PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Paxton Mills

    Paxton Mills was one of Denver’s KIMN personalities in the 1980s. If you grew up listening to KIMN, you probably heard Paxton.

    KIMN and mornings

    A 1999 profile has Paxton doing mornings at KIMN, by then the station’s later FM identity.

    KOOL 105

    His Denver career also included KXKL-FM (KOOL 105). He had left that station just days before his death in Aspen on June 25, 2001.

    We don’t have exact dates for his KIMN and KXKL stints. If you worked with Paxton or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

  • Marty Smith

    Marty Smith is the guy who took Christian country radio from Colorado out to the world. If you tuned in to Denver or Colorado Springs country in the 1990s, you may have heard him before his syndicated show ever went national.

    Getting started

    By his own account, Marty’s radio career kicked off in 1990 at KEXS-AM, in the Kansas City area. Denver became his home in 1993, when he started at KLZ-AM; in 1995 he went on to KWBI-FM. Not long afterward, Colorado Springs’ KBIQ-FM hired him, and programmer Ken Sasso taught him the ropes there.

    Cross Country

    Marty’s Christian-country program, Cross Country, began in 1995 as a show he taped in Denver. The first time it went out in syndication was 1996, on an AM station in Cheyenne. It has since become Today’s Cross Country, and you can now hear it on stations in several countries.

    Heaven’s Country

    Marty started the online station Heaven’s Country in 2011. He owns it and hosts its mornings, and it first went on the air April 1, 2011.

    Sources

  • Man Mountain Murphy

    Man Mountain Murphy was a Denver radio personality heard on both KIMN-AM and KXKL-FM (KOOL 105). If you drove home to KOOL 105 in the early 1990s, you may remember the name.

    KIMN in 1986

    Man Mountain Murphy is on a 1986 KIMN station montage. We don’t have exact KIMN dates.

    Afternoons on KOOL 105

    By July 1991, Murphy had moved to afternoons at KOOL 105.

    Sources

  • Loren Owens

    Loren Owens ran the music at Denver’s KIMN-AM as program director in the late 1970s. If you grew up on KIMN between 1977 and 1980, Loren was the person deciding what came out of your speakers.

    Program director, 1977 to 1980

    Loren became KIMN’s program director effective March 21, 1977, succeeding Hal Widsten. Loren held the job through 1980, when Doug Erickson was named the station’s new program director. Our archive also has a 1978 KIMN aircheck that includes Loren on the air.

    Sources

  • Lee Randall

    Lee Randall was the late-night voice for Denver’s night owls on KIMN-AM. If you were up after dark in the 1960s with KIMN on, there’s a good chance Lee was the one keeping you company, whether through headphones or the car radio.

    A 1976 snapshot

    Our archive has an aircheck putting Lee at KIMN on September 30, 1976, alongside Jim Herron and Danny Davis.

    How he got there

    Born Harold Lee Franzel, Lee started in radio in Montrose in 1962 at a small station. By 1963, only a year on, he’d reached KIMN, and it wasn’t long before he had an all-night show of his own there.

    After the booth

    In 1983 he left the broadcast booth and went on to work as a radio consultant.

    Sources

  • Larry Taylor

    Larry Taylor was a late-night air personality on Denver’s KIMN. If you were up after 10 p.m. with KIMN’s Top 40 in early 1977, that was Larry.

    Nights on KIMN

    A January 1977 trade report says Larry took the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift, replacing Tom Rivers, and that he came to KIMN from KRIV in Waco, Texas. That report is the earliest record we have of the job, so we can’t say exactly when he started.

    Hear it for yourself

    The REELRADIO collection from Greg Barman includes 1977 KIMN airchecks if you want to hear what the station sounded like then.

    Sources

  • Kaylen Lee

    Kaylen Lee was news director and morning-show co-host at KKCS-FM in Colorado Springs in 1998. If you started your day with KKCS country that year, you heard her on the morning show and in the newscasts.

    News and mornings at KKCS

    A September 1998 trade report said KKCS had welcomed Kaylen as news director and morning-show co-host. The Archive also holds a photo dated July 15, 1998 that shows her with the station’s morning show, so she was at KKCS before that report ran.

    This is a short page. If you worked with Kaylen or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

  • John Wheeler

    John Wheeler was a radio executive and investor tied to Denver’s KTLN in the late 1950s. If you tuned in to KTLN back then, he was one of the people with a stake in the station behind the dial.

    Part of the KTLN ownership group

    An October 1957 trade report names John as KTLN’s vice president and as holding a bit more than a fifth of the station’s stock. It names him among the ownership group and leadership, but it doesn’t describe an on-air role or say how long he stayed.

    This is a short page built from one trade report. If you worked with John or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Not to be confused with Cadillac Jack, the KKCS and Star Country host, whose real name was also John Wheeler.

    Sources

  • John Nelson

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

    An October 1964 aircheck

    Our archive has a KIMN aircheck dated October 9, 1964, with John alongside Paul Anderson and Pogo Poge. That’s what we have so far, with no fuller biography or career dates.

    If you worked with John or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources

  • John Hendricks

    John Hendricks, also credited as John Hendrickson, was a Denver radio personality at KIMN and later KYGO. If you listened to KIMN in the 80s, you may have caught him on the late shift, and if you stuck around when the station flipped to country, he was still there.

    KIMN and KYGO

    John shortened his surname from Hendrickson to Hendricks for on-air use. At KIMN he worked a 7 p.m.–midnight program. In April 1988, when KIMN-AM was replaced by country-formatted KYGO-AM, he was described as the KIMN overnighter staying on for evenings at KYGO.

    This is a short page. We don’t have an exact hiring date for him. If you worked with John or have more to add, we’d love to hear from you.

    Sources