PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO

Archives: People

  • Don Roberts

    Don Roberts was a Denver radio and television personality whose career ran from the big band remotes of the 1950s to KLZ’s top-rated morning show in the 1960s.

    Colorado radio career

    Roberts started at KFXJ in Grand Junction after World War II. In the 1950s he moved to KIMN in Denver, where he hosted live big band remotes for the Mutual network from the Trocadero Ballroom at Elitch Gardens. He joined KOA radio and television in 1958, including a stint anchoring the 10 p.m. news.

    Through the 1960s Roberts hosted the top-rated morning show on KLZ. After 1972 he returned to his big band roots, programming the music on KAAT, KKBB and KEZW. He was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame in 2017.

    Sources

  • Leroy Smith

    Leroy Smith was Denver’s first Black disc jockey.

    Colorado radio career

    Smith hosted Rockin’ with Leroy in the midnight slot on KFEL 950 starting in 1948, playing rhythm and blues and early rock and roll for Denver listeners years before most stations would touch it. When KFEL became KIMN in 1954, his show continued on the new station, and he stayed on the air there until 1960.

    He was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame in 2017.

    Sources

  • Ken Palmer

    Ken Palmer (died 1984) was the owner and general manager who built KIMN into Denver’s dominant Top 40 station, and an early owner of KYSN in Colorado Springs.

    Colorado radio career

    After working in radio in Pampa, Texas, and Albuquerque, Palmer came to Denver in 1952 to run the Intermountain Network’s office. He was regional sales manager in 1954 when KFEL became KIMN, the network’s flagship. In 1958 he bought KYSN in Colorado Springs, which he owned for several years.

    In 1960 Palmer and partners bought KIMN for $400,000, and he ran it as general manager. Under him the station reached as much as a 56 share, more than the next seven Denver stations combined. He sold KIMN and a Portland sister station in 1970 for $6 million.

    When KIMN signed off in 1988, Palmer’s was the last name mentioned on the air, 18 years after he had left the station.

    Sources

  • Andrés Neidig

    Andrés Neidig is a pioneer of Spanish-language broadcasting in Colorado, with more than 50 years on the air and deep involvement in the state’s Spanish-speaking community. In 2014 he became the first Spanish-language broadcaster inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado Hall of Fame.

    Colorado radio career

    Neidig started in 1961 at age 18 at Paco Sanchez’s KFSC 1220 in Denver, working as a news translator, copywriter and on-air talent, and was the station’s general manager within a year. In the early 1970s he produced the Paco Sanchez Hour, which grew into the live television program El Show de Andrés.

    In 1975 he moved to Pueblo and the Spanish-language “Radio Mexicana” operation on 690 AM, which became KRMX in 1981. He bought the KRMX AM and FM stations in 1984. In March 1989 he returned to Denver and purchased KJME 1390 AM, “La Jota Mexicana,” which he ran until 2004. He later hosted a weekly Mexican oldies program on KNRV 1150.

    Off the air, Neidig taught free U.S. citizenship classes to his listeners and received Mexico’s Ohtli medal from President Ernesto Zedillo.

    Sources

  • Gary Melanson (The Rockman)

    Gary Melanson, known on air as “The Rockman,” was a nighttime personality during the KIKX-FM 102.7 era in Colorado Springs in the 1980s. A tribute shared with the Colorado Radio Archive recalls teenagers tuning in for his requests-and-dedications show and remembers his ratings among the highest in the market’s radio history.

    The archive has not yet located a period ratings book or a source establishing the exact dates of Melanson’s KIKX program. The tribute also reports that he has died; it did not include the date or further details. This entry preserves the community recollection while those particulars remain undocumented.

    Source: Community tribute submitted to the Colorado Radio Archive, October 6, 2026.

  • Mickey D

  • Randy Jay

    Randy Jay joined Denver’s KIMN-AM in 1980 and spent eight years there, according to a 2007 Westword profile. A Colorado Radio Archive aircheck documents him on KIMN in August 1982. After KIMN, he became a longtime personality at KXKL-FM (KOOL 105). Westword reported his departure from KOOL 105 in 2007.

    Sources: Westword, “Randy Jay Out at KOOL 105”; Colorado Radio Archive, “Denver’s Fabulous KIMN, 08/06/82 Chuck Buell and Randy Jay.”

  • Steve Wall

    A listener recollection identifies a Steve Wall as an on-air personality at Denver’s KIMN in 1971–72 and describes it as his first major-station job. The attribution is not yet corroborated by a contemporaneous trade listing or station aircheck, so no further career dates are assigned.

    Source: Radio-history listener recollection, posted by Todd Nixon.

  • Stu Evans

    Stu Evans (Stuart Adelman), later known professionally as Big Shoe, worked at Denver’s KIMN-AM from 1985 to 1987. A 1995 Radio & Records profile gives those dates in his career history; Evans later recalled working at KIMN among his career highlights.

    Sources: Radio & Records, October 6, 1995; Stu Evans, reunion newsletter biography.

  • Wayne Cornils

    Wayne “Radio Wayne” Cornils was a station owner and a national radio-industry executive. A 1984 Broadcasting profile traces his career from KPIG-AM in Cedar Rapids, where he held various positions from 1954 to 1961, to KFXD-AM in Nampa, Idaho. Cornils became KFXD’s general manager in 1962, and in 1964 became its president, general manager and co-owner.

    In 1976, Cornils left KFXD to join the National Association of Broadcasters as membership director. He later served as vice president of membership, vice president for radio and senior vice president for radio. He moved to the Radio Advertising Bureau in December 1983. His work promoting the radio industry and supporting small-market broadcasters is remembered in the Radio Wayne Awards.

    Sources: Broadcasting, July 2, 1984, “The Fifth Estate”; Barrett Media, September 16, 2022; NAB Show, Radio Wayne Awards.