KBRR / KRMH-AM 1230 lineage

KBRR was the long-running middle identity of Leadville’s first local radio facility, operating on 1230 AM. The station signed on as KLVC on September 21, 1951, later became KBRR, and was known as KRMH by the mid-1980s.

KLVC: Leadville gets local radio

Contemporary broadcast directories date KLVC’s sign-on to September 21, 1951. It operated with 250 watts on 1230 kHz from 520 West Sixth Street under Leadville’s Top of the Nation Station, Inc. A 2020 recollection by Leadville native Emmett O’Leary remembered the station arriving in 1950; the archive preserves that local recollection while using the contemporary 1951 directory date for the formal chronology.

The early station carried unusually local programming. It broadcast Leadville High School Panther basketball games at home and on the road, covered the annual burro race by remote, and aired live community programs. Gene Vancil, manager of the local J.C. Penney store, handled sports broadcasts for many years and was on the air when Leadville’s 1956 state basketball champions returned home. Bill Jacobson and Dick Peyton—known on air as “Grampa” or “The Old Man of the Mountain”—were among the remembered announcers.

From 1955 through 1958, the O’Leary family’s Valley Home Dairy sponsored The Bright Spot of the Week, a live half-hour request program heard Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Emmett and Mary O’Leary performed popular songs, sometimes joined by Emmett’s sister Doris, while the station kept its upright piano tuned for the broadcasts.

KBRR: the “brrr” years

The call letters changed from KLVC to KBRR around 1960. The calls were remembered locally as a playful reference to Leadville winter weather—“brrr.” A 1964 industry directory lists Continental Divide Broadcasting, Inc. as owner, Thomas T. Farley as president and John H. East as vice president and general manager. That year Farley sold his 55 percent interest to East. In 1975, Continental Divide Broadcasting sold KBRR to Zap Communications, Inc. for $150,000; the station was then authorized for 1,000 watts by day and 250 watts at night.

A 1975 directory characterized KBRR’s format as rock and country and listed ABC Information, Intermountain Network and sports affiliations including University of Colorado and Denver Broncos programming.

KRMH and the end of the facility

The station was using the KRMH calls by 1984. It later operated alongside KRMH-FM 93.5; a 1993 directory listed the AM at 1,000 watts with a country format under Phoenix Broadcasting. Contemporary monitoring reports listed KRMH 1230 silent in early 1991. The AM license, FCC Facility ID 52513, was ultimately canceled on May 4, 2023.

Call-letter lineage: KLVC → KBRR → KRMH.

Sources

• Emmett O’Leary, “KBRR was first radio station here,” Leadville Herald Democrat, January 15, 2020.
• 1957 Broadcasting Yearbook — KLVC’s 1951 origin, frequency, power, address, ownership and staff.
• 1964 Radio Annual — KBRR call era, ownership and management.
• Broadcasting, August 10, 1964 — transfer of Thomas Farley’s KBRR interest to John H. East.
• Broadcasting, April 21, 1975 — sale to Zap Communications and technical facilities.
• Wheeler’s Radio Directory, 1975 — format and network/sports affiliations.
• Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook, 1993 — KRMH technical, ownership and format listing.
• National Radio Club DX News, February 1991 — KRMH reported silent.
• FCC licensing data, Facility ID 52513 — license cancellation dated May 4, 2023.