PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Captain Lee

    Captain Lee was the on-air name of Lee Topping in Denver country radio. If you drove home from work with 92.5 The Wolf on in the mid-2010s, you may have heard Capt. Lee on the air.

    92.5 The Wolf

    Archived pages from KWOF-FM (92.5 The Wolf) show Capt. Lee as the weekday afternoon personality from 2 to 7 p.m. in 2014 and 2015. His station page was called “The Captain’s Log.”

    Lee is also a vintage race-car driver. An entry list for the Colorado Region SCCA HyPR Hot Regionals, held August 22-23, 2015, lists Lee Topping with 92.5 The Wolf as his sponsor.

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

    Sources

  • Amanda Valentine

    Amanda Valentine is a country-radio voice who spent time in Denver on her way to the top of the format. If you tuned in to KYGO in Denver, or listen to country in Cincinnati today, you’ve probably heard her.

    Early career

    Amanda studied radio broadcasting at Lewis and Clark Community College and started at KSHE in St. Louis in 2002. From there her career took her through a handful of markets, including Rochester, New York, where she joined the WPXY-FM staff.

    Denver

    After Rochester, Amanda moved to Denver and KYGO, one of the biggest country stations in the Rocky Mountains. Later Cumulus bios list Denver among the markets where she held on-air jobs.

    Cincinnati and national awards

    Amanda later joined WUBE-FM/B-105 in Cincinnati, teaming up with Jesse Tack for afternoons. In 2017, Jesse & Amanda won the Country Music Association’s Large Market Personality of the Year. She left daily radio in 2019 to build a health-and-fitness podcast, Pound This, and in 2024 came back to the air as afternoon host on WNNF-FM/Cat Country 94.1 in Cincinnati.

    Where is she now?

    As of 2026, Amanda is still in radio and podcasting, with her Cincinnati country shift and Pound This.

    Sources

  • Bob Call

    Bob Call spent more than four decades helping shape Denver country radio. If you’ve had KYGO-FM on at any point since 1980, you’ve heard what he built.

    KYGO’s country sound

    In 1980 Bob left WSOC-FM in Charlotte for KYGO-FM, where he held the music director and program director jobs. He was on the air too while the station found its country identity.

    Leading the Denver cluster

    He moved up through operations and management until he was market manager and senior vice president for the Denver group of KOSI, KYGO, KKFN and KEPN. When Bonneville acquired the stations in 2015 he stayed in charge, and at the end of 2021 he retired, wrapping up a radio career that had lasted over 50 years.

    Sources

  • Gloria Neal

    Gloria Neal is a Denver journalist, talk host and public-affairs professional whose radio career bounced between news, music and political talk. If you’ve been listening to Denver radio for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve heard her voice somewhere on the dial.

    News anchor, morning host

    Gloria spent a long stretch as a news anchor at KOA and later hosted morning programs on Sassy 107.1 and other Denver stations.

    The Glo Show

    In 2012, Gloria took over the morning slot on AM 760 from David Sirota, hosting The Glo Show. She also worked in television at Fox31 and CBS4.

    Where is Gloria now?

    Gloria left daily broadcasting for a public-affairs role with the City and County of Denver. A 2019 interview found her working in the mayor’s office as director of public affairs.

    Sources

  • Ed Greene

    Ed Greene built one of the longest careers in Colorado broadcasting, working in both radio and television for nearly five decades. If you’ve ever checked the forecast on Channel 9 in Denver, you know him, and if you listened to Denver radio from the 70s onward, you may have heard him on the dial first.

    Denver radio stops

    Ed’s Denver radio resume includes KLZ, KIMN, KAAT-AM, KYGO and KOA, plus a stint as program director of KTLK in the early 1980s.

    Weather and back to radio

    Ed became best known as a television meteorologist, but he kept coming back to radio, including weekend programs on KOA and KHOW and the interview program KOA Q&A.

    Where is Ed now?

    As of October 2026, Ed has been retired from daily television since 2024.

