PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Bill Betts

    Bill Betts was a rock-radio programmer who ran KKFM in Colorado Springs in the mid-to-late 1980s. If you grew up on Springs rock radio in those days, he was one of the people behind what came out of your speakers.

    KKFM in the 1980s

    Bill was program director of KKFM by 1986. That December, the trade paper FMQB ran a classified looking for a production director for the station and told applicants to contact Bill at the Lakewood Circle studios. By August 1987, FMQB listed the KKFM team as program director Bill Betts and music director Mark Stevens.

    Moving to Denver and beyond

    Bill stayed at KKFM until 1989, when Radio & Records reported he’d been recruited as program director of KBPI in Denver. Chris Baker took over as KKFM’s program director. That makes Bill a link between two generations of KKFM leadership: he worked with Mark Stevens, and Chris Baker followed him.

    He later became general manager of Citadel’s Modesto properties, including KATM. In 2003, Clear Channel named him operations manager for its Salt Lake City cluster, overseeing seven stations.

    Sources

    • FMQB, December 12, 1986 (print)
    • FMQB, August 28, 1987 (print)
    • Radio & Records, October 27, 1989 (print)
    • Radio & Records, May 2003 (print)
    • Radio Business Report station-group directory, 1997 (print)

  • J. Ralph “Jack” Carter

    J. Ralph “Jack” Carter was a familiar face and voice in Southern Colorado. If you watched the weather or the quiz show Matchwits on Pueblo-area TV, or listened to KDZA in the ’70s, you knew Jack.

    Starting in radio

    Jack graduated from Southern Colorado State College (now Colorado State University Pueblo) in 1970. Trade publications place him at KDZA in the early and mid-’70s. In 1972 he wrote to the Hamilton Radio Report as a KDZA programmer, and by 1974 Radio & Records kept sending applicants for KDZA programming and news openings to Jack Carter.

    On to television

    Jack later moved into TV, including work at KOAA and KTSC. Southern Colorado viewers knew him as a weather broadcaster and as host of the locally produced quiz program Matchwits.

    Remembering Jack

    CSU Pueblo’s alumni records list “Jack Carter, aka J. Ralph Carter” and note that he died in 2009. In November 2009, Radio Business Report reported that he died at 61 after a year-long illness with ALS, following nearly 40 years in broadcasting.

    Sources

  • Bill Fodor

    Bill Fodor (William Joseph Fodor) was a classical-radio personality on KCME in Colorado Springs. If you started your mornings with classical music in Southern Colorado, Bill’s voice may have been part of your routine.

    Classical mornings on KCME

    Bill hosted mornings on KCME. He had a wide-ranging background that included biomedical engineering, computer work and music, and he was remembered for his deep knowledge and dry sense of humor.

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

    Sources

    • The Gazette: William Joseph Fodor obituary (2025) (print)

  • Red Noise

    Red Noise was an early KILO air personality remembered for the kind of audacious on-air stunts that helped build the station’s irreverent rock identity. If you grew up in Colorado Springs listening to KILO in the 1980s, you probably have a Red Noise story of your own.

    The Pink Floyd roof concert

    One of the best-remembered stories from his KILO years is an April Fools’ Day prank in which he told listeners that Pink Floyd would play a free concert on the roof of the KILO studios. Hundreds of listeners gathered outside, eventually shutting down nearby streets before the crowd learned it was a prank. Rick Roddam, another former KILO personality, wrote the story up in 2014.

    KILO mornings

    Listeners also place Red Noise on KILO mornings during the 1980s alongside newsman Gary Street. KILO’s memorial page counts him among the station’s departed legends.

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

    Sources

    • KILO “Our Fallen Hero” memorial
    • Rick Roddam, “April Fool’s Day Pranks on the Radio,” 2014
    • Listener recollections of KILO

  • Art Phillips

    Art Phillips was a Southern Colorado rock-radio personality and music programmer. If you listened to KKFM in the ’70s or KILO in the ’80s, you heard him, or at least heard what he decided to play.

    KKFM in the ’70s

    A February 16, 1977 issue of the rock-radio trade paper Walrus lists “KKFM — Art Phillips / Steve Scott, P.D.” in its Colorado Springs section, which puts Art at the station during its album-rock and progressive days alongside program director Steve Scott.

    KILO music director

    Art later became music director and an air personality at KILO. He’s documented as the station’s music director in the early 1980s, talking records and programming in national rock-radio trade publications. He spent eight years in that job before moving into the record business, where he held senior promotion positions with the Album Network, Hollywood Records, RCA Records and the Welk Music Group’s Vanguard and Sugar Hill labels.

