PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Laurie Geiser

    Laurie Geiser was a Pueblo radio personality best remembered as the longtime morning-show partner of Nick Donovan on KDZA-FM 107.9. If you started your Pueblo mornings with those two, you know the sound.

    Mornings on KDZA

    Geiser and Donovan spent years together in Pueblo radio, and the pairing was heard on KDZA-FM, one of Pueblo’s best-known FM identities of the era. In a November 25, 2022 “Friends Friday” episode of his podcast, Donovan revisited those years with her and called her his longtime friend and morning-show partner.

    Education and later career

    Geiser is also an alumna of the University of Southern Colorado/CSU-Pueblo media program, whose alumni records note her later radio work.

    Sources

  • Tony Lopez

    Tony Lopez was the chief engineer keeping Clear Channel’s Pueblo stations on the air. If you tuned in to any of them in the early 2000s, his work was what got the signal to your radio.

    Engineering the Pueblo cluster

    Tony was chief engineer for KCCY-FM, KDZA-FM, KCSJ-AM, KGHF-AM and KJQY-FM.

    In a March 2004 Radio World article that he wrote himself, Tony described how the Pueblo engineering team used wireless technology to give on-air talent remote control of station automation and console functions. The system was tested at the Colorado State Fair and let personalities run programming computers from remote locations through the company network. The article pictured Tony with fellow engineers Dennis Mountford and Marty Muniz.

    M Street directories listed Tony as the cluster engineer in 2002-03 and still connected him with the Pueblo stations in 2008-09.

    Sources

  • Val Hart

    Val Hart, also known on the air as Valerie John, is a longtime Southern Colorado radio personality. If you listened to Magic 98.9, Y96.9 or Cat Country 95.1 in Colorado Springs over the last couple of decades, there’s a good chance you heard her.

    KKMG and KCCY

    An October 2001 chart roster lists Valerie Hart as assistant program director of KKMG 98.9 Magic FM, working with PD Jason Hillery, MD Rob Ryan and cluster operations manager Bobby Irwin. Southern Colorado market sources also remember her on KKMG middays, though that shift is still waiting on a period schedule. By November 2003 she was music director at KCCY under the name Valerie John, and by 2007 she was a KCCY morning personality alongside Willie Fisher. A 2011 press release still had Fisher and Hart as KCCY-FM’s morning DJs, and that April she also voicetracked middays on sister country station WFUS, US 103.5 in Tampa, while it searched for a permanent replacement.

    KATC and back

    In November 2015, the former KCCY morning co-host joined Cumulus’s crosstown KATC in middays. She stayed until 2018, when she returned to KCCY and Dallace Jade took over the KATC midday shift.

    Sources

    • Radio & Records, Oct. 5, 2001, Nov. 21, 2003, Nov. 30, 2007 and Jan. 25, 2008
    • Country Aircheck, Apr. 19, 2011 and Nov. 16, 2015
    • PR Newswire, July 2011
    • All Access, Sept. 10, 2018
    • First-hand Southern Colorado market identification supplied to the Colorado Radio Archive (KKMG middays)

  • Kathy O’Brien

    Kathy O’Brien was a Southern Colorado radio personality heard on KCCY-FM and KMOM-FM around 2000. If you flipped between country and classic rock in the Springs-Pueblo market back then, you could have heard her on both.

    From country to classic rock

    In August 2000, Billboard Country Airplay Monitor reported that Kathy, then a weekend personality at country KCCY, left for crosstown classic-rock outlet KMOM. Her move came in the same shuffle that brought former KCCY programmer Travis Daily to KMOM.

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

    Sources

  • Travis Daily

    Travis Daily is a country programmer who worked both sides of the Colorado Springs country war. If you bounced between KKCS and Y96.9 around the turn of the century, you heard his work on each.

    KKCS to KCCY

    Travis started out programming country station KKCS 101.9. Around 2000 he switched to Clear Channel’s classic-rock KMOM, and from there he crossed over to KCCY Y96.9, the former rival, as program director and music director, succeeding Dave Moore. Around the same time, Clear Channel’s Kevin Callahan picked up the Pueblo cluster as well. In time Travis stepped into the operations manager role at Clear Channel in Southern Colorado, and he was also KCCY’s morning host and program director. All told, he spent about five years at KCCY.

    Tampa and beyond

    In 2005 Travis relocated to Tampa, where he launched WFUS/US 103.5. He put in 17 years with Clear Channel/iHeartMedia, climbing to senior VP of programming for Tampa and Sarasota. After that he programmed WQYK in Tampa and KUBL in Salt Lake City.

    Where is he now?

    Cumulus tapped him in 2024 as brand and content manager for Nashville country stations WKDF and WSM-FM, and he has since moved up to vice president of country at Cumulus.

