my friend Terry Bickel:  It is crazy the Nuggets and Suns are playing each other. I live in Tucson that is an hour and a half from Phoenix,  However, a lot of people here are sowing their Phoenix Suns pride. They are excited that they are in the play offs.  

From my friend Kathy Blanchard: I’m as shocked about the Suns as anyone. I think the last time I remember the Suns being really good was when the Bulls beat them for the championship. There are a few Ex UArizona players or at least player on the Suns.  A championship for Arizona would almost make up for the miserable year we had in sports. 

From Brook Wagoner who works for Kold TV who used to work for Channel 4 KCNC TV: We have a lot of people rooting for The Suns here in Southern Arizona. The fans really showed up for the team, and there’s a lot of excitement. Everyone would love to see them win!  Proud of them for their season. Of course, I have a soft spot for the Nuggets – they were always so kind to the Wednesday’s Children who got to come out and watch practice.  So for me – it’s a win-win!

Suns ended up winning

 Thanks for tuning in.

Warren Byrne Tribute

Jeremy Levy back with you. Today I am going to write about one of my favorite shows that I have been a big fan of since 1997 - the Warren Byrne restaurant show. I know that Warren didn’t want any fan fair, but he is an important person in my listening to talk radio. Let's take a walk down memory lane. Warren first started on the air in the early 80’s on KOA radio. In the early 90’s he moved to 1430 KEZW. I can still remember when I first heard his show. One day I went with my mom and dad to help a friend move into his new house. My mom and dad wanted me to have something to listen to. I had brought my little boom box. I was flicking around the dial and I discovered 1430 KEZW. The show that was on was the Warren Byrne restaurant show. Back then he was on Saturdays from 11-2 and Sundays from 10-noon. I first tuned in on a Sunday. This was significant because this was his last Sunday show. Warren announced that he was moving his Sunday show to Wednesday evenings from 5-7 PM. I wished I had caught some more of his Sunday shows before then. I decided that I liked his style of broadcasting. His voice sounded high and light. He sounded like a elf in the Harry Potter books. I decided I would tune in on Wednesdays to hear him. He was still on Saturdays from 11-2 p.m. I had never heard a mid-week restaurant show. What would it be like? I was excited and maybe a little bit nervous about this new show. I wanted to turn it on right when it started. That day seemed to drag on forever. I tuned in at 4:50 so I wouldn’t miss any of it. Back then KEZW played songs from the 50’s like Frank Sinatra, and other singers from that era. Warren must have been a little nervous as well. When I would listen to him it sounded like he had a little bit of trouble with new things. That show was fantastic and I became a regular listener.When I first started listening to him a lot of people would call in which made the show very interesting. Callers would call in about American restaurants, Mexican Restaurants, Italian restaurants, German restaurants, and they would call in if they were looking for some unusual cuisine. Warren would put it out to the listeners and try and see if they could find what the caller was looking for. This was a fun part of the show to see what listeners would come up with. The show would also take calls about restaurant experiences that listeners had. Warren described it as the peoples show.Another thing I really enjoyed about his show was the music that he used. This is where I first learned about a type of music called no named music. This is where radio stations put together music for different shows that had instruments in the music, but there is no words to it or no title. Warren had this type of music and it was also catchy. Warren would take calls even if people didn’t like a particular restaurant. He would let the restaurant know and would try and correct the situation.Another thing that was interesting about his show was that Warren would put together meal deals with his sponsors. This was called the 1430 meal deal. The restaurants would have a couple of items on the menu for $14.30 per person or $14.30 per couple. These meals would be an appetizer, an entrée, and dessert. It would start on a Saturday and wrap up the following Thursday. I liked how Warren would describe these deals. My favorite days listening to Warren’s show were when callers would call in about hamburger restaurants because that is my favorite meal when I go to a restaurant. A restaurant that I tried from listening to his show was Poppies restaurant at Iliff and Colorado Blvd. The burgers and French fries are really delicious and they give you a good portion of food. One year during the holidays Warren was talking about a seafood restaurant called the Cherry Crest restaurant. He mentioned that they had a deal going on where you could get a steamer bucket of food which included fish, vegetables such as corn, and clams for people to take home and prepare at home. My mom, Dad, and I took advantage of the deal and the food was delicious.One of my favorite callers to Warren Byrne’s show was a caller named Lidia from Littleton. Lidia was blind and the way she would describe the restaurants that she went were really enjoyable to listen to. I always looked forward to hearing where she had been. There was another caller named Fred who had some disabilities as well. He also did a great job of explaining the restaurants and the dishes that he had.My dad called into one show to talk about a restaurant called the Denver buffalo Company. He said to Warren that the food was over priced, but the food was good. Warren Byrne said that’s part of what you pay if you want that great buffalo experience. Paul Macgregor Mr.-fix-it would do an interview with Warren before his show sometimes. One day Warren announced that he was kicking off a brand new contest to the show. Paul asked, “ Can I take part?” Warren said, “No we can’t we can’t win anything on the station Paul considered Warren like a father figure to him. He could always turned to him for advice on where to go and eat. The contest was that callers could win a gift certificate to a restaurant that was a sponsor to his show. This was a fun contest because the callers had to know who the sponsors were. Also on a Wednesday evening Warren announced that Rick Crandall was going to be out of town the next day. Warren was going to be filling in for Rick on the St. Joseph’s hospital health program that was on Thursdays from 6-7. They were going to be talking about chronic pain. Warren made a joke that some people call him a chronic pain. I tuned into that show and Warren had some good questions for the guest who was a doctor. On another Wednesday program Warren did a broadcast from a restaurant I can’t remember which restaurant this was. The broadcast went better because the remote technology was better. After a couple of months Warren moved his show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to 12-3 p.m. on Saturdays because the program schedule on KEZW grew to add The Garden Wise Guys which is now Ask the Garden Pros. This was a great show to listen to if you wanted to learn about all of the restaurants in Colorado and about dining in Colorado. Back then Warren had a lot of calls to his show. It was difficult to get in on those shows. When I got into middle school I found out that my teacher aid Mary Moden loved listening to Warren Byrnes show as well. Also one of my English teachers Mrs. Eileen Cox really enjoyed listening to the show as well.Back in 2003 or 2004 I was selected to be a guest/ co-host on the Nancy Merrill cooking show that was on Saturdays from 9-10 a.m. right before Warren ‘s show. Warren came in early to prepare for his show. I got to say a quick hello to him. Nancy told me that Warren gets really nervous before his show and that’s why he wasn’t in the talkative mood.One year Warren put together a trip for listeners to go on with listeners to his show. This trip was to Alaska. They first stopped in Seattle Washington for a couple of days and then the group went on to Alaska on a cruise ship. Warren was able to bring the equipment with him so he could broadcast from Seattle the first weekend and then on the Saturday coming back. During this time his show was on from 10 a.m. -1 p.. m The way he was able to do this was he was able to arrange with the intercom radio station KIRO radio to broadcast from their studios for the Saturday shows. The first Saturday things didn’t go according to plan. They had a couple of computer problems. The producer Janine must have had to work pretty hard that particular day. They finally got the computer problems worked out and Warren got on at 10:40 that day. 40 minutes after his show was supposed to start. On the Wednesday program that week when Warren was on the cruise Warren had Shannon Byrne his daughter fill in for him. She was a great host to listen to as well. It would have been great if she would carry on the tradition of hosting the show. On that particular show Shannon was looking for some suggestions from listeners on where to take her father when he got back from his trip for father’s day. She got some good suggestions.After a couple of years, the schedule on 1430 KEZW opened up a little bit and Warren moved his show again from 12-3p.m. to 9 A.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. During this time Warren tried a couple of things with the Wednesday shows. He tried for a couple of weeks doing a 1 hour show every day of the week and that didn’t quite work out. He reverted back to the 4-7 p.m. show that he did on Wednesdays. Around this time KEZW moved into a brand new studio in the Denver Tech center. This is where the intercom family of stations is now. Warren had a little bit of trouble adjusting to the new set up in the new studio. They had a new introductions for his show and one of them the introduction person paused in just the wrong place and Warren thought it was his turn to talk, and it wasn’t his turn. On that Wednesday show Warren told about some memories about radio from the past before they would tape everything was live so you could hear the mistakes as they happened. I thought that was interesting I always enjoyed listening to Warren’s show during the holiday time. He would bring a happy feeling to the holiday season.A couple of years later Warren moved his show to the new oldies station called Cruisin Oldies 950. He was on from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. then he moved again from 10 A.m. to 1 p.m. After a couple of years Warren moved back to 1430 KEZW because crusin 950 didn’t work out I am finishing writing this on November 18th of 2020 because on this day it is Warren’s birthday. I am hoping this will be a great present to him. On the 4th of July of 2020 Warren Byrne retired from doing the Warren Byrne restaurant show. Rick Crandall wrote on the KEZW website that he and Warren were talking in January of 2020 about Warren Retiring. Then the pandemic hit. He also wrote that there were times that Warren wanted to let his listeners know on the 4th of July Saturday that it was his last show, but decided to not mention it The final show was about reminiscing about restaurants from the past. This was a great last show to go out on. Warren wanted to go out on top just like he always did.The word I would use to describe the Warren Byrne restaurant show is successful. The show was really a success and I am hoping that the things I have learned from listening to the Warren Byrne restaurant show will transfer over when I start my own podcast in the next couple of months. Thanks to you Warren Byrne for teaching me about how to do a great show and also of how to be successful. Thanks for tuning in.

