PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Jon Steele

    Jon Steele was the evening voice when KBCO went on the air for the first time in Boulder in 1977. Tune in between 6 and 10 p.m. back then and you’d have heard him.

    The original KBCO crew

    Picture a tiny staff built around the music. Dennis Constantine ran the place as program director and also did mornings. Judy McNutt picked the music as music director. Richard Ray took care of production, and Bob Lynch had the overnight hours, while Jon covered the evenings. Announcers weren’t boxed in by a tight playlist and could blend styles and eras however they liked. That loose, free-ranging feel turned into KBCO’s calling card and eventually helped define adult album alternative radio.

    Intervention Day

    Staff from those early years also pitched in on Intervention Day, a yearly set of broadcasts that played out as a make-believe future holiday marking humanity’s rescue by an intergalactic community.

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

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  • Randy Morrison

    Randy Morrison was one of the minds behind KBCO’s sound. If you ever felt KBCO played a bigger mix than any other station in town, you can thank the thinking he helped set in motion.

    Before KBCO

    Randy worked at KBPI in Denver and at WLS-FM/WDAI in Chicago before KBCO signed on in Boulder in 1977. He also helped shape the format at Boulder’s KADE, the AM station Bob Greenlee bought in 1975.

    Designing KBCO

    When Bob bought KRNW-FM and turned it into KBCO, Randy and Dennis Constantine co-designed the format. They skipped the narrow playlists of the day for a wide mix of rock, singer-songwriters, folk and blues, giving announcers rare freedom. That approach, along with ambitious specials like the award-winning Intervention Day broadcasts, helped KBCO grow from a Boulder station into a major Denver brand and a reference point for adult album alternative radio.

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  • Judy McNutt

    Judy McNutt was there at the start of KBCO and came back to run it. If you ever loved KBCO’s wide-open mix of music, you’ve felt her handiwork.

    Boulder beginnings

    Judy was on KBCO‘s original Boulder-era staff as music director, working with program director Dennis Constantine. The early KBCO gave its staff unusual musical freedom for commercial radio, and the original crew’s creative work included the annual Intervention Day broadcasts, which later won a Grand Award from the International Radio Festival of New York.

    Coming home

    Judy eventually left and kept programming elsewhere, including KRXQ in Sacramento. In 1994 Noble Broadcast Group brought her back to Colorado as KBCO’s program director, a homecoming for someone who had helped Dennis build the station’s late-’70s sound.

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  • Mandy Connell

    Mandy Connell is a Denver talk-radio host who mixes local issues, national politics, interviews and pop culture. If you listen to KOA on weekdays, you’ve probably heard her take on whatever’s in the news.

    Path to KOA

    Before Colorado, Mandy built her talk career in markets including Louisville, Kentucky, developing the conversational, opinion-driven style she later brought to KOA. She joined the station in 2013, and her show became part of the weekday lineup at a station with a long history of news, talk and sports. It blends Colorado topics with national news and culture, and regularly features interviews with political figures, authors, journalists and other newsmakers.

    A heritage AM goes multiplatform

    Her run also reflects KOA’s shift from a heritage AM station into a multiplatform audio brand. Her program reaches listeners on the air, through podcasts and on digital platforms, well beyond the old 850 AM signal.

    Where is she now?

    As of October 2026, Mandy is still an on-air host at KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM in Denver. KOA’s personality page continues to post new editions of The Mandy Connell Podcast and full-show material from her daily program.

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  • Reggie Rivers

    Reggie Rivers played running back for the Denver Broncos, then became a voice you could hear on Denver talk radio. If you drove home on KHOW in the late ’90s, you may have had him in your car.

    From the Broncos to the mic

    Reggie played for the Broncos from 1991 through 1996, then moved into media. His radio work went beyond sports. By the late 1990s he was at KOA, including a late-evening shift, before Clear Channel moved him to KHOW.

    KHOW afternoons

    In 1999 Reggie took over KHOW’s 3 to 7 p.m. afternoon-drive show after Jay Marvin left for WLS in Chicago. Clear Channel’s Denver AM programming director Robin Bertolucci called him a community fixture whose personality and perspective suited the talk format. He later built a career as an author, speaker, emcee and fundraising professional.

    Where is he now?

    As of October 2026, Reggie runs The Gala Team, a Colorado fundraising and benefit-auction business that helps nonprofits raise money at live events, putting the same audience skills to work that he used in sports and on the air.

