PRESERVING RADIO HISTORY ACROSS COLORADO
A Broadcasting Yearbook directory lists Wendy Green as program director at KFXD-AM in Nampa, Idaho, in 1983 and 1984. The directories document her position at that time but do not establish when she began or ended the role.
Sources: Broadcasting Yearbook 1983; Broadcasting Yearbook 1984.
Paul Anderson is identified with Denver’s KIMN-AM in a Colorado Radio Archive aircheck listing dated October 9, 1964, alongside John Nelson and Pogo Poge. A contemporary catalog also preserves a KIMN recording labeled with Anderson’s name. These records document his KIMN appearance on that date; additional employment dates have not been established.
Sources: Colorado Radio Archive, October 9, 1964 aircheck listing; OTC Classics aircheck catalog.
Mike Butts was a KIMN-AM personality in Denver by 1974. A November 1974 Billboard item describes a prank call to “KIMN-AM’s Mike Butts,” and a January 1975 Radio & Records notice refers to him as a former KIMN morning host. These reports establish that he was there by 1974 and had left the morning role by early 1975, but do not give exact employment dates.
Sources: Billboard, November 23, 1974; Radio & Records, January 31, 1975; Colorado Radio Archive, “KIMN in Denver with Mike Butts, 1974.”
Paxton Mills was among Denver’s KIMN personalities in the 1980s. A 1999 Radio & Records profile identifies him doing mornings at KIMN, by then the station’s later FM identity. His Denver career also included KXKL-FM (KOOL 105); a 2001 Westword report says he had left the station just days before his death in Aspen on June 25, 2001. The exact dates of his KIMN and KXKL appointments are not established here.
Sources: Radio & Records, July 23, 1999; Westword, “The Making of a Pundit”; Gavin Report, December 17, 2001.
Marty Smith is a Christian-country radio personality, programmer and syndicated host whose Colorado career included Denver and Colorado Springs. In a 2017 first-person interview, Smith said he began radio in 1990 at KEXS-AM in the Kansas City area. He moved to Denver in 1993 and started at KLZ-AM. He recalled moving on to KWBI-FM in 1995, then being hired soon afterward at Colorado Springs’ KBIQ-FM. His interview describes learning from KBIQ programmer Ken Sasso.
Smith said his Christian-country program Cross Country was syndicated in 1995. The program’s own history says it was recorded in Denver in 1995 and that its first syndicated broadcast aired in 1996 on an unnamed Cheyenne AM station. The sources differ on the syndication year, so both dates are retained. Smith later described the program as Today’s Cross Country, airing on stations in multiple countries.
In 2011, Smith founded Heaven’s Country, an online radio station. A 2020 interview identifies him as its owner and morning host and dates its first broadcast to April 1, 2011.
Sources: Scott Coner interview with Marty Smith, February 19, 2017; Today’s Cross Country — program history; SGNScoops interview, May 22, 2020.
Man Mountain Murphy was heard on Denver’s KIMN-AM in a 1986 station montage. By July 1991, Billboard reported that he had moved to afternoons at Denver’s KXKL-FM (KOOL 105), under the name Man Mountain Murphy. The sources establish those appearances and the 1991 move, but not his KIMN dates.
Sources: KIMN 1986 montage; Billboard, July 13, 1991.
Loren Owens became program director of Denver’s KIMN-AM effective March 21, 1977, succeeding Hal Widsten. He held the position through 1980, when Doug Erickson was named the station’s new program director. A 1978 KIMN aircheck listing also identifies Owens on the station.
Sources: Cashbox, March 12, 1977; Radio & Records, May 18, 1984; Colorado Radio Archive, “Loren Owens on KIMN, 4/25/78.”
Born Harold Lee Franzel, Lee Randall began in radio at a small Montrose station in 1962 and was on the air at Denver’s KIMN-AM by 1963, soon hosting an all-night show. A Colorado Radio Archive aircheck listing places him on KIMN on September 30, 1976. His later career included radio consulting; his obituary says he left the broadcast booth in 1983.
Sources: Harold “Lee” Franzel obituary; Colorado Radio Archive, “Lee Randall, Jim Herron and Danny Davis on Denver’s KIMN 9/30/76.”
Larry Taylor was a KIMN air personality in Denver. A January 1977 issue of Cashbox reported that Taylor was doing the 10 p.m.–2 a.m. shift, replacing Tom Rivers, and noted that he came to KIMN from KRIV in Waco, Texas.
Taylor’s documented KIMN credit is a dated overnight-programming appointment during the station’s Top 40 era. The available report establishes that he had taken the shift by January 15, 1977; the archive does not infer an exact start date beyond that report.
Kaylen Lee held news and on-air duties at KKCS-FM in Colorado Springs by 1998. A September 25, 1998 issue of Radio & Records reported that KKCS welcomed her as news director and morning-show co-host. A Colorado Radio Archive photo is dated July 15, 1998 and identifies her with the station’s morning show, so the exact effective date of the reported appointment remains unresolved.
Lee’s documented duties combined news direction with an on-air morning-show role. The July photo predates the September trade report; the archive preserves both dates without treating the publication date as her first day at the station.