Jeremys radio fall and winter updates

Jeremy Levy back with you to write about radio changes in Colorado and national radio.What is happening to the other programming schedules? I’m glad that you asked. 630 KHOW radio has Ross Kaminsky from 6-10 A.m. Then Tom Martino The Troubleshooter is on from 10-2 P.m. Michael Brown has come back to 630 KHOW and hosts from 2-4 and Dan Caplis hosts from 4-6 p.m. I flip back and forth during the day from 630 KHOW to 850 KOA radio. The 850 KOA radio’s schedule is as follows Colorado’s morning news from 5-9 A.m. Dave Logan and Rick Lewis from 9-12 Mandy Connell from 12-3 and a new show hosted by Alfred Williams and JoJo Turnbeau from 3-6 p.m. Bronco’s country tonight is still on from 7-11 p.m. I will be writing my opinions about these changes in a future post. With these changes there comes a change that is a sad change. Jerry Schemmel is no longer with KOA radio. He was cut due to budget cuts. Mike Rice has taken over as the other Rockies announcer with Jack Corrigan. This is an interesting change. Jerry Schemmel has joined 104.3 the fan as a fill-in host and he has brought over his show called Amazing Americans which airs on Sundays at 7:30 a.m. to 8 A.m. It’s good to have Jerry back on the air.I will comment about KHOW’s changes. I am really glad that Tom Martino the Troubleshooter is on for 4 hours. I really think this was a great move for KHOW radio. It’s good to hear Michael Brown back on the air. Michael is fun to listen to on Fridays. He opens up the phone lines on Fridays so people can call in. These are classic shows. Fridays are the best days to listen to this show. It is also good to hear Dan Caplis on KHOW radio. I really miss him not having a partner. I really thought Krista Kafer was a great partner for him. I am still unclear as to why she is no longer on the show with him. Some older listeners really enjoyed Craig Silverman on with Dan Caplis. That partnership lasted for about 10 years. I think the ratings would show that was a good partnership of hosts. If you want to have a successful radio show with a partner then the chemistry needs to work. Speaking of Craig Silverman he is no longer with KNUS radio anymore. Back in November of 2019 Craig joined Dan for one of his shows. That next Saturday Craig was pulled off of KNUS’s airwaves for being critical of president trump. I read about this on Michael Robert’s westward articles. Craig’s contract said that he couldn’t compete by being on 2 different radio stations. After the second week in November the Craig Silverman’s show on KNUS is no longer on the Saturday morning line up. KNUS really enjoys live and local programming on Saturdays. They tried a host named Deborah Flora and they also tried George Brauchler in that time slot. They finally decided to move Randy Corporon’s wake up show from 6-9 a.m. to 9-noon on Saturdays. They also started a new show called the George show from 6-9 a.m. This is a great move for them. I really enjoy listening to George Brauchler when he was with KHOW radio and also his fill ins on 710 KNUS radio Good luck to Craig with what his next job would be . Steffan Tubbs is on KNUS from 3-7 p.m. on 710 KNUS. This started during the pandemic Also on KNUS Chuck Bomiwell and Julie Haden are no longer with the station. From 1:3 Sebastian Gorka is on Chuck and Julie are doing podcasts on their own. The reason that Chuck and Julie are no longer with KNUS is because Chuck made a comment about there being a shooting so they wouldn’t talk about what was going on in the world. The program director said that he was thinking about moving Sebastian Gorka into that time slot anyway, so it worked out in the end. I will really miss Chuck and Julie. Good luck to them with their podcast During the pandemic some of the I heart employees have been furloughed. 2 in particular that I have heard about are Jon Caldara and Dragon Red Beard of KRFX radio. Jon Caldara from KHOW radio is hoping to be back on the air soon after the pandemic. This is good news for him. I am not sure about Dragon. I am hoping that he will be back in the fall. Also with I heart media Some of the weekend schedule of local hosts also got furloughed. Pat Miller was one of them as well as Greg Hollenbeck of the modern Eater show. They are both doing podcasts. Good luck to both of them.Warren Byrne retired on July 4th weekend. I will write more about this in an up-coming blog.Also well wishes go out to Mike Boyle. Mike had a bike accident and was in the hospital for 4 or 5 days. He is on the mend his daughter Kaylee is in town to take care of him. Mike is sounding as good as ever.KATC country has re-branded and has a new morning show with Bo and Wendy. {Bo Jaxon and Wendy Labree). Bo Jaxon has moved back to Colorado after being in Kansas programming KFTI radio. Wendy Labree has gotten back into radio. After being gone for a couple of years. I am hoping to do an interview with them with both of them down the road. I am excited to do this.During the Corona Virus intercom has made some cuts. The one in Denver Steve Edwards is out as afternoon host at soft oldies 1430 KEZW. I e-mailed the program director Rick Crandall and he said that he is hoping to hire him back after the virus is over. This would be good news for him and for the station. It is really a shame that some radio groups have to make cuts. It is part of the business though. I am hoping that some of these people can find jobs in radio again. More about this later.There is a new News Director for KUSA channel 9 that moved back from Texas. Tim Ryan has come back to KUSA after serving the same roll at KVUE in Austin. Before that he was with KUSA for a long time. I got this information from Mike Mcguff’s Blog.Those people who would like to work in Wrap or hip hop radio in Denver should send a video to Rick Thomas at Rito@maxmedia.com They also need to send their resume The reason for this change is because Flow 107.1 has flipped formats. They are now known as Jammin 107.1 I’m not sure what is going to be on 101.5 radio yet.Joel Hillan is no longer with KCNC channel 4 doing weekend traffic. I will miss him. I first heard him on KOA 850 a.m. doing news for them. He always had a very gentle voice that was easy to listen to. Good luck to him with what ever his next plans are.Kathy J and Larry Ulaberry are out as the morning hosts on 107.1’s morning show. Their contract couldn’t be renewed. I will miss them. Good luck to them in whatever their next adventures would be.Rick Thomas has joined Max Media as program director of it’s cluster of stations. They are Jammin 101.5, and Flow 107.1 radio. Rick was most recently with Cox Media group in Florida at Magic 94.9” WWRM, CHR “Hot 101.5” WPOI, and Soft AC 105.5 WDUV . He joined max media Colorado earlier this year.Kyle Cunningham is leaving Colorado Public radio for a job outside of radio. There is no word yet about who will replace him.John Fulham has retired as intercom president of Intercom Denver. Good luck to him in his retirement.Jason Thomas has joined 102.3 KVOQ radio as afternoon host. He came from Intercom’s WXRT radio in Chicago.Also Colorado College has taken over Colorado public radio 91.5 radio in Colorado Springs. Colorado College has entered into a partnership with KRCC radio which is 91.5 radio in Colorado Springs. They will pick up the Colorado matters show from Denver. This is exciting news for them. They will also be building a new studio in 2021. This is really good news for them Jenny Gentry has moved into the role of chief operating officer at Colorado Public radio. She has been with the company for 36 years. She has helped the station in a number of ways so congratulations to her. .KUVO radio moved into their new studio this past week. As you might remember I helped out on a project for them of the best Colorado Jazz artists. This project will be exhibited in their new studio.Cumulus Media Urban AC “Magic 107.3” KMJK North Kansas City/Kansas City has appointed Jowcol ‘Boogie D’ Dolby as Program Director. Dolby most recently spent a few weeks earlier this year as Operations/Programming Director for Max Media Denver. He previously spent twelve years at Radio One as OM of WDMK/WGPR/WPZR Detroit, WFUN/WHHL St. Louis, as well as s other stations. That was a short stop in Colorado for him. Good luck to him in Kansas City.Daren Rains has passed away. Daren worked at a lot of different radio stations. One of them being KKMG radio. Daren passed away from Covid 19 virus. I am sorry to hear this for his family.Rex Long has moved to KKMG 98.9 radio in Colorado Springs as it’s new program director. He transfers from 101.9 WHYY radio in Montgomery Alabama. He has also spent time in Abilene Texas at KCCD 103 radio . Congratulations to Rex Long.KS107.5 radio adds Tino Cochino for nights. KS107.5 radio has decided to go national radio during night times with the Tino Cochino show. He succeeds DJ Stacks. This is his first intercom station. Also at Intercom communications Chuck Sullivan has moved from Milwaukee WI where he was market manager to take the same position in Denver for intercom in Denver.101.5 radio has moved voice tracker KJ Bland from weekends to afternoons replacing the same-day replay of the Larry & Kathie morning show from sister Hip-Hop “Flo 107.1” KFCO. Bland previously hosted middays at KRNB Dallas until the end of 2017 and has also served as MD/midday host at WMKS Greensboro NC and APD/midday host at WJMZ Greenville SC.The national show Brook and Jubel in the mornings radio show which is on KKMG radio has a new producer Jeff Dubow. Jubel has left the show and Jeff has been named as co-host now. This is an interesting change Jubil has moved back to Seattle to be on The art hip hop station there. .Brian W Washington has left the program director position at 106.7 the Bull to join Hubbard radio country KNUC 98.9 radio as it’s afternoon host. That leaves Chelsea T without a co-host for afternoons at 106.7 the Bull in Colorado. Melanie Miltz has been tapped as market manager of Bonneville Denver which owns Kosi 101 Kygo radio, KKFN Radio, and Kepn radio. She joins from Hubbard Radio KSTP radio in Minnesota. This is a good move for her. KSTP radio seems like a very popular station Good luck to Melanie.Brenda Egger has joined I heart media as it’s market president. She joined from Altitude sports radio. She replaces Tim Hager. She is familiar with all of Colorado having spent time with Citadel broadcasting in Colorado Springs and she has also worked for CBS radio that changed to Wilks broadcasting she was market manager there. Good luck to Brenda.Also in the Country radio world Bob Kingsley has passed away. Bob hosted a national country count down show on KYGO radio and KUBL radio on weekend mornings. My friend Lucas really enjoyed listening to him. A lot of fans of country radio will really miss him. Sticking with Country radio in Fort Collins KYAP radio 96.9 radio has a new sound to it as it flips to Throw back country 96.9 radio. They are owned by Appaloosa broadcasting but Border media partners has taken them over. I look forward to hearing more about this group of radio stations and this new station.Don Imus passed away at the end of last year. Don worked was a national host. He was on what was known as 1280Ralf KRRF in Denver.Also Eddie Haskell has been named program director of Max Media radio stations in Virginia. He was in Colorado for a long time with stops at Bonneville radio stations and also IHeart media in Fort Collins. Good luck to him as well. KYGO is looking for it’s next morning show host or hosts. Guy David has left the station after 2 or 3 years. Tracy Dickson has been hosting solo for now. Those who are interested should check out the Bonneville website and submit their resumes. Also Johnny E Kage has been named Program director of 106.7 the Bul KUBL in Colorado. John E is now the program director of 2 I heart media radio stations. 106.7 the Bull and 95.7 KPTT radio which is hip hop.For those of you who remember 92.5 the Wolf there used to be a host on there named John Moug. After the Wolf John went to San Diego to do mornings at Excetra Fm 92.9 radio. He is now with Mix 106 in Boise Idaho. He has joined their morning show with Karlie Cash. John still voice tracks at stations in Connecticut.Also Brian Hatfield is no longer with McDonald broadcasting country WKCQ in Saginaw Michigan. For those of you that have been long time fans of KYGO you might remember that Brian was with KYGO for a long time Also those of you who remember a program director on KIMN radio 100 radio there was a program director named Ron Harald. Ron was the program director for a couple of years before taking some other radio jobs most recently in Seattle. He has left Seattle at Hubbard radio stations. Good luck to him. Also Kevin Kosc is no longer on nights at Hubbard radio WTMX radio in Chicago. Kevin was with KALC radio back in the early 2000’s. This is sad news for him. Good luck to him with what ever his next move would be. .Dave O’Brien has joined 99.5 the mountain as it’s new morning show host. He has joined from Emis Communications in Indiana. This is exciting news. He was with Hank FM 97.1 for a long time.Oldies Crawford radio station 810 KLVC has a new translator. The FM translator is 95.3 radio. This is good for them as it gives them an FM signal. This means that more people can hear the station. There is a new mid-day host on Kosi 101 radio as Jackie Selby exits after her contract could not be renewed. I will really miss Jackie. She was a wonderful host and I met her a couple of years ago while on a trip with my voc rehab class. Good luck to Jackie with her next goals. Emily MackenzieIs the new mid-day host at Kosi 101. Emily used to be with Mix KIMN 100 radio doing mid-days and she was also doing the morning show for a time. KALC radio has parted ways with their mid-day show as well. Carson and Amber are no longer doing mid-days on the station. Amber has moved to the afternoons to join Slacker and Steve. And Carson has joined Jamie White and BJ Harris in the mornings as their producer. Shawn Swallow is no longer with Kalc’s morning show. Kalc just plays music during the mid-day time slot.Orange and Blue 760 is no longer on the air. It is now Freedom 760 radio and they have an FM. Signal at 93.7 radio. 1510 and 93.7 radio KNRC radio is only on 1510 radio. The programming schedule for freedom 93.7 and 760 radio is as follows- Glen Beck from 7-10 a.m. Rush Limbach from 10-1 P.m. Sean Hannity from 1-4 p.m. Buck Sexton from 4-7 p.m. and Dave Ramsey from 7-10 p.m. It is all national programming.104.3 the Fan had to figure out what their plans would be in the afternoons after Alfred William’s departure from the station. Daren Mackey or his nick name D-mac needed a good partner to work along side him. For a couple of months Daren was working with Tom Nalen. Tom most recently worked with Nate Kreckman back a couple of years ago. People thought that this was a great change. Tom has moved on to a different job in Massachusetts. The show that is on now is D-mac with Tyler Polumbus. Tyler has returned to the fan. Nick Ferguson was hosting with them for a little while. That was a great line-up of hosts. Nick is still on the fan, but he has joined with Cecil Lammey in the evenings from 7-9 p.m. This was a good change. Also this month of June the fan is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. They have brought back some of the old hosts that used to be on the station like CJ Charles Johnson. It was good to hear him a couple of weeks ago one night with Nick Ferguson and Chad Brown.On 104.3 the fan there is a new fill-in host who was a former Bronco. Nate Jackson. This is good news for the fan.Mike Pritchard has started a new radio show in Los Vegas on KRLV 920 a.m. Clay Baker will be paired with Mike Pritchard. This is interesting news for him. The Raters games will air on KOMP f.m. and KRLV radio One other quick thing. Les Shapiro has left Mile high sports radio 1340 A.m. He retired from the station. He has moved to Arizona. I will really miss his show on Mile high Sports radio. I first heard him filling in for Dave Logan and Scott Hastings back when they were doing the sports zoo together. Ron Zappolo was his co-host. Also speaking of Mile High Sports radioKDCO will surround its local programming with BetR’s national shows including Follow the Money with Mitch Moss and Pauly Howard, Brent Musburger’s My Guys in the Desert and The Lombardi Line, hosted by former NFL executive Michael Lombardi.Mile High Sports also publishes a local magazine and was purchased in 2017 by former Fox Sports Radio weekend host and KKFN Denver Program Director Nate Lundy.The BetR Network, partnered with Skyview Networks for network audio and affiliate sales and distribution, announces its partnership with Denver’s leading independent voice for sports fans, Mile High Sports. Through this affiliate agreement, Mile High Sports (KDCO) is bringing credible sports betting information to Denver, including select content from VSiN, The Sports Betting Network.Thanks for tuning in.