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  • Rick Crandall

    Rick Crandall is the voice many Denver listeners woke up to on 1430 AM for three decades. If you grew up with big bands and nostalgia on KEZW, Rick was probably your morning companion.

    From KOSI to KEZW

    An Air Force veteran, Rick entered Colorado radio at KOSI in the late 1980s, first part-time and later as a full-time personality and program director. In 1991 he moved to KEZW 1430 AM, expecting it to last a few months. Instead he was the station’s morning host and program director for 30 years, building a close bond with an audience that loved its adult-standards and nostalgia programming.

    Veterans and the Freedom Memorial

    Rick’s broadcasts became closely tied to veterans and military history. A 2000 Memorial Day broadcast from the Normandy American Cemetery set him digging into how many Coloradans had died in military service, which ultimately inspired the Colorado Freedom Memorial, dedicated in Aurora in 2013. His KEZW run ended in January 2021 when the station dropped its longtime music format for sports betting.

    Where is he now?

    As of October 2026, Rick is CEO of the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation and still active in Colorado media and veterans projects. He co-hosts Behind the Wings, the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum podcast, and in September 2026 he went back on Denver radio for an extended look at his broadcasting career and the memorial’s continuing development.

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  • Don Hawkins

    Don “The Hawk” Hawkins was half of one of the funniest morning teams in Denver. If you woke up to KBPI in the ’80s, you probably laughed along with Steven B. & The Hawk.

    Steven B. & The Hawk

    Don was paired with Steven B. Williams on KBPI after Steven came to Denver in 1980. The duo ruled Denver’s FM morning ratings for four years, with humor built on parody and self-deprecation rather than the shock-jock style that came later. Their bits included entertainment-industry satire, mock commercials for fictional products and an ongoing soap-opera spoof. Listeners tuned in for the two of them as much as the records.

    Remembering Don

    Don stayed a familiar Denver radio figure after the team’s peak. He died unexpectedly in November 1994 at age 45, following routine surgery. His years with Steven remain a beloved chapter of Denver rock-radio history.

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  • Doug Clifton

    Doug Clifton is a Colorado music programmer who moved from rock radio to public radio. If you listened to The Peak in the ’90s, KCUV in the 2000s or Colorado Public Radio’s music service, you’ve heard his taste at work.

    The Peak

    In 1994 Doug was program director of KXPK 96.5 “The Peak,” one of the stations that broadened Denver’s commercial rock scene in the ’90s. Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado lists him as PD when the station launched, with Steven B & The Hawk in mornings.

    KCUV

    Doug later became program director of KCUV, the eclectic Denver-area station known for a broad, locally flavored rock sound. When its format ended in 2008, coverage named him as PD and captured how attached listeners had become.

    Colorado Public Radio

    Doug then joined Colorado Public Radio, where CPR’s archive shows him from 2011 through 2024, carrying his music-discovery background into public radio.

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  • Ray Skibitsky

    Ray Skibitsky is a name worth knowing if you grew up on Boulder and Denver album rock. He was part of the story behind KBCO and, later, Denver’s 96.5 The Peak.

    From KADE to KBCO

    Ray joined the sales staff at KADE in August 1974, when the Boulder AM station was struggling financially. He talked its owners into keeping the station running and helped steer it toward progressive rock.

    When Bob Greenlee bought KADE in 1975, Ray stayed on as Greenlee picked up KRNW and built KBCO. He eventually became KBCO’s general manager as it grew from a Boulder station into a real competitor in the Denver market.

    96.5 The Peak

    In the 1990s Ray became general manager of KXPK 96.5 The Peak, another locally focused album-rock station that brought in several KBCO veterans.

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  • Steve Kelley

    Steve Kelley is a Denver broadcaster you may have woken up to, partied with or watched ride an escalator for two days. If you listened to KIMN in the late ’70s and ’80s, or KOA mornings after that, you know his voice.

    KIMN

    Steve came to KIMN in 1977 after radio work that included WLCY in Florida, and eventually hosted evenings. He became famous for turning stunts into fundraisers: in 1978 he rode an escalator nonstop for 48 hours, earning a Guinness World Records mention and raising $21,000 for cancer research, with other marathon promotions to follow. By 1983 he was Denver Radio Personality of the Year, and KIMN general manager Steve Keeney called him the best-known disc jockey in town in a 1984 profile.

    KOA, TV and KNUS

    Steve later became a major morning personality at KOA, moving from music radio into news and talk. He also worked in Denver TV at KDVR Fox31 before returning to radio, including a stint at KNUS.

    Where is he now?

    Steve retired from regular broadcasting in 2017.

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