PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Jay Wignz

    Jay Wignz is a Denver radio producer and digital-media creator. If you listened to Larry Ulibarri and Kathie J when they came back to Denver radio, Jay was the one behind the scenes making the show happen.

    Producing Larry and Kathie J

    In 2017, Jay produced Larry and Kathie J’s online Blazin’ Hit Radio venture, supporting the pair on the morning show and helping build the station’s programming. He went on to work with them again when they returned to Denver radio.

    Where is Jay now?

    As of 2026, Jay (WIGNZ) is producing and creating content for I’m From Denver, including interviews about Colorado media and culture.

    Sources

  • Markie Andrew

    Markie Andrew is a Denver radio production specialist and personality. If you’ve heard sharp station imaging and promos on KIMN-FM (Mix 100) or KXKL-FM (KOOL 105), you’ve heard Markie’s work.

    Colorado radio career

    In 2007 Markie moved from KOA-AM to Mix 100 as imaging and production director. Later work included on-air and production duties at KOOL 105 and sports-radio imaging.

    Sources

  • Roxanne Marati

    Roxanne Marati is a radio sales and market executive whose career includes nearly fifteen years with Entercom/Audacy in Denver. If you’ve heard an Entercom station in the Mile High City, she was part of the business side keeping it on the air.

    Colorado radio career

    Roxanne came aboard at Entercom in 2006 and worked through a series of Denver jobs that touched events, integrated media and business development. In 2013 she was made vice president of sales over Entercom’s Denver operation, where she led revenue strategy for the company’s local stations.

    After Denver

    Her December 2020 promotion made her market manager and senior vice president at Entercom’s Kansas City cluster. When Audacy restructured in 2026, she became one of the company’s regional vice presidents, with Kansas City, St. Louis and Wichita under her.

    Sources

  • Krista Benedetti

    Krista Benedetti helps keep local radio alive in Colorado’s mountain towns. If you listen to KSPN in Aspen or any of the Vail Valley and Western Slope stations, her company is behind the signal.

    Always Mountain Time

    Krista is an owner and senior leader at Always Mountain Time, a locally focused media company serving mountain communities. She is listed alongside Pete Benedetti in the company’s leadership, and she oversees operations, sales, events and business development.

    The company’s Colorado stations include KSPN, KNFO, KKCH, KQSE and KSKE, along with other mountain-market signals and translators. She has also represented the company in radio-industry and community business groups and works closely with its events arm, including major Vail Valley events.

    Where is she now?

    As of 2026, Krista is still active with Always Mountain Time and is listed as an owner and company contact in Colorado mountain-market business and radio organizations.

    Sources

  • Amy Griesheimer

    Amy Griesheimer is a Colorado radio executive who led major station groups for Entercom and iHeartMedia. If Alice 105.9 or KS107.5 were presets in your car in the 2010s, she ran the building behind them.

    Running Entercom Denver

    Amy spent more than two decades in Denver broadcasting and became vice president and general manager of Entercom Denver. Her group included KALC-FM, KQKS-FM, KQMT-FM, KEZW-AM and the company’s digital channels. She stayed in charge as Entercom expanded its Denver holdings in 2015 and was central to programming, talent and business decisions across the cluster.

    iHeartMedia

    After leaving Entercom in 2017, Amy joined iHeartMedia in 2018 as area president for a multi-market region that included Denver-Boulder, Colorado Springs-Pueblo and Greeley-Fort Collins, plus Cheyenne and Ogallala.

    Sources

  • Jim Lawson

    Jim Lawson is a veteran Colorado programmer, and if you’ve tuned in to Denver’s Alice, iHeart stations or KOSI over the last few decades, you’ve heard his handiwork.

    From Alice to iHeart

    Lawson was on the original 1994 team at Alice 105.9 as music director, helping pick the songs you heard when the station first signed on. He later climbed to senior vice president of programming for iHeartMedia’s Denver group and region, overseeing a bunch of formats and stations.

    Running KOSI

    Bonneville named him program director of KOSI 101.1 effective January 2018. He leaned into live, local personalities and took an on-air shift himself, including afternoons. In December 2023 he handed that afternoon slot to Kathie J, saying he’d been a fan of hers for over 20 years, while staying on as program director. He left the PD role in November 2024.