Bernie Egan is a blind radio host who lives in Indiana

Jeremy Levy back with you this week to write about one of my interviews. Bernie Egan is a blind radio host who lives in Indiana. I first read about him on the People Moves InsideRadio website that he was retiring. Bernie still works weekends on WYXB radio B105.7. I also e-mailed one of the program directors. Scott Roddy, about some other hosts and he also told me about him. I recorded this interview back a couple of Octobers ago with my job coach at the time, Leah Wing She was my job coach from Shalom Denver. After my questions to Bernie, Leah had a couple of other questions for Bernie. The main thing I learned from Bernie is that blind people can accomplish their goals and dreams. Bernie has been in radio for a long time. He still enjoys working on weekends.When I talked with him over the phone I could sense how much he loved the industry.Here is my interview with Bernie.Jeremy Levy: I first heard about you from InsideRadio people moves and I know that you have been in radio for a long time in Indiana. Is this where you got your start in radio?Bernie Egan: I bothered a lot of radio people until they gave me a chance basically. I started talking to people at the different radio stations and that’s how it all started.JL: I heard in an interview on the station's website that you started in Muncie, Indiana. Which station was this? Also when you started on that station what challenges did you face being blind and wanting to work in radio?BE: That was WERK in Muncie, Indiana. That would have been 1980. The challenges I faced when I started were convincing the people at the station that I could do the job. I mean I knew what to do. It was convincing the people at the station that I knew what to do.JL: At WYXB radio did you come across the same challenges?BE: After WERK I worked at WEMS radio After that I switched over to WYXB radio and I’m now doing weekends there. They were pretty helpful about accommodating me. Everything is now touch screen now.JL: Which is a little bit of a challenge for those of us who are blind.BE: Yes that is true.JL: How do you compensate for this?BE: The way it works is I have a plexiglass board that goes over the touchscreen. This board has holes in it where my finger can touch the screen in the places I need to do it. It enables me to start songs, start commercials, or stop the system if I need to talk without music under me.Comment from Jeremy Levy. I think this is a wonderful accommodation!JL: You have been at WYXB radio for a long time. What is it like working for such a heritage radio station?BE: I got very lucky landing with a great company. I have been with this company since 1981. I have worked with 2 different radio stations with the same company. It’s been great. I got so lucky. I can’t believe that I get to do this for my career that I love.JL: I also heard your name from a program director who used to be in Indiana named Scott Roddy. What was it like working with Scott?BE: I know Scott from his time in Indianapolis. I never worked for him.JL: If you did I’m sure that it would have been great. Scott is now in Oregon doing radio out there at KWWJ The Wolf in Portland Oregon. You have worked with Ann Richards for a long time at WYXB radio as well. Did you learn anything from her and how is she to work with?Be: It’s very nice. It’s a great relationship. Everyone there is very accommodating.JL: What is your favorite part of working in Indiana radio?Be: Just really being on the air. I think it is all theatre of the mind. It’s like painting a picture when you talk on the air. Things that you say sometimes you just never know what people might come back with. I’ll see comments on face book sometimes of things I have said on the air sometimes and I don’t remember I said those things.JL: Are there any special remote broadcasts or special interviews that you have done that are some of your favorite radio memories?BE: Probably the one that comes to mind is John Cougar Mellenncamp. I did an interview with him back on WENS and it was an hour long interview. It just went very quickly. He just stayed on as long as we wanted him to.JL: What would be your advice for someone wanting to get into radio?BE: It’s a lot more difficult than it was back when I started. There are fewer people in it now because of voice tracking. Program directors don’t have to have as big of a staff. Because of the technology aspect of it it is a lot harder as well. What you really have to do is to have someone who really believes in you to say we will do what it takes to get you up to speed. It’s just more difficult.Leah Wing: How do you think radio is going to change in the next 5 years?Be: I think it has changed so much already. I think that radio really needs to find a way to create it’s own foot print going forward because everything has changed. Everything you want you can get on your phone or you can get on your computer. You don’t necessarily need to listen to the radio to get your music or information. Radio basically needs to figure out a way reinvent it self. I really appreciate Bernie Egan sharing this interview with me. It was helpful to get another blindness prospective from a host that has been in it along time.Stay tuned for information on my new podcast.

Tributes to Don Martin and Mindy McNeil who passed away

Jeremy Levy back with you with some sad news to report. Don Martin who was on KIMN 950 for years and was also with KOA radio for years has passed away. He passed away last September and he was in his 80’s. Don first started on KIMN radio 950 doing traffic reports and he was also the news director at the station. Don’s first introduction into radio was when he started a radio station when he was in high school. Don had a deep and calming voice. His voice sounded like Jerry Bell’s voice. When Don started his own radio station the call letters were KDON radio based on his first name. Those of you in Colorado would remember him doing the Shane Company commercials. The tag line was “Now you have a friend in the diamond business." Then he would give the directions on how to find the Shane Company. I first heard one of those commercials back on news talk 630 KHOW during the Mr. Fix-It show with Paul Macgregor. Don worked on KOA radio as program director in the early 90’s. 1994- 1996. The reason why I know this is because Dave Logan and Scott Hastings mentioned on the "Zoo You Hear What I hear" CD that I have. Chris Olinger got trained by him. Chris went on to be another one of the great program directors of KOA radio. Lee Larson also knew Don and the wonderful work that he did for KOA radio. . After Colorado radio, Don moved to California to program 570 KLAC radio which is a sports station. I remember Dave Logan and Susie Wargin doing an interview during the 2016 Super Bowl. He sounded great during that interview.Peter Boyles said that Don Martin was a radio guy. I also found out that when ever there was a weather disaster that Don would be covering that on KIMN radio. Don had a studio in his basement which is very similar to what I’m going to do in my new home. Don also mentored Hal Moore. I remember listening to KHOW radio back in 1996 and 1997 and the term for the traffic person was called KHOW "radio sky spy." Don coined that term. In Colorado there is a road that connects I-70 and I-25. It is called it the mouse trap. Don also coined that phrase as well. The word pictures that he painted were really great. . Peter Boyles said on his show that Don was a radio maven. Whenever someone big in the radio industry passes away Peter likes to mention them and bring guests on to honor them. Every year Peter mentions the passing of Alan Berg in June. I really think that Peter is providing a great service by doing these tributes. Peter knew Don when he first was getting into radio. When Peter first got into radio and he was working with Bob Lee, Don was their traffic guy on KWBZ radio.RIP Don Martin. A lot of people will really miss you.In other very sad news, Mindy McNeil, one of the secretaries that worked at KUVO radio has passed away. She had asthma. I am not exactly sure if she passed away from Covid 19 or not. I was office mates with her when I was doing my internship at KUVO radio. She was a fun person to talk with. I really believe she really cared about making the station great One example is that she used to put together the food and wine events for the station. The reason why I knew this was because Rodney Franks, who is on from 3-6 p.m. on KUVO, mentioned this. Rodney and Mindy really enjoyed talking with each other. . When I was learning the route in the studio to intern with Andy O’Leary, the first couple of times she helped me into the studio. I feel I did a wonderful job showing her how to interact with a blind person by showing her what sighted guide was. During the KUVO pledge drives Mindy produced them. This meant that she really liked to tell people’s stories. She liked to hear people’s stories and to tell them back to the people that were listeners and the people who pledged money to the station. Mindy was also the current events reporter for the station. In my brief time there I shared a little bit of my story. I really wish that I shared more of my story with her. I also heard her on one of the pledge drives and she was a great host on the air. Her voice sounded interested in the jazz that they were playing that day This particular day she was working with Arturo Gomez. It was the last day of the fall pledge drive. They got to their goal at the end of the day. Mindy said when she first came on with Arturo that today was the first time that particular pledge drive that she worked on the air with Arturo. I found a tape of this that I had taped. I also remember her working with Steve Chavez, who works on Saturday mornings. Mindy was a very important part of what they did at KUVO radio and I'm sure she will be really missed there and by her friends and family.RIP Mindy McNeil.Thanks for tuning in.

Amazon Alexa

Jeremy Levy back with you. This week I’m going to do something a little bit different. I am going to talk about the Amazon Echo that I have in my room. I have learned how to do many things with this device. When I first got the Echo wasn’t sure why I would need this device. I was a little hesitant to try it. After some exploration and finding much enjoyment, I was hooked. I am always finding new things. If you are looking for something other than TV or radio, I would really encourage you to try Alexa and figure out how to use it.Here are some of the things I have found that it can do. It can play music. After I discovered this, I found out that I can request different songs, artists, and even different albums. On top of that, I can thumbs up a song or thumbs down a song. Thumbs up means that you like a song and thumbs down means that you don’t like a song. You can also skip songs that you don’t want. My friend Lucas who I have blogged about and I had a lot of fun with creating our own play lists of our favorite artists. Alexa has a lot of artists and a lot of different songs. Sometimes, though, it can be a little bit frustrating when it doesn’t give you the song or artist that you want.Another thing the Echo can do is play different radio stations. I have a lot of fun playing different radio stations from around the country and even different parts of Colorado. I found out last year that I don’t have to miss any of the Mike Boyle Restaurant Show in Colorado Springs on Saturday mornings anymore. Before I got the Echo, I couldn’t get his show in Colorado Springs on my regular radio because the signal didn’t reach. Another example is that I really enjoy getting up on Sunday mornings and asking for the station WBAP radio in Dallas and listening to Neil Sperry’s gardening show. This is a lot of fun for me.Another thing that Alexa can do is you can play games with it. My favorite game is Go fish the card game. Lucas taught me how to play this game and I really enjoy playing. Another game that he taught me is song quiz. Song quiz is where Alexa gives you samples of songs and you need to tell her the artist and the name of the song to get points. Lucas really enjoys playing country song quiz and he gets all of them correct because he is such a country music fan. Another game it can play is puzzle runner. Alexa gives you 2 different choices and you try and pick the right one. For example, it would ask you 2 different milk shakes Vanilla or chocolate. If you picked chocolate a high sound would play. If that wasn’t the correct one than you would get a low sound and then you would have to try it again. Another thing it can do is United States geography quiz. It would give you a state and then you would need to guess the capital of that state. Another game it can play is Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I haven’t quite figured out how the rules for this game yet. This is something I am going to check into.Another important feature of Alexa is you can ask it questions about the weather. I like asking what the weather in Honolulu is, and what is the weather in Pinnopolis, South Carolina, where Lucas lives.I have heard of washing machines and dryers that can be controlled with Alexa. I have also heard of thermostats and air conditioners that can be controlled with Alexa as well. I look forward to checking out these skills in my new downstairs house where we live.This just touched the surface of all the things the Echo can do. If you know of things I or other blog readers might enjoy, please share it.Thanks for tuning in.

