PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Benny Bash

    Benny Bash is a Colorado Springs and Pueblo radio host who has been a morning host at KBPL and an afternoon host and assistant program director at KCCY “Y96.9”, with sports radio in his past too.

    Mornings on the rock station

    Before the move to country, he did mornings on iHeartMedia’s rock station 107.9 KBPI South, the Pueblo-licensed KBPL. If you drove through the Springs in the late 2010s with the rock station on, The Jason and Benny Show was part of that commute, and iHeart lists it as a podcast. He also hosted a book podcast, Bash That Book.

    Sports radio and school

    RadioInsight’s 2022 write-up says he was the local sports host for Fox Sports 1350 KUBE and earlier hosted on Fox Sports 1580 KREL in Colorado Springs, and that he had also hosted for Denver’s Mile High Sports Radio. He is a Colorado State University-Pueblo graduate.

    Y96.9 and the afternoon slot

    On November 1, 2022, iHeartMedia named him assistant program director and afternoon drive host for Y96.9 KCCY, taking the slot that had belonged to Shawn Patrick, who had moved on to KYGO in Denver that August. In the CBA’s 2022 results his name appears in two spellings, “Benny Bash” and “Benny Basham,” and both are treated here as the same person because the station and the work line up.

    Sources

  • Halle Zander

    Halle Zander is the news director at Aspen Public Radio, the home of KAJX, where she reports on the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. If you hear a newscast or All Things Considered from the valley, it has probably passed through her hands.

    From freelancer to news director

    Aspen Public Radio’s bio says she joined full time in September 2021, after freelancing as a broadcast journalist for Aspen Public Radio and KDNK. She studied environmental analysis at Pitzer College and, per the bio, is pursuing a master’s in journalism through New York University. Before that she worked as an educator at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies and the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program, where she taught youth radio and managed a weekly public affairs show, and she read newscasts for the college station KSPC.

    In June 2025, Radio Ink reported that Aspen Public Radio had promoted her to news director after she had hosted All Things Considered and held nearly every editorial role at the station.

    On the air and online

    Her Colorado Broadcasters Association credits run from 2021 through 2025 and cover news and sports stories from the valley.

    Sources

  • Tauna Lockhart

    Tauna Lockhart is a Summit County radio name tied to KYSL-FM, “Krystal 93,” the adult album alternative station in Frisco. If you’ve had Krystal on while driving over Vail Pass or heading to the lifts, you’ve been listening to the station Tauna is credited on.

    Krystal 93 and Krystal Media

    KYSL is licensed to Frisco on 93.9 FM and has carried the Krystal name since it signed on in May 1988. It started out as an adult contemporary station and switched to adult album alternative in 2001, keeping the Krystal brand. Its signal reaches Summit County and Eagle County, with Clear Creek County covered on a translator. The Colorado Broadcasters Association (CBA) credits Tauna Lockhart on KYSL entries from 2020 through 2025, and the station’s own entries describe a group of three stations sharing one website under the Krystal Media banner.

    What the credits show

    The name shows up on station website work, digital and social media, and local public affairs programming. That includes a 2020 ski-season-and-COVID conversation with area COOs and a community segment called Shout Out to Summit Superheroes. The list of recognition for each year appears on the awards card on this page.

    This is a short page built from published award credits. We have not found a published bio, so job titles, start dates and other details are not listed here. If you worked with Tauna or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

  • Anderson Koster

    Anderson Koster is credited with the on-air sound of KSPN, the Aspen station at 103.1 FM, in Colorado Broadcasters Association (CBA) awards.

    This is a short stub. The CBA pages only list the name next to the work, so we don’t have a job title, dates or background. If you know more of the story, send it in with the suggestion form.

    Imaging and public service work at KSPN

    If you tuned in to KSPN around the start of the pandemic, you probably heard this work without knowing it. The CBA credits from 2020 and 2022 are for station imaging, the short produced pieces that tie a station’s sound together, and for a Pitkin County COVID-19 public service announcement. Each of those credits is shared with another KSPN staffer, so this was team work.

    KSPN is an adult album alternative station that Wikipedia says has been licensed since 1970, and the Aspen Chamber of Commerce lists it among the stations run by Always Mountain Time, LLC.

    Sources

  • Dan Michaels

    Dan Michaels was the first program director of 99.5 The Mountain (KQMT) in Denver. If you were tuned in when The Mountain first appeared on your dial in 2002, he was the person shaping what you heard.

    99.5 The Mountain

    Supplied by the archive: Dan Michaels was the station’s first program director. We don’t yet know when his tenure began or ended. The Mountain launched in 2002, a few months after Entercom bought the station. Dylan Sprague and later Sam Hill followed in the job.

    If you worked with Dan or know more about his career, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

    • Career details supplied by the archive, October 2026
    • Wikipedia: KQMT (launch of The Mountain)

  • Frank Martinez

    Frank Martinez was a program director at KKCS, the country station behind “KCS 102.” If you had KCS on in the truck, the music mix you were hearing came out of his department.