    Sources

  • John E. Kage

    John E. Kage is a radio programmer who has run KQKS-FM (KS107.5), KYGO-FM, KWBL-FM and KDHT-FM in Colorado.

    Where he is today

    In May 2024 Kage left Denver for Salt Lake City, where he became program director of Cumulus Media’s country station KUBL-FM (93.3 The Bull).

    The KYGO years

    When he returned to Denver in October 2016, he took over programming at KYGO. He pointed to the morning show he built there as the biggest accomplishment of that year, and by August 2017 it featured Aaron “Goose” Seller along with Tracy Dixon and Guy David. The numbers backed him up: KYGO ranked first among listeners 6+ in the February 2017 ratings, and the station was part of a team that took home a Marconi in 2019. Radio Ink put him on its 2017 list of the Best PDs in America, noting that as of May 2017 he had 24 years in radio with a decade of it as a PD.

    Asked what sets a successful program director apart, his answer was to obsess over getting every detail right, around the clock, every day.

    After KYGO, his Colorado assignments included iHeartMedia’s KWBL and KDHT.

    How he got there

    Kage grew up in Minnesota, and his radio career began at KDWB-FM in the Twin Cities. In Denver he built his reputation programming rhythmic music at KS107.5, which earned the 2014 Marconi Award for Rhythmic Station of the Year. Entercom took over from Lincoln Financial Media in 2015 and he stayed through the change, but later left for Cox in Tampa. His son was homesick and he wanted to be closer, so he came back to Denver in October 2016.

    Sources

  • Michael Buhrman (Big Mic)

    Michael Buhrman, known on air as Big Mic and earlier as Buhrm Gotti, is a Colorado radio personality, programmer and producer. If you’re a Denver country fan who stays up with the radio on at night, you’ve probably spent a few evenings with him.

    Colorado radio career

    A Colorado native and Montbello High School graduate, Buhrman began in radio in 2000 as an intern. He spent more than a decade at KQKS-FM (KS107.5), advancing through production, music scheduling and on-air duties to become assistant program director, music director and afternoon host.

    In 2018 he moved to Sacramento as program director and afternoon personality at KSFM. He returned to Denver in 2022 to join KYGO-FM. At KYGO he became executive producer of the morning show, host of Big Mic at Night, and in 2025 assistant program director of KYGO and KOSI.

    Where is Big Mic now?

    As of October 2026, Buhrman remains KYGO’s nighttime host and morning-show executive producer, and serves as assistant program director for KYGO and KOSI.

    Sources

  • Tony V

    Tony V is a Denver radio personality whose career is closely tied to KQKS-FM (KS107.5). If you’ve listened to KS107.5 over the last couple of decades, from middays to mornings, you’ve heard him.

    Colorado radio career

    Tony began in Denver radio doing comedy voices for KDKO-AM‘s nighttime program. He joined the KS organization in 1996, starting in promotions and on weekends before moving through late nights, middays and afternoons. He held the KS107.5 midday shift for about seventeen years.

    Morning drive

    In 2017 Tony moved to mornings with Mercedes “Ya Girl Cedes” Howard and DJ Chonz. The locally assembled team followed the long-running Larry, Kathie J and Kendall B show, and leaned on Denver culture, listener conversation and the trio’s long history together.

    Sources

  • Kendall B

    Kendall B is a Denver radio personality, writer and media consultant who also worked as an imaging director, and he’s closely tied to KQKS-FM (KS107.5). If you were part of the KS107.5 morning crowd, you know him as the third voice on the show.

    From Syracuse to Denver

    Born in Los Angeles, Kendall graduated from Syracuse University. He developed his on-air and production skills at 102 Jamz in Greensboro and at Syracuse’s Z89 before moving on to Denver.

    KS107.5

    At KS107.5 he served as imaging director and also played an important part in the morning show alongside Larry Ulibarri and Kathie J. That lineup ran from 2001 until Kendall’s departure in January 2017.

    After KS107.5

    Later in 2017 he returned to Denver airwaves, hosting The Kendall B Show on Jammin’ 101.5. His broader career spans television, voice production, content writing and teaching stations how to use audience-engagement technology.

    Sources