News coverage of the outbreak

Jeremy Levy back with you. I hope that everyone of my readers and followers is staying safe during this time.Today I wanted to write about radio during the Corona Virus.In my opinion KOA radio has been doing the best job with coverage. When the virus first started, I enjoyed listening to Dave Logan and Julie Browman on the Logan and Lewis show from 9 AM-noon on 850 a.m. and 94.1 FM. They kept the listener informed as to what Colorado’s efforts were and they also talked about some sports along the way.Mandy Connell’s show has been informative as well. She did talk some about the virus, but she also talked about other fun topics as well and she put some fun things on her blog. Mandy also has been featuring small businesses. Every day she has callers call in if they have a small business and she promotes them a little bit. People can e-mail these to her at Mandy@KOAnewsradio.com. KOA has stopped their national programming on the weekends for local coverage. On Saturdays from noon to 3 Ross Kaminsky is on with coverage. Then from 3 PM-6 PM is Mike Rice. From 6PM-9 PM Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Albright have been on. Sundays from 10 AM-noon is Lou from Littleton. It is so good to hear Lou From Littleton again on KOA radio. Mike Rice is on from noon to 3 PM and Jon Caldara is on from 3 PM-7 PM. KOA radio breaks in with every press conference and every President’s speech. You can hear it in its entirety.The station that has the next best coverage is KNUS radio. Stefan Tubbs has been my favorite host to listen to on KNUS. He goes to every press conference from the governor. He also does informative interviews. For example, he did one with the news director of WCBS radio named Tim Shelton, who informed listeners to the situation in NY city. He also did one with a reporter from KOGO radio in San Diego named Phil Faraar, with an update from that city. And he also has been interviewing Steve Fudderman from CBS news radio who had a national update. At the beginning of the outbreak, Stefan was having callers call in if they had a small business and they were still open to let the listeners know what the store or restaurant was doing. The other person that I think has been doing a great job on KNUS is Mike Boyle. On the KNUS website there is a list of restaurants that people can get grab and go meals at restaurants. Mike has broadcast from some of these restaurants to promote the deals that they were having. My favorite show was when he was at Pegasus restaurant.KOA radio and KNUS radio are the 2 stations that are making a real difference in the community. They are bringing people together. That has been part of their slogans for both KNUS and KOA radioSome people that want to be news anchors or radio talk show hosts are not sure that they want to cover disasters or important things that are going on. I have learned that radio hosts and live coverage is important to let the listener know what is going on. A radio drama that I listen to on Saturday mornings called Adventures in Odyssey had this lesson in last Saturdays show. In the show, a news reporter named Ted Humphries was trying to find the best stories to cover. He was getting a little bit tired of the stories he was already covering. He tried a couple of different stories, but the important story was the one that got him the viewership. It is really good to know that when there is serious stories that radio stations cover the stories.In my opinion it is amazing how technology has changed. Some of the radio people can do their shows from their house using remote equipment. That is what KOA and some shows on 630 KHOW have been doing with their shows. Altitude Sports 92.5 and sports radio 104.3 The Fan have been doing the same thing. The Fan has one host in the studio and one host at their house. Sometimes there are challenges with doing this with routers and the equipment but for the most part it has been working well. Mandy Connell on KOA has been doing her show from her house. She has her producer on skype on the computer while the other producer is in the regular studio. When I first started listening to the radio in 1996 they didn’t have this technology. When there was a snow blizzard the radio host had to call into the station over the phone in order to do their show. Wow! Technology has really changed for the better. .Thanks for tuning in.

Passing of Wayne Yaffee

Jeremy Levy with some sad news to report. Wayne Yaffee who was with EZ 1430 and intercom and KNUS for years and years has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Wayne was a legend in the radio business. He was a talented musician, a gifted radio guy with a great sense of humor, and always a gentleman. Last year, Wayne earned the Best Scheduled Newscast award from the Colorado Broadcasters Association representing the 710 KNUS News Department. His radio career included stops in Grand Junction and at stations here in Denver including KIMN, KOA, KEZW, KALC, KOSI, KQMT, and here at 710 KNUS. He served as a Disc Jockey, Program Director, Production Director, and Newsman. He did it all with excellence! Before I started listening to Wayne he was with KOA radio. The first time I remember hearing Wayne Yaffee’s voice was when he was with EZ 1430 KEZW. He was doing introductions for the different shows on the weekends. I remember his introduction for the Mr. fix-it show by heart. “it’s time for Mr. fix-it Paul Macgregor on 1430 KEZW. If you have a problem around the house that needs attention we have people to help with all your abilities and now Mr. fix-it. Also when he was with 1430 he also filled in once on the Warren Byrne Restaurant show while Warren took a vacation to Germany. Wayne talked with Mr. Fix-it Paul Macgregor on his show before he did the Warren Byrne Restaurant show Paul asked him “Are you a gourmet or a gourmand?” Wayne said “I wouldn’t know the difference..” Paul explained to him that a gourmand likes everything.” I had never heard that word before. Wayne did the Warren Byrne restaurant show similar to the way Mike Boyle hosts his show. On this particular show a couple of the callers tried to stump Wayne with questions. Wayne explained that Warren had a computer with him with all of the restaurant names and their phone numbers and all of their information. Wayne had to have all of the listeners help to get through the show. This was also where I learned about the phrase Elvis has left the building. Wayne said this in the second hour of the show referring to Warren Byrne not being there. Wayne was on KEZW until 2012 or 2013. He took a little time off to spend more time with his family. In 2014 or 2015 I heard him doing news for 710 KNUS during the mid-days. The thing I will remember about Wayne was his soft and calming voice. It always sounded like he had a smile in his voice. I would have loved to interview him for my blog. I asked him once but he declined my offer. I will miss Wayne and his wonderful radio work that he did for both intercom radio and 710 KNUS.

Tribute to Carroll Spinney (Voice of Big Bird on Sesame Street)

Jeremy Levy back with you with some sad news to report. Carroll Spinney, the actor who first voiced and brought to life Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and Grannie Bird on Sesame Street has passed away at the age of 85. I would like to pay a tribute to him.I can remember days as a young child listening to Sesame Street. Whenever I heard Big Bird’s voice, played by Spinney, it always mad me smile. The way Carroll played Big Bird reminded me of myself because of his curiosity. I can remember going to Disneyland and there being a Sesame Street show at the park. My dad told me that I was in my stroller and suddenly my ears perked up. My dad had a little bit of trouble figuring out what was making my ears perk up. He finally realized that I was hearing Bob Mcgrath and Big Bird. We went over to listen to the show. I also remember having a tape of Big Bird music. I remember that a friend of mine, Gayle Scheihing, copying this tape for me. The first song on this tape was big Bird singing a song called There Is Just One Me. This song was special because it reminded me as the listener that I am my own person and there is no one else like me. That is just one of the lessons I have learned from Big Bird and Carroll Spinney over the years.Another song that is one of my favorites was a song titled Tall Enough. In this song Big Bird sang and talked about being small that you can’t do everything, yet you still can do things and when you get older you can do more and more things. It was a little bit surprising to me at the beginning of the song Big Bird saying that he wasn’t as tall as he is now (It taught me that everyone grows). The next song I would like to talk about is, Everyone Makes Mistakes, that conveys the words in the title. This is a good reminder for all of us. Even as adults, we can make mistakes.Listening to Big Bird and Carroll Spinney play Big Bird has given me a lot of joy over the years and I feel like Carroll’s voicing of Big Bird over the years has shaped me into the caring and curious person I believe I am today. Listening to the Sesame Street tapes I had over the years with Big Bird helped me discover different keys of music. I really liked a lot of the Big Bird music because it was in my favorite key of music which the key of F.When I listened to Sesame Street and Big Bird was in the show, I would love to stay tuned to find out what was going to happen next to Big Bird in the show that particular episode. My favorite TV Sesame Street interactions on Sesame Street were Big Bird and Bob Mcgrath. I really think that Bob had a good grasp of Big Bird’s curiosity and feelings.I also really enjoyed the interactions with Big Bird and Snuffy. It was really nice for Big Bird to have a best friend named Snuffy. It reminds me of my best friend Lucas. Some times Big Bird would come up with a great idea and Snuffy and Big Bird would try and make Big Bird's idea work. I really liked episodes like that. As I have gotten older it was nice to listen as Big Bird would develop other friend ships such as Baby Bear.I really liked it when Big Bird and Grannie Bird were together on Sesame Street. The main song that I remember them singing was a song called I will Sing With You. This song's message is even though your family isn’t close to you sometimes that they will always be in your heart. One time on Sesame Street, Big Bird spent a whole week at camp. This was a little bit hard for him, but that weeks episodes talked about it being alright to miss your family when you are apart from them.Bob McGrath said in his online tribute on Facebook that Carol Spinney was a great person. I agree with this. Carroll’s characters have always helped guide me be a better person. I will miss Carroll Spinney.Happy Holidays and Happy 2020 to one and all. I am looking forward to a great year with lots of adventures.Thanks for tuning in.

