Dick Carlson was a Denver broadcaster and radio executive whose career crossed both the programming and business sides of the industry.
During the 1960s, Carlson worked as a sportscaster at KTLN. When the Denver Broncos’ radio broadcasts moved to KTLN for the 1964 season, legendary play-by-play announcer Bob Martin initially worked with talk host Joe Finan and later with Carlson. That assignment placed Carlson in the broadcast booth during the formative American Football League years of the Broncos franchise.
Carlson subsequently moved into radio sales and management. By the 1990s he was general sales manager for the Denver group that included KOA, KHOW and KTLK, three major AM properties with news, talk, sports and personality programming.
In 1997, Carlson left Denver to become general manager of KIRO AM and FM in Seattle, marking his move from senior sales leadership into overall station management in another major market.
Carlson’s career illustrates the range available to broadcasters of his generation: from live professional-sports coverage to the executive and revenue side of major-market radio.
Sources: Denver Broncos — Behind the Microphone; Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado — Denver Radio history.
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