    Sources

  • Ross Kaminsky

    Ross Kaminsky hosts Denver talk radio with a libertarian streak, digging into news, politics, economics and interviews. If Denver talk is part of your routine, odds are you have caught him on KHOW-AM or KOA-AM. Radio wasn’t always his daily job: he used to trade in the financial markets and write political commentary, and he also had hosting stints at Greeley’s KFKA and Denver’s KNUS.

    From 2016 to 2021 he anchored morning drive on 630 KHOW. In September 2021 he switched to KOA, taking over the slot that runs from 9 a.m. to noon. Then in the fall of 2025, iHeartMedia shifted him into KOA’s morning show, with a Monday, November 10, 2025 debut. He now shares the 6 to 9 a.m. block with Jeana Gondek, who anchors the morning news, and Michael Brown inherited Ross’s former midday shift. When the change was announced, Kaminsky said he was excited to team up with Jeana and begin Denver’s day. It all came on the heels of Marty Lenz leaving his morning co-anchor chair.

    Sources

  • Jon Caldara

    Jon Caldara is a Colorado public-policy advocate and broadcaster. If you listened to talk on KOA on weekends, you’ve likely heard Jon, whether hosting or guesting.

    Radio and the Independence Institute

    Alongside leading the Denver-based Independence Institute, Jon hosted radio programs and commentary on KOA-AM and turned up across Colorado media.

    After the KOA weekend show

    The weekend KOA program ended in 2012 amid station schedule changes. Jon kept going as a columnist, television host and frequent radio guest. The work is associated with libertarian and free-market viewpoints.

    Beyond the microphone

    Wikipedia says Jon became president of the Independence Institute in 1998, replacing Tom Tancredo, per a Denver Post report from October 15, 1998. If you’ve flipped past KBDI-TV PBS 12, you may have seen him hosting Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara. He wrote a weekly column for the Denver Post from 2016 through 2020 and was reported in February 2020 to have joined The Gazette in Colorado Springs as a columnist. His KOA weekend show wrapped up in early 2012, around the same time Westword reported Rick Barber was leaving KOA after thirty years.

    Sources

  • Mike Rosen

    Mike Rosen was one of Denver’s longest-running and most influential talk-radio hosts. If you listened to KOA at lunchtime over the years, you probably heard Mike arguing politics, taking calls and interviewing guests.

    Decades on KOA

    Mike’s conservative current-affairs program aired on KOA for decades, most often in middays. It mixed political commentary with extended interviews and listener calls.

    In print, too

    Mike also wrote opinion columns for the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post.

    Where is Mike now?

    Mike retired from the daily KOA show at the end of 2015, stayed on as a contributor, and later hosted a Saturday movie-review program.

    Sources

  • Michael Brown

    Michael Brown is a Denver talk-radio host who came to the microphone from a very different career: he served in the federal government, including at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he was deputy director and general counsel from 2001 to 2005, and as Under Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. His radio work centers on politics, public policy, law and current events.

    He has been part of iHeartMedia Denver since 2006, starting as a weekend host on KOA, then moving to an afternoon show split between KHOW and KOA. In 2012 he teamed with David Sirota on KHOW for Sirota-Brown, an afternoon program that paired conservative and progressive viewpoints. He moved to KHOW mornings in 2021, took over Premiere Networks’ The Weekend in August 2022, and in late 2025 was named host of KOA’s 9 a.m. to noon show, taking the slot Ross Kaminsky left for mornings.

    Sources

  • David Sirota

    David Sirota is a journalist, author and political commentator who hosted Denver talk radio in the 2000s and 2010s. If you tuned in to Denver talk radio on the progressive side of the dial, you probably remember David.

    From AM 760 to KHOW

    David hosted a progressive program on AM 760 before moving to KHOW in 2012. Gloria Neal took over the AM 760 morning slot that year.

    Sirota-Brown

    At KHOW, David was paired with former FEMA director Michael Brown for the afternoon-drive Sirota-Brown show, built around debate between hosts with different political viewpoints.

    Where is David now?

    David later focused on investigative journalism, books, film and podcast work.

    Sources