Spring and Summer radio and TV changes

Jeremy Levy back with you to write about Spring radio and TV changes.Kori Rose of KUSA TV has had a baby. She returned to the station in April.For those who speak Spanish there is a new Sports deports radio station on 1120 radio I also read on Jason Barrett’s Sports media blog and also on radio insight that the Brand ESPN radio deports might be shutting down at the end of this year. J.J. Kinkade is no longer with 95.7 the party’s morning show with Nina Blanco. Nina and JJ are no longer with the station. Nina was most recently with intercom’s 107.5 radio. JJ is looking for his next radio opportunity. He has worked all over the country. Could changes be coming to 95.7 the Party? We will have to wait and find out. There is also no word yet on where Nina has gone. John E Kage has moved across the street from 98.5 KYGO radio to 95.7 the Party KPTT radio. KYGO has been looking for its next program director. Patrick Knight was serving in this role.Also 107.1 radio is looking for it’s next program director. Jowcol ‘Boogie D’ Dolby was Operations/Programming Director overseeing Rhythmic CHR “Flo 107.1” KFCO Bennett and Rhythmic Oldies “Jammin 101.5” KJHM Watkins CO. Dolby has spent the majority of his career at Radio One where he most recently served as OM of their Detroit stations until his exit in January. Unfortunately, this job didn’t work out and he is out after just a couple of months. These 2 stations are now looking for their next program director. I will keep you posted on this change of events I got this information from "radio insight". A Classic Hip Hop radio station has launched in Grand Junction. Grand Junction Media has flipped Hot AC “94.3 Kiss-FM” K232FB Grand Junction/KGJX-HD3 Fruita CO to Classic Hip-Hop “94.3 The Beat.The flip is the third recent change made to the cluster since Grand Junction Media closed on the acquisition of the stations from Redrock Radio Group earlier this year. Oldies “Redrock 101.5” KGJX rebranded as “101.5 The Junkyard” earlier in April while Country “107.3 Canyon Country” K297BR Grand Junction/KGJX-HD4 flipped to Classic Country “107.3 The Outlaw” in February This is very interesting to me when radio stations flip formats. This was also on radio Insight as well. I had not heard of this radio group before. Shannon Steel is 100.3 KIMN radio’s next mid-day host on KIMN radio. She has taken over for Emily who exited late last year. Good luck to Shannon. Shannon was most recently with KDSP radio helping them out with promotions kinds of things Shannon’s article was also on radio insight. Also Open Air Denver 1023 launches as the gradual shift of the station over the past few months to a new music discovery oriented AAA under recently added Program Director Willobee Carlan. The station is in the most competitive AAA/Alternative market in the country competing against the iHeartMedia combo of “Channel 93.3” KTCL and 97.3 KBCO as well as Community Radio For Northern Colorado’s more traditional Public AAA “105.5 The Colorado Sound” KJAC. The 6am hour of the new Indie 102.3 today consisted of:Colorado Public Radio has announced the relaunch of its Triple A outlet, Indie102.3. Previously known as OpenAir, the rebranded service will be an independent music discovery platform with a tightened focus on local artists and a new schedule of programs. Leading the charge is radio veteran Willobee Carlan, who joined CPR’s staff earlier this year. As Indie102.3’s PD, he has provided leadership and vision to the station’s ongoing development. MD Jessi Whitten and hosts Jeremy Petersen, Alisha Sweeney, Bruce Trujillo and Zach Gilltrap will introduce listeners to new music from emerging artists and from those they know and love. The Indie team has also been working with Mike Henry of Paragon Media Strategies on honing the service. I really think this is interesting. Open Air Denver Relaunches As Indie 102.3There are a couple of country radio things to write about. Bo Jackson has joined KTTS radio in Missouri as it’s mid-day host and it’s new program director. He was most recently with 92.5 radio KWOF and KIMN radio. He also did a couple of fill ins on altitude sports 950 back when that station was going through the switch from A.m. to FM. . I am really excited that Bo has found a new radio home in missouri. I have been trying to get a hold of him through e-mail to say congratulations but so far have been unsuccessfull. I also got this from radio insight. The next country radio move is the good morning guys Brian Gary and Todd Harding on Town Square’s country station in Fort Collins KUAD99.1 radio have retired. The station has a new morning show with hosts Jordan Soto and Michael Mason. Jordan has come from Cat Country 98.7” WYCT Pensacola where she hosted middays as ‘Jenna Scott’. Mason was most recently in nights at “98.9 The Bull” KNUC Seattle and has also worked in Portland and Richmond VA as well as a producer for Delilah. Congratulations to the both of them. Also congratulations to Brian and to Todd, I wish them good luck with whatever they are going to do next. KUAD has also been branded as New Country 99.1 radio. I got this information from radio insight. Also KTRR radio goes Retro. KTRR radio used to be called KTRY radio. They were focusing on hits from the 70’s and 80’s. They have now rebranded as a classic hit radio station. We will have to see what happens with this. The on air line-up will remain the same on KTRR radio.There is a new country radio station in Grand Junction, Colorado. Outlaw Rides Into Grand Junction, I liked the title of the Radio Insight post.The new station in Grand Junction has a couple of familiar names from the Town Square Fort Collins radio stations. Scott Stallie is serving as it’s station manager. And Ed Chandler is serving as it’s afternoon host. I first heard about Ed when he was with the Town Square media group in Fort Collins He was hosting an oldies show back then. I remember e-mailing Ed about his start with the Town Square media cluster and he was very happy that I started be coming a fan of his. I really wanted to maybe check out this new station in Grand Junction when I was there for a special Olympics event, but didn’t get a chance to. This station focuses on country hits from the 70’s to the early 2000’s. If I ever go to Grand Junction again I will certainly check out this station.There is good news on KYGO’s radio front. KYGO has found it’s next program director Bryan Michel. Bryan has programmed stations in Maryland. Good luck to Bryan. I certainly hope that he enjoys programming KYGO radio. Mike Casey has retired from Intercom’s 99.5 the mountains morning show. I really thought he was a great host for that station and I will really miss him on 99.5 The Mountain. Allie Hartwick is now hosting solo in the mornings. She also does news in the morning for EZ 1430. There is no word yet on if the station is making any changes. Also Jessica Farias is the new sales manager for the Colorado Springs and Pueblo Iheart radio stations. She was working in Denver in a sales position with Iheart media.Armen Williams has left KKFN radio and has now joined Entercom sports radio in Houston. He is now programming 610 Kilt AM in Houston. I will miss him in Colorado, but Armen wanted to be closer to family in Texas. Good luck to Armen. Who has taken over programming the fan? Well it’s Raj Sharon. Raj has programmed 105.5 radio in Colorado when it was a sports station. Congratulations to you Raj. He said in the radio insight article that this has been a dream of his. That is wonderful news. Also 104.3 The Fan back in Februarylost one of it’s most popular talents in Alfred Williams. Alfred is no longer with The Fan’s afternoon show with D-Mac Darren McKee. This is surprising news to me. This was the first change that Raj Sheron had to deal with. This was announced on the drive with Big Al and D-Mac show by D-Mac. D-mac wished Al good luck with what ever his next opportunity would be. I thought this show was just okay. I didn’t like it when Alfred and D-Mac would argue on the air. From this show I learned that D-Mac and Alfred were okay after they argued. During some of the breaks Alfred and D-Mac would laugh after some of their arguments. Good luck to Alfred with what ever his next career moves would be. In one of Jason Barett’s sports media blogs of his top 20 list of best afternoon shows D-Mac and Alfred Williams were ranked in the Top 20. They came in 15th. Congratulations to them for this. Also Brandon Stokley and Zach Bye were rated 20th in the list of the Top 20 mid-day shows. I got to meet Brandon Stokley recently at one of KKFN’s events at Brothers BBQ and he really was a nice guy. I plan to do an interview with him down the road. Mike Evans and Mark Schlereth were rated 6th in his list of top sports morning shows. One of the things I do like from Alfred is when callers ask him how he is doing he says I’m solid man! I’m solid.Wait! Wait! Don’t stop reading just yet because Alfred has found a new radio home. He is either going to be joining Orange and Blue 760 or 850 KOA radio. This will be announced soon. There are other changes happening on The Fan that I would like to cover first. Cecil Lammey and Michael Pritchard are no longer on from mid-days from 9 AM-12 PM. Cecil is still with The Fan. His role has been reduced to a writing roll. He still fills in as a host and he is still going to do the fantasy football show on Wednesday evenings. There is no word yet on where Mike Pritchard has gone.What has replaced this show? Well John Davis and Nick Ferguson who used to play with the Denver Bronco’s have taken over mid-days on 104.3 The Fan. John Davis is still on some weekends. I like this show. I have been listening throughout training camp and they make a great team. John Davis was on a couple of weekends ago with Nicki Jhabvala from the Athletic. I really thought they made a great team. I also like John with Orlando Franklin.Who has replaced Alfred Williams on The Fan? Tom Nalen is now D-Macs partner on the drive from 3-6 p.m. Tom Nalen was on Altitude Sports radio with Nate Kreckman. D-Mac said in an article I read, it has always been a dream of mine to work with Tom Nalen. I might tune in more to this show. When Tom Nalen was on vacation the second and the third weekend in August. Nick Ferguson was filling in for him.Back last Winter, Orange and Blue 760 made some cuts in on air personalities. Andy Lindahl was cut from the morning show as well as Marc Stout and Ray Crockett. Mark Stout has been doing some fill ins on KRFX radio. I really miss Andy Lindahl on Orange and Blue 760. After Andy’s departure James Gomez was a fill in. Julie Browman was also a fill in. James got a different job in the service. Julie was a great fill in, but she has a new job as a spokesperson for one of the fire departments. Julie has also been doing some fill ins on 850 Koa radio both in the mornings and afternoons. There is no word yet on where Ray Crockett has gone. Andy Lindahl has found a new radio home. He is working with Nate Kreckman from 2 to 6 PM on 92.5 Altitude Sports radio. It is so good to hear him back on the air. Nate Kreckman and Andy Lindahl make a great team together.Hang on for just one second. What has been going on on Orange and Blue 760 at the beginning of July? Orange and Blue 760 is no more. That station has been replaced with national programming from different national hosts Glen Beck, Sean Hanity, Rush Limbaugh, Dave Ramsey, and other political hosts. The new station is called Freedom 760 93.7 which used to be an oldies format with DJ’s Hal Moore, Bryan J, Rick Marshall, and some other hosts. There is no word yet on where these hosts have gone. Hal Moore has retired from radio. That is surprising news. I was a loyal listener to Hal Moore since 1997 when he was doing shows with Murphy Huston on News Talk 630 KHOW. I have followed him when he moved to KEZW for afternoons, Kool 105 for a morning show with Jack Regan, and then to the station 1510 and 93.7 radio. Hal has always been a fun host to listen to because of his energy and I learned something new from him every time I listened. I found a tape of when he was with Murphy Huston and the Gabby Gourmet. They were talking about different ice cream flavors.They were having people call in with their different ice cream flavors to watch the Avalanche with. In my opinion that is what a morning show should be. A morning show should be a show with fun topics so that callers can interact with the topics. It is really a shame that KHOW doesn’t have this format now in the mornings. Hal Moore said in an article that I read in "Westword" that 1510 and 93.7 have been very good to him. One thing I didn’t know was that Brian J was actually the owner of the station's son. He did his show from Chicago where he lived. The owner of the station is Hunt communications. Hal also said that the station was going only to AM. He wanted to be both on the FM and the AM dial. Hal is happy with the way it all worked out. Peter Boyles said in the same article that Hal is certainly a legend in this business. I certainly agree with him. I can still hear his voice saying at the end of his show on different radio stations. “I love you Denver!”What happened to Ryan Edwards? Ryan has moved over to 850 KOA radio and he is doing the afternoon show with Benjamin Albright. This show will be switching times at the beginning of September. It will be called Bronco’s Country tonight. Dave Logan and Rick Lewis were with them for a couple of weeks to get them situated. There is no word yet on where Steve Atwater or Andrew Mason have gone Andrew Mason has been doing some interviews on KOA radio. Susie Wargin will be joining the Bronco’s side lines as their new side line reporter. Dave Logan and Rick Lewis will be moving their show from 4-7 PM on KOA radio to 9 to 12 in the mornings on KOA radio.I will post more updates on the new schedule once I hear them Brandon Krystzal is the Bronco’s insider for 850 KOA radio. There is no word yet on where Justin Adams has gone . Justin was Brandon’s partner on Orange and Blue 760. Kathy Lee had her baby at the beginning of July as well. It was a little tough for her, but she is back on the KRFX morning show and she will be returning to Lewis and Logan when they start their new show. Also Grant Mandy’s call screener is going to be come Rick Lewis’s and Dave Logan’s producer for the new show and Angie who used to be the producer for the Michael Brown’s show is now producing for the Mandy Connell show. Bryan Beard who was with The Fan 104.3 has now joined KOA radio to help Alfred Williams on his new show starting in September. Krista Kafer and Michael Brown are no longer on 850 KOA radio and 630 KHOW radio. These moves were made to hopefully make room for Alfred Williams and to also make room for Bronco’s country tonight. Michael Brown is doing podcasts. Krista Kafer might make ocasional fill ins on Iheart media stations. I will really miss Krista. I really thought she was an entertaining host.Back in the early 2000’s there was a DJ on KYGO radio named Wingnut. Wingnut has now joined KNUC 98.9 the Bull radio in Seattle for mid-days. He is also the assistant program director. That is wonderful news for him. He was also on KWOF radio for a time. KTSA radio 550 AM radio in San Antonio, Texas had a new line-up starting in the early part of June. Sean Rima is hosting with Trey for two hours before starting his own show from 9-11 AM. I think this is an interesting move. Sean did some work for KOA radio back in the early 2000’s. I haven’t listened to his show in San Antonio yet, but I will over the next couple of monthsThe last thing I would like to share is that Jerry O’Neal, a sports radio host in Orlando, has retired from 740 and 96.9 The Game. The reason why I bring this up is that Mandy Connell worked on this show with Jerry O’Neal and the Shot Doctor back when she was on that station during her sports career. Jerry was the Orlando colleges football team announcer and he is now fully retired from the station altogether. Congratulations to you Jerry. I really enjoyed listening to you when I visited Orlando. As you notice there are a lot of changes. Some of the changes are still coming and you can be sure that Jeremy Levy will keep you posted on them as they come out.Thanks for tuning in.