    Sources

  • Annette Geiser

    Annette Geiser is a Southern Colorado radio sales executive whose career has touched several of the region’s major ownership groups. If you’ve heard a local ad on a Colorado Springs or Pueblo station in the last couple of decades, odds are good Annette’s world was involved somewhere along the way.

    A career in Southern Colorado sales

    Her first radio stop was KCCY/Y96.9 in Pueblo. After that she was general sales manager for Citadel Broadcasting in Colorado Springs, handled key accounts over at Cumulus Colorado Springs, and served KSE Radio as its national sales manager. Eventually she returned to iHeartMedia’s Colorado Springs/Pueblo operation, this time as a senior account executive.

    Moving up to senior VP

    iHeartMedia promoted Annette in March 2019, making her the senior VP of sales over the combined Pueblo and Colorado Springs markets. Trade coverage at the time highlighted how well she knows Southern Colorado and the relationships she’d built there.

    Sources

  • Kevin Lockhart

    Kevin Lockhart is a Southern Colorado broadcaster and voice pro. If you listened to Pueblo radio in the ’90s and 2000s, or heard a Colorado Springs commercial with a smooth read, you may already know his work.

    College radio to Pueblo

    Kevin attended Colorado State University-Pueblo from 1991 to 1995, working on the air at KTSC 89.5 and serving as assistant station manager. By September 1995, The Gavin Report had KYZX in Pueblo promoting him to program and music director, replacing J. Diamond Salas. His Pueblo career also included KDZA and KCCY Y96.9, where a Big Apple Airchecks catalog entry preserves a July 25, 2006 aircheck of him on the air.

    Colorado Springs and voiceover

    Kevin later worked in the Colorado Springs iHeart/Clear Channel operation. A 2018 EEO report for the KKLI/KCCY/KIBT/KVUU group puts him in production and notes that he mentored an employee in broadcast skills, and the Colorado Broadcasters Association’s 2019 Awards of Excellence credited him and KVUU for the award-winning Solar Roast Coffee commercial. He went on to found Voiceovers by Kevin Lockhart in Colorado Springs, continuing in voiceover, copywriting and audio production.

    Sources

    • The Gavin Report, September 15, 1995
    • Big Apple Airchecks Southwest catalog (KCCY Y96.9, July 25, 2006)
    • iHeartMedia Colorado Springs/Pueblo EEO Public File Report, 2017–18
    • Colorado Broadcasters Association 2019 Awards of Excellence
    • CSU-Pueblo alumni records and professional biography
    • First-hand local recollection supplied to the Colorado Radio Archive (KDZA employment)

  • Ray Uberecken

    Ray Uberecken was a longtime Southern Colorado broadcast engineer whose career spanned several ownership eras and station clusters. If you’ve tuned in to Colorado Springs stations over a couple of decades, you’ve been listening to equipment Ray helped keep running.

    From K-Lite to the Citadel cluster

    A 1997 industry directory lists Ray as chief engineer of KKLI 106.3 under Tippie Communications, alongside GM Henry Tippie and PD Steve Larson.

    By the 2008–09 M Street Radio Directory, Ray was chief engineer for Citadel’s Colorado Springs operation, covering KVOR and sister stations KATC, KKFM, KKMG, KKML and KKPK.

    His documented career ties the independent, locally owned era of KKLI to the later consolidated Citadel cluster.

    Sources

    • Industry station directory, 1997 (print)
    • M Street Radio Directory, 2008–09 (print)

  • Henry Tippie

    Henry B. Tippie was a Colorado Springs radio owner and executive whose Tippie Communications owned KKLI 106.3. If you remember K-Lite on your Colorado Springs dial in the early 90s, this is the name behind the licence.

    The K-Lite years

    Henry (doing business as Tippie Communications) owned KKLI in the early 1990s, and a 1996 industry source book lists him as the station’s general manager. A 1997 directory has him as GM again, with Jo Fiandaco as general sales manager, Steve Larson as program director and Ray Uberecken as chief engineer. That same listing notes the station’s pending $3.45 million sale to Citadel interests.

    His ownership was a locally led chapter between KKLI’s 1980s launch and its later trip through Citadel, Capstar/AMFM and Clear Channel.

    Sources

    • Wikipedia: KKLI
    • Radio Business Report: Source Book 1996 (print)
    • Industry station directory, 1997 (print)

  • Casey Page

    Casey Page was a Colorado Springs morning-radio personality. If you listened to the KXZZ morning team, or caught adult Top 40 KVUU 99.9 around 2000, you probably heard Casey.

    Mornings with Jim Coda

    Casey and Jim Coda were an established morning team on KXZZ. In March 2000, night personality Craig Coffey moved to mornings at KVUU and was paired with Casey and Jim, replacing Rich and Michelle. That made it a three-person Page-Coda-Coffey lineup.

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

    Sources