    Remembered

    KILO’s memorial lists Art among the station’s departed legends. An exact date of death hasn’t been located.

    Sources

  • Lyle Rockefeller

    Lyle Halsted Rockefeller, “Rocky” on the air later in his career, was a Colorado Springs native with about 50 years in radio and TV. If you checked morning traffic on KRDO in the late ’70s, you were listening to the city’s first morning radio traffic reporter.

    Getting started

    Lyle graduated from Palmer High School and Southern Colorado State College, now CSU Pueblo, where he majored in broadcasting. His obituary says it all began with the Palmer High School radio station. He went on to work as a reporter, anchor and broadcaster at several Southern Colorado outlets.

    KRDO and beyond

    At KRDO-AM he worked in news and became Colorado Springs’ first morning radio traffic reporter. Trade reports had him in KRDO’s news department in 1979, and by 1980 the Broadcasting Yearbook listed him as commercial manager at Pueblo’s KPUB. He also worked in TV at KRDO-TV and KOAA-TV.

    Rocky on KBIQ

    Later, while working for Compassion International, Lyle returned to radio on weekends as “Rocky” on KBIQ-FM, playing contemporary Christian music. Fellow broadcaster George James recalled that Lyle had started at KPIK.

    Remembered

    Lyle died on December 2, 2014, at his home in South Carolina after a nine-month battle with cancer. He was 64.

    Sources

  • Chuck Baker

    Chuck Baker was a longtime Colorado Springs talk-radio personality best known for his years on KVOR. If you listened to talk radio in the Springs in the 90s and beyond, you likely had an opinion about Chuck, and probably heard him share his.

    On the Carpet

    Chuck hosted On the Carpet, a locally focused conservative talk show on KVOR, and became one of the best-known and sometimes most controversial voices in Colorado Springs radio. His program drew national attention in 1994. Colleagues and community figures later remembered his willingness to challenge public officials and his deep interest in Colorado Springs and its people.

    Remembered

    Chuck died in September 2017 at age 76.

    Sources

  • Roxanne McVey

    Roxanne McVey was the on-air name of a radio personality who was heard on KKFM 98.1 in Colorado Springs. If you listened to KKFM, one of the city’s best-known rock stations, you may remember her voice.

    On the air at KKFM

    Roxanne worked in radio in Colorado Springs and at stations around the country, including a long stretch in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her KKFM work was specifically remembered in a Gazette obituary.

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

    Sources

    • The Gazette: obituary for Roxanne McVey (December 2007) (print)

  • Lee Douglas

    Lee Douglas, born Douglas Lee Cooley, was a Pueblo broadcaster whose voice was familiar across Southern Colorado for decades. If you grew up in Pueblo watching the local sports or listening to oldies on a Saturday night, you knew Lee.

    Starting out in Pueblo radio

    Lee began broadcasting in 1973, the year he graduated from high school in Pueblo. He worked part-time at KDZA while attending college and later went full-time. His radio career also included KFEL, and he returned to KDZA for the oldies program Sock Hop Saturday Night.

    Sports on TV

    Lee became best known as a longtime KOAA sports broadcaster and sports director, though radio stayed an important part of his career. He also served as a color commentator for Air Force Academy football and received recognition from the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the Associated Press.

    Remembered

    Lee died February 4, 2012, at age 57. He was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame in 2012.

    Sources

  • Chrissy Adsit

    Chrissy Adsit spent two decades in Colorado Springs radio, starting in promotions at KKCS and working her way up through sales to general sales manager of the Clear Channel (now iHeart) cluster. If you ever won tickets or showed up at a station event in the 1990s, her department probably ran it.

    From promotions to sales

    Chrissy started at KKCS-FM and AM in July 1992 in part-time promotions. By May 1993 she’d moved up to promotion director for both KKCS stations, taking over from Neil Cohen, who moved to sales. She switched to local sales in 1997, then left KKCS for Clear Channel as national/regional sales manager. In 2004 she was named among the finalists for the Radio Wayne Award for National Sales Manager.

    In 2006 she became general sales manager at Clear Channel, overseeing KCCY, KKLI, KVUU, KIBT and KDZA.

    Where is Chrissy now?

    As of October 2026, Chrissy has been out of radio since October 2013, when she moved into real estate.

    Sources

    • Radio & Records: May 28, 1993
    • Radio Ink: 2004 Radio Wayne Award finalists (print)
    • Career dates, 1992 to 2013: first-hand account from Chrissy Adsit, submitted to the archive in October 2026