Changes in Colorado radio

Jeremy Levy back with you to write about changes in Colorado radio. Most of these changes occurred earlier in the year, but we are just now catching up.Christine Noel Is leaving channel 9 KUSA TV for the same position at the TV station in Houston KPRC 2 tv. . Good luck to Christine. There is no word yet on who her replacement is. I got this information from Mike McGuff’s blog.Mix 100 is looking for it’s next mid-day host. Emily that was on the morning show and the mid-day show is no longer with the station.There is a change to Nina Blanco is joining 95.7 the party’s morning show. She was with 107.1 radio before that. Good luck to Nina. She creates the opening left by Diana Regalado that I blogged about a couple of blogs ago. Nina has served multiple rolls at 107.1 radio including night host and mid-day host. 107.1 KFCO is looking for it’s next mid-day host also Brian ‘Wingnut Degross has exited his position with Max Media. He has worked for KBPI and other Denver and Colorado radio stations. He is looking for his next opportunity. . Also in the Springs on 1040 KCBR has switched formats to comedy. They are playing comedy from a national network. I used to get this station and used to listen to some of their programming when it was a talk station. One Sunday I found the Bobby Likis car clinic national show on this station and I enjoyed listening to this show when there was nothing else good to listen to on a Sunday. I am not sure how the comedy format will do on KCBR. We will find out. Some of you might remember on KALC radio that there used to be a mid-day and night host named George Mcfly. After Denver George went to Hawaii to do some work at a station there. Now he has left Hawaii to take a radio job in New Mexico at KABG radio. Good luck to George. I really enjoyed listening to him on KALC radio during the 2006 or 2007 radiothon for children’s hospital In this particular year George was working the phone bank. He really made the phones ring that day because of his popularity at the station. .Some of you in Colorado Springs and Denver might remember a radio news personality named Paul Ihander. Paul was with KCSJ radio for a couple of years and He was a KOA radio news reporter for a couple of years. Paul is in Los Vegas. He is now programming KXNT radio an intercom radio station. Paul was also recently with Bonneville’s KTAR 92.3 FM in Phoenix. Paul was one of my favorite news anchors on KOA radio and it is wonderful for me to hear that he is still in the radio industry. Good luck to Paul with this new station Also Michael Flannigan of fresh air a Colorado music station owned by Colorado Public radio has retired. I remember Mike Flannigan being on Colorado Public radio during some of the pledge drives. He did a good job. Good luck to Mike .KEZW made a change back last September. They are now called EZ 1430 instead of Crusin 1430 radio. They went in a softer music direction. They play a lot of Frank Sinatra and that era of music again. Rick Crandall is still in mornings but, Chuck St. John is no longer with the station. Steve Edwards is now the afternoon host at EZ 1430. Steve was a producer for a lot of years with EZ 1430 and he was also an afternoon host for a couple of years as well. It is wonderful for me to hear that Steve is back on the air. Congratulations to you Steve. I am looking forward to hearing your second journey with the station. There is no word yet if Chuck St. John will resurface. Also Dan Mitchell of the mountain is back for an hour on the Mountain 99.5 KQMT radio. He is back on Saturday mornings with the Breakfast with the Beatles show. This show is on from 9-10 A.m. Congratulations Dan.Altitude 950 made a big change at the beginning of September. They are now on the FM dial as Altitude Sports radio 92.5. The country music when the station was 92.5 the Wolfe now can be found on 106.7 the bull. There are 2 country stations now in Denver 106.7 the bull KUBL and 98.5 KYGO radio. When I first became a radio listener I really enjoyed listening to KYGO radio because of their DJ’s and radio programming. I really miss the local radio programming on KYGO radio with Kelly Ford and Mudflap and Jo Jo Turnbeau. I really enjoy listening to the bull. I think that station is doing better in the ratings. I like their local programming with Denise Plante and Chelsea and Bryan. Washington.When 92.5 was the Wolfe they had a morning show with Jennifer D. Jennifer has moved to Kosi 101 doing mornings. I don’t know what happened to Sean Henry. I really think this was a great decision hearing Jenny D. Sean was an alright DJ. He needed a good partner. Jenny D will be joined by J Cruz December 19th. Good luck to Jay and to Jenny D. There is no word yet on where some of the other hosts from KWOF 92.5 radio have gone. You can be sure that if they make it back on the air then Jeremy Levy will be bringing it to you.Jackie Selby is now back on mid-days and Melissa ford has taken over afternoons on KOSI radio For those of you who remember my Murphy Huston interview Melissa Moore started on Kosi 101 with him. Melissa Moore used to be on KYGO radio. Sheena has taken over mid-days on KYGO radio. Also Kosi 101 did their annual radiothon for the Ronald McDonald house. It was good to hear Murphy Huston on that morning with Jennifer D. It was also good to hear Jackie Selby during the day. Kosi 101 raised a lot of money for the hospital. Some of the other Bonneville radio stations were able to participate. Brandon Stokley was on for a couple of segments from KKFN radio 104.3 the fan.Altitude 92.5 radio made a scheduling change a couple of months ago. The new schedule is as follows. From 7-10 Vick Lombardy and Marc Moser. Then from 10-2 Josh Delver Scott Hastings, and Ryan Harris. Then from 2-6 Nate Kreckman with Kreckman and Company. I think it is a good line-up, but I really miss Julie Browman hosting with Scott Hastings. They were a wonderful pair on the air. For those of you that are not aware Julie was Scott Hastings producer when he and Dave Logan started the Sports Zoo back in the early 90’s I contacted Dave Tepper who is the new program director of Altitude 92.5 radio to get his comments about the new line-up and I wrote some nice comments about Julie and Scott working together and he said that he was happy with the work that Julie and Scott did together on the show. Julie Browman is exploring other radio opportunities. . Vick and Mark Moser make a good team. When I was recovering from eye surgery, I enjoyed listening to their analysis of the Bronco’s games. My favorite segment of their show was when they did Diary and note book. This segment is where Mark and Vick take turns reading their analysis of the Bronco’s game. Vick has his diary and Mark has the note book. They have soft music for Vick’s diary and they have loud music for Mark’s note book. They really have a good segment going for that show. I need to make a correction about Ryan Harris. Ryan is still doing Notre Dame football, but he is still with Altitude Sports radio. There are changes happening to the KHOW afternoon show and to KOA radio during the night times from 7-11 P.M. Michael brown has moved back to KOA radio from 7-11 PM. .He has moved back to the station that he started on back in 2008 or 2009 when he first became a radio host. This is a good change for him. Dave Ramsey is no longer on KOA radio any more. I will let you know if he resurfaces in Denver any time soon. During Michael Brown’s last show on KHOW radio Michael had the pleasure of introducing who the next afternoon hosts would be on KHOW radio. They are 2 very familiar hosts to that time slot. They would be Dan Caplis and Krista Kafer. The new afternoon show on KHOW is called Caplis and Kafer. The Michael Brown show on KOA radio is called it’s a heck of a show with Michael Brown. This show is a little bit different then the Michael Brown show on KHOW radio because Michael takes some calls on the KOA radio show where he didn’t on the KHOW show. I really enjoy listening to the Michael Brown Show on Fridays because he has Christian To Toon to talk about movies and he also has Lori Lynn Barker on to talk about food and drinks. This is the best day to listen. I am really excited that Krista Kafer is back on the air. It has been a little while. I enjoyed her fill in appearances. Dan Caplis used to be in the afternoons, but it has been a while. He used to co-host with Craig Silverman. How will these changes be for these 2 stations? We will have to wait and see.Colfax is no longer with KBPI radio. He got let go from the station. I will really miss his work with the I heart media cluster of stations. Good luck to him. I hope that he gets another radio job soon. KBPI said in a statement that they wanted to give some people from the Fort Collins or the Springs areas that time slot. The reason is that KBPI has a bigger signal now that it is at 107.9 radio instead of 106.7 radio. This makes sense. I will still miss Colfax though.Kelly Ford is no longer with the Tie Chuck and Kelly national country radio show. The reason why I mention this is because Kelly used to be with KYGO radio before she went off to do this national radio show with Ty Bentli and Chuck Wicks. Where will Kelly go? We will have to wait to find out. Good luck to Kelly in whatever her next career will be. Kelly started with the national country radio show with Blaire Gardner and Chuck Wicks back in 2013. Lance Tidwell has exited his position with Town Square media’s fort Collins cluster of stations. He was only at this position for 6 months. Lance joined Town Square media from Cumulous radio in Kansas City. He was the operations manager of the Town Square cluster. He has moved around the united states. Colorado wasn’t his only radio stop. I have learned over the years that some people in radio only stay in a place a short amount of time.The last thing that I would like to mention is Greg Thunder has found a new radio job. He is now on KMNB radio the Wolfe in Minnesota. He is the main host on the morning with Mandy PT’ Thomas and Mandy James for mornings starting Mike Dubs who used to be in the morning slot moves to evenings. I am really excited to listen to this new show and I am really excited that Greg Thunder has found a new radio home. Kerri Nobel is no longer with the previous station in Minnesota that Greg was on. She is no longer in radio. She is teaching people how to sing or to act with their voice. One piece of Orlando news to report Mandy Connell used to work at WTKS radio and she worked with Jim Phillips. Jim Phillips has retired from WTKS radio. In October I visited Orlando and I listened to his show and I really enjoyed listening to this show. Jim Colbert will succeed him. Good luck to Jim Phillips and Jim Colbert. In February I am looking forward to listening to Jim Colbert to see how this new show will be. Mandy Connell learned some really good things from Jim Phillips while she was working with him.Thanks for tuning in.

Country Radio

Hi to all,My name is Lucas Miller Cain and I reside in Pinopolis, South Carolina. I’m here to tell you all about country radio in South Carolina. I first started listening to country music when I was at the age of four. I started learning and distinguishing between male and female voices when my mom and I were riding in the car. The station I started listening to was Hot Country 103.5 W.E.Z.L. Back in 1992 was when artists like Travis Tritt were first getting their start in music.I also started listening to artists such as Billy Dean, Garth Brooks, and Alan Jackson. We haven’t heard any new music from Travis, Billy or Alan recently because country music has changed tremendously over the years and it’s sounding more like pop music. In 1998, I met three of my favorite radio personalities, TJ Phillips, Gary Griffin, and Lori Nix. As I got to know them more, I started calling into the station and requesting songs that were my favorites during that time period. I also have inherited a wide country music collection in CD’s and tapes of all sorts of artists including some of the artists mentioned above.My first interview will hopefully be with TJ Phillips and hopefully this will be when my buddy Jeremy Levy from Colorado comes to South Carolina again.

