Cecil “Cec” Heftel owned KIMN in the late 1950s, just before it became the Top 40 giant Denver kids grew up on. His second act looked nothing like that: he became a Hawaii broadcaster and a member of Congress.
The KIMN years
Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado shows Heftel as KIMN’s owner in 1958. During the 1950s he had managed radio stations in Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. In 1960 the buyers were Bob Donner Jr., John Hunter and Ken Palmer, who paid $402,000, and Palmer then ran the station through its Top 40 heyday.
Hawaii and Congress
Born in Chicago on September 30, 1924, Heftel bought KGMB radio and TV in Honolulu in 1965 and built up Heftel Broadcasting, which was later renamed Hispanic Broadcasting Co. Voters sent him to the U.S. House from Hawaii’s 1st District in 1976. He left Congress in 1986 to run for governor, but lost the Democratic primary to John Waihee. He later settled in Las Vegas, is credited with purchasing FM stations in Los Angeles that broadcast in Spanish, and died February 4, 2010, in San Diego at age 85.
Sources
- Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado: Denver radio
- Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Cec Heftel, former Congressman and radio mogul, died
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