PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Ken Palmer

    When KIMN went dark in 1988, the last name spoken on the air was Ken Palmer‘s, even though he had left the station 18 years earlier. Ken (died 1984) was the owner and general manager who made KIMN Denver’s dominant Top 40 station, and he also owned KYSN in Colorado Springs for a time. If you grew up on KIMN in the 60s, you were listening to the station he ran.

    Getting to Denver

    Ken worked in radio in Pampa, Texas, and in Albuquerque before heading to Denver in 1952, hired to run the Intermountain Network’s office. By 1954 he was the regional sales manager, the year KFEL turned into KIMN and became the network’s flagship. Then in 1958 he bought KYSN in Colorado Springs, which stayed his for several years.

    KIMN at the top

    Ken and his partners bought KIMN in 1960, and he served as its general manager. At the height of the station’s popularity, its audience was bigger than that of the next seven Denver stations put together. The 1970 sale of KIMN brought in $6 million, and a sister station in Portland was part of that same deal.

    Sources

  • Andrés Neidig

    Andrés Neidig has spent more than 50 years in Colorado’s Spanish-language radio, and he’s a pioneer of it. If you tuned in to Spanish-language stations in Denver or Pueblo while growing up, chances are he was somewhere on your dial.

    Denver beginnings

    His career began in 1961, when he was 18, at KFSC 1220 in Denver, which belonged to Paco Sanchez. He did a bit of everything there: translating news, writing copy and working on the air. Inside a year he was the station’s general manager. Then, in the early 1970s, he produced the Paco Sanchez Hour, and that show turned into a live TV program called El Show de Andrés.

    Pueblo, then home again

    Andrés relocated to Pueblo in 1975 to work with the Spanish-language “Radio Mexicana” on 690 AM. That operation became KRMX in 1981, and in 1984 he purchased both the AM and FM KRMX stations. He headed back to Denver in March 1989 and bought KJME 1390 AM, known as “La Jota Mexicana.” He owned it through 2004. After that he hosted a weekly program of Mexican oldies on KNRV 1150.

    Beyond the microphone

    Andrés also ran free classes on U.S. citizenship for his listeners.

    Sources

  • Gary Melanson (The Rockman)

    Gary Melanson, known on the air as “The Rockman,” was a nighttime personality in the KIKX-FM 102.7 era in Colorado Springs in the 1980s. If you were a teenager back then calling in a request or sending a dedication, you may well remember the voice.

    Requests and dedications at night

    A tribute shared with the archive recalls teens tuning in for his requests-and-dedications show, and remembers it as a ratings powerhouse, one of the biggest the market has seen. We haven’t yet found a ratings book or other record to pin down the exact dates of his KIKX run.

    This is a short page built from a listener’s memories. If you listened to The Rockman, worked with Gary or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

    • Community tribute submitted to the Colorado Radio Archive, October 6, 2026

  • Randy Jay

    Randy Jay spent years on two big Denver stations: KIMN-AM and later KXKL-FM (KOOL 105). If you grew up with Denver radio in the 1980s or listened to KOOL 105 in the years after, Randy was one of your voices.

    Eight years at KIMN

    Randy joined KIMN in 1980 and stayed eight years. Our archive has an aircheck from August 1982 with Randy and Chuck Buell on KIMN.

    KOOL 105

    After KIMN, Randy became a longtime personality at KOOL 105. Randy’s departure from the station was reported in 2007.

    Sources

  • Steve Wall

    Steve Wall is remembered as a Denver KIMN on-air personality in 1971 and 1972, described as a first major-station job. If you listened to KIMN in the early 1970s, that name may ring a bell.

    This is a short page built from one listener recollection, so we’re not assigning any other dates. If you worked with Steve or have more to add, especially an aircheck or a trade listing, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

    • Radio-history listener recollection (online)

  • Stu Evans

    Stu Evans (Stuart Adelman), later known professionally as Big Shoe, worked at Denver’s KIMN-AM from 1985 to 1987. If you listened to KIMN in the mid-1980s, Stu was one of the voices of that stretch.

    Two years at KIMN

    A 1995 profile of Stu’s career history gives the 1985 to 1987 dates, and Stu counted KIMN among the highlights of a career in radio.

    Sources

  • Wayne Cornils

    Wayne “Radio Wayne” Cornils was a station owner and national radio-industry executive. If you ever heard of the Radio Wayne Awards, he’s the Wayne in the name.

    From Iowa to Idaho

    A 1984 Broadcasting profile traces his career from KPIG-AM in Cedar Rapids, where he held various jobs from 1954 to 1961, to KFXD-AM in Nampa, Idaho. He became KFXD’s general manager in 1962 and in 1964 its president, general manager and co-owner.

    Representing the industry

    In 1976 Wayne left KFXD to join the National Association of Broadcasters as membership director. He later served as vice president of membership, vice president for radio and senior vice president for radio, then moved to the Radio Advertising Bureau in December 1983. His work promoting radio and supporting small-market broadcasters is remembered in the Radio Wayne Awards.

    Sources

  • Wendy Green

    Wendy Green was program director at KFXD-AM in Nampa, Idaho, in the early 1980s. This station is outside Colorado, and if you know more about Wendy’s career, we’d love to hear from you.

    Program director in Nampa

    The 1983 and 1984 Broadcasting Yearbook directories list Wendy as program director at KFXD-AM. They don’t say when the job started or ended.

    Sources

  • Paul Anderson

    Paul Anderson was on the air at Denver’s KIMN-AM in the mid-1960s. If you were tuned in to KIMN in October 1964, you may have heard Paul.

    An October 1964 aircheck

    Our archive has a KIMN aircheck dated October 9, 1964, with Paul alongside John Nelson and Pogo Poge. An aircheck catalog also lists a KIMN recording labeled with Paul’s name.

    That’s what we have so far, and we don’t have other employment dates. If you worked with Paul or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

  • Mike Butts

    Mike Butts was a KIMN personality in Denver in the mid-1970s. If you were a KIMN listener in 1974, Mike was one of the voices you knew.

    On KIMN in 1974

    A November 1974 trade item describes a prank call to KIMN’s Mike Butts, so Mike was on the station by then.

    Off the morning show

    By January 1975, a trade notice referred to Mike as a former KIMN morning host, so the morning job was over by early 1975. We don’t have exact start and end dates. Our archive also has a 1974 item, KIMN in Denver with Mike Butts.

    Sources