Lois Melkonian blog part 2

Jeremy Levy back with you for the second part of my Lois Melkonian Blog interview.I recorded this blog last summer at a barbecue that I had at my house. In front of us were some delicious chocolate cupcakes, so we both might have been a little distracted It is a little bit long, but I Lois has been one of my favorite personalities and she was so gracious to spend so much time with me . I am hoping you will read all of it. Thank you, Lois, for sharing such a wonderful interview with me.Here is my interview with Lois.Jeremy Levy: I know that you started your radio career in San Francisco at KCBS radio, but is this where you got your start in radio?Lois Melkonian: I first got my start at KFRN radio in Long Beach California. I was news director there. Then I worked at KJOY radio a radio station in Stockton California. I was their news director My first big news story was covering the challenger explosion. I was able to work many hours covering city council and then being their news director going to work at 4 in the morning Jeremy which you do when you work in news because there were so many floods and difficult politics in Stockton California in 1984 through 1986 I was able to get a very good job at KCBS radio in San Francisco later on because there was such a lot of great news to cover.JL: When you worked at KCBS radio you worked with Al Hart. What was it like working with him and what did you learn from him?LM: Al Hart was a true legend in San Francisco radio Jeremy. He was the most significant part of my life when it came to radio. No one holds a candle to him because of his experience and his warmth and his kindness. When I first started working with Al I was a little intimidated until he made it so easy and we had such a great rapport. We could bounce ideas off each other and we seemed to understand life from a similar prospective. He didn’t take himself too seriously and he taught me not to take myself to seriously either. That was a big lesson he gave to me. The other thing is it doesn’t matter what other people say it matters how you perform and how you act, and how you ask questions. Also, how you treat people. He treated people with such kindness that I knew that’s what I needed to do. I also learned from him that nice people do succeed because he had a wonderful career and people admired him and loved the work that he did and he never hurt anyone in the process. He taught me that I could do the same thing.A side comment from Jeremy. I certainly agree with this. I have heard it first hand from when Lois used to do interviews.JL: Did you have other friends at KCBS radio and if so, what did you learn from them the years that you worked at KCBS:LM: I had so many friends and colleagues at KCBS Jeremy. All of them were such professionals they were out to tell stories and to tell them from a very strong truthful perspective. All the years I was there no one told us what to say, how to believe, or what to think. They told us to go out there and get the story and to get both sides of the story. There was never one side to a story, it was telling the story as it stands. I learned that and there were a lot of legends working in San Francisco radio at the time you might remember from the San Francisco Chronicle. Herb Cane was still writing at the time and he was powerful as a columnist and he influenced many of the things I covered. All my colleagues were great and good story tellers and they wanted to tell the truth.JL: When you started in radio in Colorado on KOA radio you worked on Colorado’s morning news doing the business reports. You worked with Steve Kelley, April Zesbaugh, and Alan Roach. Who did you take over for on this show and what was your job on this show? What did you learn from them and what was it like working with them?LM: I was working in the mornings doing the business reports. That’s what I was doing first Jeremy of all things on KOA. I was getting up in the morning doing financial news. The one thing I learned was that in radio that you need to do some new and different things. I was doing a lot of sports and news in San Francisco and on KOA radio I was doing financial news. I had to study up on the market and I had to look at all the publications that had to do with business. I very much enjoyed what I was doing and they were a great team. All of them were great. All of them were legends in Colorado. I learned team work from all of them. All of them put a great show together that you want people to listen to. It was a family atmosphere. When people sit down at home or while they are driving to work they feel like they are part of a family or they are with friends. I felt like I was working with friends.JL: When you were waiting for the show to start, Rick Barber was on. Was there anything that you learned from him?LM: You know it was great to come in in the mornings and Rick was there. He was quite the gentleman and a very strong personality. A very kind man. I remember that and I was very sorry to hear of his passing. He was very delightful. You can still listen to his recordings today.JL: Sometimes you worked on the Saturday Colorado’s Morning News Show. You worked with Corey Lopez, Brenda Stewart, John M, Kim Hubbard, Joel Hillan, and others. What was it like working with these people and was there anything that you learned from them?LM: Mainly that everyone was committed to getting a great show on the air as I was. They were wonderful at their craft and they were passionate about telling the stories and being there on time. Each one of those people were fabulous. It was a real pleasure to work with them.JL: That is when I first heard you.LM: That is great. Working weekends isn’t always fun, but You must do it sometimes. It was a good thing for me. I was very glad to be there Jeremy.JL: There were other sister stations in that group one of them being KHOW did you get to know any of the hosts on that station?LM: Not so well. During that time Caplis and Silverman were on that show at that time. I got to know them at that time. JL: Also you got to know Jerry Bell during that time. Was there anything that he taught you and what was it like working with him?LM: Oh my goodness what an amazing man. He was in San Francisco when I was. We knew of each other when I came to KOA radio. He was also at KCBS. He continues to this day as a stellar reporter and a wonderful man.JL: He really is. I love listening to his reports during different news casts. In 2005 Scott Hastings left the show called the Sports Zoo. They were looking for a person or host to work alongside Dave Logan. Were you familiar with Scott? Also how did you get picked for this position?LM: I have no idea. Chris Olinger who was the program director at the time called me and brought me in to meet with Dave Logan Scott and I didn’t know each other. I had done news before on their show as a fill in. I didn’t know the team like that. Dave and I were brought together to look at sports from 2 different angles. He of course being the sports announcer sports athlete and host and myself being the fascinated with sports and having 3 sons that played sports who were all active in sports. I could speak from a fan prospective. I was asked if II could try it out so we auditioned together. It worked! It really worked. It was a wonderful run for 5 to 6 years. JL: Around this time the morning show was going through some changes with Steve Kelley leaving the morning show and Stefan tubs succeeding him. Did you know Steffan and did you learn any tips from him?LM: I knew Steffan and April as a very strong news team . They did a wonderful job hosting that show. I worked so many years as a news anchor myself I brought those skills with me Jeremy. I didn’t know Steffan that well I didn’t lean on him for those kinds of things.JL: What were 1 or 2 of your fondest memories of working on that show from 2005-2011?LM: One of them was the very strange story of the Balloon Boy. The family in Colorado, Karen Lindsay and I worked on that story together. She was the news anchor in the afternoons, and she is a very good friend of mine. That was a very fun thing to work on. The other great thing was to deal with the Bronco’s and the Rockies. Are you kidding? I got to sit and do interviews with some of those players. I got to go to games. I loved every moment of it. I got to watch the team move to the orange crush colors. I was such an orange fan. I loved doing all of that. All these things were huge fun for me as a talk show host.JL: What did you learn from working with Dave? Also when you were working with that show you got to know the hosts that came after you 2 of them in particular were Gunny Bob and Sean Rima. Was there anything that you learned from working with them?LM: I like being with people who are passionate about what they do. Those 2 people were very passionate about what they did. It didn’t matter if we saw eye to eye on everything but, it was great to work with people that were passionate about their shows. I still do. They are fun to listen to. Dave Logan is a legend In himself, isn’t he? It was wonderful to sit alongside him. I think our rapport was fabulous we were able to go back and forth without knowing each other and without trying. It was just a very good comradery. I have nothing but fond memories of that time.JL: I have some very fond memories of that time being a listener as well.LM: We laughed a lot didn’t we? I embarrassed myself a lot on the air Jeremy. It’s true. I had fun doing it.JL: One of my favorite memories was when you did the story of the cologne that smelled like hamburger meet.LM: It smelled like Burger King in the studio. That was funny. I still remember we did the story about Snuggie robes. We did weird things like when the wind affects you.JL: I know you did a whole 4 hour show just on that.LM: People called in about that. Of course you are going to talk about that. JL: During the show also you got to do interviews with Jack Corrigan, Jeff Kingery, and Jerry Schemmel. What did you learn from them?LM: That they know a lot more about baseball than I do. I love baseball I love the Rockies I got to go to the world series games. I got to go to games. My favorite saying with the Rockies was woohoo! It was just fabulous, and I am just so excited about where they are right now Jeremy.JL: Me Too. I am hoping that this year that they go further into the playoffs.Comment from Jeremy Levy. They did go a little bit farther.JL: Did anything surprise you about working on a talk show rather than just a news program?LM: No because I am used to surprises Jeremy. So, in news as well as in talk you just need to go with the flow. I loved being able to talk about important topics of the day, silly topics of the day, and sports topics of the day. The one thing they did at KOA is if there was serious going on than we covered it as well. I feel I got the best of both worlds.JL: Were there any favorite interviews of players or coaches that you interviewed?LM: I always loved going to Cheyenne Frontier days. That was a lot of fun to go up there and meet some famous cow boys. That was so much fun for me. I loved hanging out with people Jeremy. It was really an honor. We had a lot of comedians come through. I had a great team. Amani Ali was our producer and Reid Fisher was behind the glass. It was just a lot of fun.JL: When Dave Logan would be coaching during the football season you would have different co-hosts on the show until he was able to rejoin the show. Some of them being Lou From Littleton, Dave Krieger, Mark Johnson, JJ McKay, Amy Van Dyken, Jon Caldara, Andy Lindahl, and Mike Rice. What was this experience like?LM: They were so much fun. They made my job easy. It was who am I going to work with today. And this is awesome! Every single one of those people brought joy and energy. Also they brought a different prospective to the show. It was a joy and total fun.JL: One of my favorite shows during that time period was when you were co-hosting with Amy Van Dyken.LM: She is so much fun, isn’t she?JL: You were talking about chocolate. And a caller called in saying that he worked in a grocery store and had to give up chocolate.LM: That must have been so hard. I’m glad I have some chocolate cupcakes sitting right in front of us Jeremy and I can’t wait to eat one of them Jeremy.JL: One of my favorite parts of the show was when Reggie McDaniel would come on for his movie reviews for the week. Would you please talk about Reggie and what he brought to the show?LM: Reggie McDaniel you never knew what to expect from that man. He would watch everything. He had an energy a vivaciousness about him. He loved movies. He loved food. And he really enjoyed people. You felt so welcome. You felt at home when you were with him. I took away from him Jeremy I need to always people feel at home. He always did that with me. I never had the suits that he did. I never looked as good as he did. That was his specialty.JL: You had a lot of sports guests on the show. Were there any that stood out as being your favorites?LM: I just enjoyed them all Jeremy. I’m trying to think if I had a favorite. Rod Smith was great because he had a lot of energy. Some of the guests felt like they had to come on. Jay Cutler being a good example. He wasn’t always sure if he wanted to come on. I think everyone had their gifts. JL: in 2009 through 2010 Steve Kelley came back as an alumni of KOA radio and he worked with you for those years while Dave would be coaching . He was doing a talk show format not a news format.JL: What was that like doing a show like that with him?LM: He was delightful and so well rounded. He was really good at asking people questions. He enjoys people. If you love people and you like hanging out with folks, then you are going to do really well in this business. He absolutely has that gift.JL: Karen Lindsay who u mentioned a couple of questions ago was the news anchor for the ride home show. What did you learn from her over the years?LM: She is just a pile of energy. I love that woman. She is funny and resourceful. She loved TMZ so she had those stories from TMZ. She was a really good friend.JL: in 2011 the ride home was making some changes that didn’t include you. Did you know this? And did you get the job in Houston before you knew this?LM: The decisions they were making were internal. They informed me. Then the position opened up at KTRH radio. I could stay in the Clear Channel family.JL: What made you decide to move to Houston?LM: I had 2 sons in college that I had to keep paying their tuition. For me to stay employed it was important for me to keep working.JL: When you were working at KTRH in Houston you worked with Matt Patrick doing news for his show. What was it like working with Matt?LM: That was a different experience for me. I will admit. I loved working with him. He was a professional and he really knew what he was doing. It was a turbulent time in politics. There were lots to cover. Houston is an exciting place even now. My family enjoyed visiting all the wonderful places. It was something I will never forget. The best thing was that I had the best neighbors on the planet. I loved where I lived. I will never forget that Jeremy I’ll never regret living there.JL: There was a woman named Samantha Jordan that helped on that show. What did you learn from her?LM: She was absolutely crazy! She has sons that are in the military. She was a funny woman. She is still on the air in Florida. JL: I knew that you left Houston to help your father with his Alzheimer’s. Did you have to train your replacement at KTRH radio?LM: I did not. They were able to adjust. I was not involved with training or handling my replacement.JL: When you came back to Denver you and Karen Lindsay did an audition show on KHOW for their morning show. How did this come about and what did you think about doing this kind of show?LM: It was great coming back on the air with Karen. She and I had never done a show just the two of us. We were just exploring some possibilities Jeremy and it turned out that it wasn’t the best fit for KHOW We thought it was a great thing for us to audition for that show. We enjoyed doing it very much. We heard that the position was opening, and we put ourselves in the running for it.JL: Dan Mandis was the program director at the time did you know of Dan and did Dan have any expectations of your show?LM: I didn’t know Dan very well.JL: Do you miss being on the radio?LM: I don’t I am very happy with what I am doing now. I think that there are still great people in the radio industry. I am very happy for them.JL: in July this past summer you got to go back into the studio on KOA with April Zesbaugh to do an interview about the more to life podcast and the workshops. What was it like getting back in to the studio with April?LM: It was great. April and I really worked together because she worked mornings, and I worked in the afternoons. It was so fun to go into the studio with her. She is really talented and she really did her research. She was asking us some questions about our workshop. We had just a wonderful time. Shannon Scott was producing that day and he was a really great friend of mine. It was wonderful seeing him as well. That was a really fun experience. April and I just had a great banter back and forth and it was just a wonderful interview. When you are friends with someone and then you don’t see them for a while and then you see them for a while you just pick right back up from where you left off. JL: That’s how I felt when I first met you that I already knew you and we were already friends. What gave you the idea of starting the More to life podcast with Faith?LM: Faith and I have known each other for years. She is a therapist and I am now a life coach. Our years of experience working with people might provide some good information. We came up with more to life with Faith and Lois to look at life when you are in a place for either when you are happy or when you are sad and where you go from there. We want you to know that no one has to stay stuck and the ways to look at life. We explore different topics every week. Weather it is identity, weather it is your dreams. Whether it is considering. We just want to take your experiences and blow them up for you. We just want to remind you that there is more to life.JL: Wat kinds of things have you learned through podcasting?LM: I am glad to be back in this medium that I love and thank you Jeremy for because I love doing this. I haven’t lost my voice. That is probably the biggest piece.JL: What would be your advice for someone wanting to get in to radio or podcasting?LM: Never give up! Stay at it. If that’s really what you want to do, then keep working at it and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.JL: What would your hopes be for your podcasts and for your workshops?LM: We want to continue to influence people’s lives Jeremy and to have our voice out there. We hope that obviously we get more listeners and that people are excited about where we are going. Weather it is working with you in your work place, working with you in your workshop We want you to know that there is more to life and that we are going to keep putting our voice out thereJL: This last question is for me. I am interested in getting into radio and doing some podcasting. What advice would you have for me?LM: To start podcasting To get yourself out there In terms of what your voice sounds like and what it sounds like in an interview setting or straight broadcasting and to take that and to share it with different radio stations and try and find out where will the best fit would be.Thanks for tuning in and go Rockies I am posting this on Rockies opening weekend of 2019. This is one of Lois’s favorite times of the year.

