Jones Radio Networks wasn’t a station you could tune in, but if you listened to a satellite-fed country, oldies or smooth jazz station almost anywhere in the country, there’s a good chance it came out of the Denver area.
What it was
Think of Jones Radio Networks as the behind-the-scenes supplier for a lot of local stations. It was the radio programming arm of Jones International, beaming out round-the-clock satellite formats along with syndicated shows. The roots go back to the Drake-Chenault programming company in the late 1960s. By 1989 that business had become the Drake-Chenault/Jones Satellite Services partnership, and in 1991 Jones bought out Drake-Chenault, after which the venture became Jones Satellite Services. The company was headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.
Address
8200 S. Akron St., Suite 103, Centennial, CO 80112 (supplied by the archive). The same address was later used by Dial Global and Westwood One.
Formats and shows
If you flipped around the satellite dial, you may have heard Lia, Danny Wright’s overnight show, Ed Schultz or Clark Howard, all syndicated through Jones. On the music side, the menu stretched from True 24-Hour Country and Good Time Oldies to Rock Classics, Smooth Jazz, Classic Hits, Hot AC and Adult Contemporary.
What happened to it
The end came through a sale. Triton Radio Networks said in June 2008 that it was buying Jones Media Group, and by January 2009 the satellite formats had been absorbed into Dial Global. They then passed through Westwood One and, eventually, Cumulus.
Colorado people
Colorado radio folks who worked in this world include Cheri Marquart (Smooth Jazz and Classic Hits programming), Chad Blake and Jim Murphy (country programming).
Sources
STATION FILE
People Who Worked Here
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