    Program director at KKCS

    Frank served as KKCS’s program director, the person who decides what goes on the air and how it all sounds. The archive doesn’t have his dates yet. If you worked with him or know when he held the job, we’d love to hear from you.

    Pieces of KCS history

    Frank has also shared some of his KCS keepsakes with the archive, including a jacket, a belt buckle and a pin. If you owned any KCS gear back in the day, these will look familiar.

    Sources

    • Career details supplied by the archive, October 2026

  • Bryan Scott

    Bryan Scott was Promotions Director and the afternoon voice on KSPZ, better known as “Z93” in Colorado Springs. If you were heading home with the radio up in the afternoon, there’s a good chance he was on the air, and if you ever won something from the station, his department probably ran it.

    At Z93

    Bryan wore two hats at KSPZ. As Promotions Director he handled the station’s contests, giveaways and events. On the air he worked afternoons. The archive doesn’t have his dates yet. If you worked with him or remember when he was there, we’d love to hear from you.

    Z93 keepsakes

    Bryan has also shared some saved bumper stickers with the archive, from Z93 and other Colorado Springs stations.

    Sources

    • Career details supplied by the archive, October 2026

  • Katy Mitchel

    Katy Mitchel worked her way up at Mix 100, starting out on weekends and covering other people’s shifts and ending up in the morning show. If Mix 100 was your wake-up soundtrack from late 2024 into the fall of 2026, she was in the mix with Jeremy and Josh.

    The morning show and how it ended

    In October 2024 Katy joined producer Josh Griesemer and Jeremy Padgett for Jeremy, Katy & Josh in the Morning. By early September 2026, KSE Radio had shut the show down, describing the move as part of the next phase of how it plans its mornings. Katy’s future with the company wasn’t spelled out when the show ended. We’ll update this when we know more.

    Her path at KSE Media

    Her KSE Media career started in 2022 with weekend and fill-in shifts on KIMN and its sister station KXKL. By April 2023 she’d been moved up to middays on Mix 100, which set her up for the morning team a year and a half later.

    The road before KSE

    Katy first worked in Denver in promotions for Lincoln Financial Media, then delivered sports updates on 104.3 The Fan (KKFN). From there she left Colorado for Jamestown, North Dakota, handling production and music for Ingstad Family Media. Back in Colorado, she co-hosted mornings on Cherry Creek Radio’s 94 Kix (KKXK) in Montrose and oversaw production for the whole station cluster there. Then came middays on MBC Grand Broadcasting’s 100.7 The Vault (KKVT) in Grand Junction, before she returned to Denver.

    Sources

    Did Katy make your mornings? Tell us what you remember.

  • Lillian Helling

    Lillian Helling was a familiar face on early Denver television, and she hosted women’s shows on Denver radio as well. If you grew up watching Romper Room on Channel 2, she was “Miss Lillian.”

    On the air in Denver

    Live commercials with no teleprompters, on Denver stations, got her started in television in the early 1950s. Those spots came out of the Marshall Robertson Advertising Agency, whose client list included Miller’s Supermarkets. She often did cooking demonstrations. On Channel 2 she also hosted Sugar and Spice.

    Radio-wise, KTLN, KBTR (today KNUS), KFML and KHOW all carried her shows for women. As a freelancer she kept lending her voice to radio and TV commercials.

    Life away from the mic

    Her parents were Polish immigrants. She studied speech communications at Montclair State Teachers College, later earned a master’s at the University of Denver, and married Jack Helling, who rose to prominence in Denver advertising. In 1962 she finished as second runner-up at the Mrs. America pageant. She also penned a consumer advice column for the Denver Post. Later in life she looked into her Polish roots, and on a trip to Poland she met Lech Walesa.

    Lillian died in 2010 at age 84.

    Sources

    Did you watch Miss Lillian growing up? We’d love to hear your memories.

  • Gus Mircos

    If you woke up to KOA anytime from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, you know the gruff but much-loved sound of Gus Mircos. For 22 years he anchored the morning news, and Denver’s top-rated show started with his voice.

    KOA mornings

    He became KOA’s morning news anchor in 1976 and spent the next 22 years leading the morning show that topped Denver’s ratings, until he left KOA in 1997.

    Afterward came a short-lived talk show called Ralph, time at KRRF (1280 AM), and a quick stretch hosting classical music on KVOD. He also lent his voice to local and national advertisers, and later volunteered at Longmont’s KGUD recording public service announcements.

    Before KOA

    Gus was born in Boulder on January 7, 1938. His start in radio came in 1958 at KLMO in Longmont. In 1963 he landed at Denver’s KHOW working afternoon drive. By 1966 he was weekend sports reporter on the Channel 4 news team and also pitching in at KOA radio. In the early 1970s he was an on-air personality and the program director at KAAT.

    Farewell

    Gus died in Aurora on May 11, 2008, at age 70. As a send-off, KOA’s Mike Rosen played Gus’s full recitation of “Casey at the Bat” on the air.

    Sources

    Did Gus wake you up for years? Tell us your favorite memory.