Lois Melkonian

Jeremy Levy back with you with another exciting blog about one of my favorite radio hosts and now podcaster Lois Melkonian. The first time I heard Lois Melkonian on KOA was on a Saturday morning with the show Colorado’s morning news the Saturday edition. It’s hard for me to remember if she was working with John M or Corey Lopez. This show was similar to the Colorado’s morning news show during the week, but on Saturdays. It was on for 4 hours and it covered both local and national news. The news personalities on this show would vary from Saturday to Saturday. There aren’t too many shows like this anymore around the country. There are a couple of stations that do weekend news programming, but it is very unusual now. KOA doesn’t do this show anymore which I miss. Some of the people that helped with this show were Brenda Stuart, Corey Lopez, John M, Kim Hubbard, Karen Trinidad, Lois Melkonian, Joel Hillan, and Alex Stone. I really enjoyed it when Corey Lopez was on with either Brenda, Lois, or Kim Hubbard. Reggie McDaniel would come on to talk about what was coming out movie wise that weekend and what was coming up on his show that weekend. John Cretti would come on with a gardening tip as well. When I first heard Lois’s voice I thought to myself that she was a special person. I really loved her gentle voice and her questioning of guests that would be on this show. I also loved her sense of humor and the way she interacted with the other host whether it was Corey or John M. I maybe have heard her during the week on Colorado’s Morning news doing the business reports. Back in 2005 Scott Hastings left the Sports Zoo with Dave Logan and they were looking for a co-host that could talk sports and could be a great co-host for Dave. They might have also been looking for someone that could run the show when Dave would be coaching. Lois was picked to fill that role and the show was called the Ride Home. This show was a mixture of fun topics, news and sports. I first tuned into this show back at the beginning of 2006. The first show that I tuned into was when Lois and Rick Marshall, who was substituting for Dave because Dave was announcing at the rally. The coach was broadcasting live from a Bronco’s rally. This was the first year that the Bronco’s made it to the play offs in quite a few years. As I listened to this show my love of sports began to grow. As I mentioned in my last blog post about Irv Brown and Joe Williams they first got me interested in sports. After that I sometimes would listen to the Sports Zoo. That got me a little more interested. It was actually the ride home show that deepened my love of sports and helped me to start to understand sports.I also adored and enjoyed Lois’s sense of humor on this show. I think that Lois started to understand sports a little bit better as well. She was also wonderful at talking about other news stories that would be happening around the country or around Colorado. Sometimes they would talk about silly topics on the show. A couple of my favorite topics were a Cologne that smelled like hamburger meat, and things not to do at Christmas parties, and How the wind affects you, and how another person’s yawning can make you yawn. Another topic that was my favorite was when Lois and Amy Van Dyken talked about chocolate. When Dave Logan wasn’t there Lois would have a couple of co-hosts on the show to help her. Some of my favorites were Amy Van Dyken, Lou from Littleton, Reggie McDaniel, Steve Kelley, Mike Rice, Mark Johnson, Andy Lindal, and Jon Caldara. Probably my favorite show that Lois did with a co-host was the 4th of July show when Reggie was the co-host. This is where the chocolate conversation started. During the show if Lois or if one of her co-hosts got hungry they kept a stash of food in the studio. Lois put the chocolate out that day for Reggie and all of the chocolate was gone when the show was all done .I also enjoyed Lois, Amy and Reggie talking about the 5th Harry Potter movie that came out in July of 2007. All 3 of them had a small debate on the 7th book that would come out about weather Harry Potter should die. Reggie and Amy thought that Harry Potter should die Lois had the opposite opinion saying that he didn’t have to die. Lois had a great sense of humor when she was talking to Reggie. Lois also loved doing remotes from Cheyenne Frontier Days, and from the Taste of Colorado. Another one of my favorite broadcasts was when Lois and Lou from Littleton were doing a remote from a golf concourse in Parker for a Wednesday summer afternoon. On one of the shows of the Taste of Colorado Lois and Lou had a chocolate cupcake that Lois said was absolutely sensational. Lois got a little bit of frosting on her face. When I got my first computer and learned how to use e-mail I started e-mailing back and forth with Lois. She has become a big mentor for me and one of my radio heroes. In 2011, KOA radio was making some changes to the show that didn’t include Lois. Lois had to decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her career. The Ride Home’s last show was one that I will never forget. They had a tribute to Lois with the song I’m moving on by Rascal Flats with some clips of Dave Logan Mike Rice, and Lois talking about their time working together. Lois said that she had a great time working on The Ride Home show. She took a radio job in Houston.Lois worked at KTRH radio for a year on the morning news program with Matt Patrick. This was a different kind of show then Lois was used to. She was back to doing the hard news kind of show. During this time Lois’s father got sick with Alzheimer’s. She was going back and forth to take care of him from Houston to Denver. Finally, she decided to move back to Colorado to take care of him full time. I stayed in contact with Lois constantly throughout all this time, even getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning to listen to her in Houston. After moving back to Denver, Lois heard that KHOW radio was looking for a new morning show to replace the Peter Boyles show that was no longer on. Lois and Karen Lindsay did an audition show on KHOW in July of 2013. I was so excited for this show that I got up extra early so that I wouldn’t miss any of it. They didn’t get the job, but the audition was certainly fun for both them and me. I really thought that Lois would still be a wonderful radio host. After this Lois wasn’t sure what her next career move would be. In January of 2018 she started the More to Life podcast with FaithDonaldson and Lois Melkonian. https://moretolifewithfaithandlois.com/ This podcast is on one day a week and has one topic focusing on a topic of life. Lois and Faith have done a couple of workshops similar to the podcast where they talk about some of these topics and go into more detail. Last April I got to go to a workshop . This is where I finally got to meet my hero that I had been listening to since the early 2000s. This was really a big opportunity for me and I was nervous about how Lois would think of me. When she first greeted me I felt so comfortable and it was just like I imagined it would be.One of the biggest things that I have learned from Lois is never give up on your dreams and to always keep your dreams alive. I also learned that sometimes life takes you to places where you never thought you would go but, that’s okay as well. Lois will always be a hero to me and also be a wonderful friend to me as well. Tune in next time for my interview with Lois.Thanks for tuning in.

Jeremy’s Irv Brown memories

Jeremy Levy back with you with some sad news to report. Irv Brown the Godfather of Denver sports radio has passed away at the age of 83. Irv was sick at the time with lymphoma. This was his most recent diagnosis a couple of days ago. Irv was a coach of all sports before he got into radio. Irv was on different radio stations for a lot of years. Since I listened to him, he was on KHOW, KTLK, 950 the Fan, 104.3 The Fan, 1600 KEPN, and Mile High Sports 1340 and 1510. Irv and Joe Williams did a very informative sports radio show. They didn’t always agree. No one that Irv worked with had a bad thing to say about Irv Brown. Irv was a true legend in Denver radio.I first remember listening to Irv and Joe back in 1997. I remember first listening to them when they did a remote at the Black-Eyed Pea. That was the first remote that I remember Their song on that show was Let’s Get Ready to Rumble- the Hockey Theme. They got me really interested in Sports Radio. One thing that is similar about Irv and me are our memories. Irv would talk about things and players that happened years ago. Sometimes I remember things and people from many years ago that people are surprised that I remember; for example, I remember Casey Bloyer saying that Irv Brown was one of his mentors growing up. Sometimes Irv and Joe didn’t agree on sports topics that they would talk about. Their chemistry working together was amazing. I first really started getting interested in their show back in the early 2000’s when their show was on the Fan. They were really fun to listen to while I was recovering from eye surgery. Irv and Joe also had Jim Armstrong as a co-host while they were with the Fan. Those were fun shows to listen to. Also, when they were with the Fan, Mark Moser had a show right after them. They talked with Mark about what he was going to cover on his show. That was fun to listen to. When their show moved to Mile High Sports radio 1340, Irv and Joe were so happy to be on 1340 radio when it first started up. Their theme song to start out this show was Positive 4th street by Bob Dillon. Whenever I hear this song I think of Irv and Joe. I know a couple of people that knew Irv and Joe. One of them was my ocularist at Denver Optics Company, Walter and Ted Johnson. Ted used to come on with Irv and Joe to talk about the Kentucky Derby. One time he knew that I would be listening so he mentioned me to Irv and Joe. I think they knew of me. I really wish that I could have met both of them. I always enjoyed their segment on Fridays called the Hour of Power where they would make predictions about the different football games that would be on. They would make circles around which teams they would think would win the games. I will really miss this. Irv and Joe have worked with some fantastic people with their time together on the air including Gil Whitely, Scott Hastings, Dave Logan, Josh Dover, Mike Evans, Sandy Clough, Vic Lombardi, Les Shapiro, Mark Kisla, Brandon Krisztal, Scott DeHuff and Mark Moser. I really enjoyed listening to Irv and Joe’s last show together. As I wrote about back then, it was a memorable show with Dave Logan and other guests, all to wish Irv good luck and goodbye.Mike Boyle also knew him. Mike had Irv do a commercial for his show for a couple of years about JD’s Bait Shop. I always wondered how Mike got Irv to do that for his show .At the end of their show Irv used to say for my partner Joe Williams, I am Irv Brown -You make this show good, night everybody.” Then a sound affect would play that said come home baby now.” Then Irv Brown would say ”I’m on my way.” This was a great way to end the show. Irv was certainly a legend in Denver Sports radio and a lot of people will miss him terribly including me.RIP Irv Brown.Thanks for tuning in.