Gary Street

Gary Street was a longtime Colorado Springs broadcaster and award-winning radio newsman whose career connected several major Southern Colorado stations.

Street graduated from Palmer High School in 1975, served four years in the Air Force and enrolled in the broadcasting program at Pikes Peak Community College in 1979. In 1980, while still a student, he landed his first radio job at KYSN 1460 AM; “Captain” Dan Jackson was the broadcaster who hired him.

Street quickly became part of KYSN‘s final Top 40 era. The Gavin Report of December 17, 1982 lists Gary Street–KYSN as its Colorado Springs Top 40 correspondent, reporting the station’s current music activity to the national trade publication. Duncan’s market history shows KYSN competing through a difficult transition from AM Top 40 to FM-dominated contemporary music: its 12+ share fell from 8.9 in 1980 to 4.8 in 1981 and 2.0 in 1982.

Street later worked as a newscaster at KILO, spent time at KOA in Denver and returned to Colorado Springs for roles at KVOR and KRXP. A 2011 Gazette report quotes former KILO boss Lou Mellini saying Street received 15 Associated Press news recognitions, and reports that the Colorado Springs Press Association honored him in June 2010 for his contributions to broadcasting. A June 1988 Radio & Records report says he received five Colorado Springs Press Association awards, with a contemporaneous trade account describing top honors in five of six categories.

Street left daily broadcasting after Parkinson’s disease increasingly affected his work. He died August 11, 2011, at age 54 and was remembered by local broadcasters as a deeply respected colleague.

A December 4, 2009 Gazette profile provides further dated checkpoints: Street worked in news at KKCS and KHT in 1982, joined KILO in 1985, left for Denver’s KOA in 1993, returned to KVOR for approximately five years and joined KRXP (then known as The Eagle) in 1999. The Gazette reported that his final newscast was July 8, 2009.

Southern Colorado stations: KYSN, KKCS, KHT, KILO, KVOR, KRXP; also KOA in Denver.

Sources: The Gavin Report, Dec. 17, 1982; James Duncan, Radio in the United States 1976-1982; Colorado Springs Gazette, “Street Wise: Parkinson’s meant leaving broadcasting, not living” (2009) and “Local broadcasters remember Gary Street” (2011).