100 Years of KOA Radio in Denver
KOA-AM at 850 on the Denver radio dial has celebrated 100 years of broadcasting to Colorado radio listeners. Though not Denver’s first radio station, for much of its history, KOA has dominated Denver’s AM radio market, and is still the only 50,000 watt all-day station in Colorado allowing it to be heard all over the Front Range.
KOA began as an outlet of General Electric, going on the air with the National Anthem, an invocation by a U.S. Army Chaplain and an address by CU President Dr. George Norlin. Within the first hour of broadcasting, the tubes overheated requiring a 2 minute cool-off period. In it’s early years, KOA achieved a number of local broadcasting firsts, including broadcasting Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration, remotes from the Moffatt Tunnel, the top of Pike’s Peak, live broadcasts from a Berthoud Pass ski run and from the RCA Victor train touring the west.
KOA became an affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company in 1928 and a year later, NBC took ownership of KOA from GE. KOA remained an NBC affiliate until 1976, when it changed to CBS affiliation. It now is affiliated with Fox News Radio.
KOA became an affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company in 1928 and a year later, NBC took ownership of KOA from GE. KOA remained an NBC affiliate until 1976, when it changed to CBS affiliation. It now is affiliated with Fox News Radio.
KOA originally broadcast at 930 on the AM dial, moving to 920 and 830 later in the 1920s, and its current 850 dial position in 1941. The station steadily increased power from its initial 1000 watts at founding until its licensing as an all-day 50,000 watt station in 1934. KOA’s initial studios at 14th and Krameria was the first structure in Denver built for the purpose of radio broadcasting. A move downtown to the NBC Building at 1625 California Street in 1934 was a major event, drawing thousands to the grand opening of the new facilities which included broadcast control rooms and a studio built for the purpose of hosting live music broadcasts.
Images from KOA Radio in the 1930s
The Golden Age of Radio
During the golden age of radio, KOA mixed local talk, farm and music programming with NBC network shows. As a high power station, its signal could be heard at night in other parts of the country. The KOA Staff Orchestra led by Milton Shrednik had a long-running Sunday night live concert and was featured on a number of NBC network broadcasts. Live remote broadcasts from Elitch’s Trocadero ballroom featuring big bands of the time became one of their most famous programs.
BPC Hall of Fame inductee Bob Shriver demonstrated at one of our events how it would sound to the listener.
Colorado Sports Legends, Glenn Morriss, Dutch Clark and Byron “Whizzer” White. 1930s KOA Broadcast
Pete Smythe
Among the many personalities that appeared on KOA during this period, BPC Hall of Famers Pete Smythe and Starr Yelland stood out. Originally a big band musician, Smythe adopted a folksy western persona for his KOA show, which he claimed was based at “Smythe’s General Store” in the fictional East Tincup, Colorado. Yelland became a popular host in the immediate postwar period hosting general interest programming and announcing live sports, eventually adding television to his radio hosting duties. Other BPC Hall of Fame honorees who worked at KOA at points of their career include, Bob Shriver, Ed “Weatherman” Bowman, John Rayburn, Merrie Lynn, Bob Palmer, Don Roberts and Bob Rubin. Bob Hix, Mick Schafbuch, Jim Hawthorne and Lee Larson are Hall of Fame honorees who worked at KOA in executive positions.
Below is an example of one of Pete Smythe’s songs from his radio show.
KOA Personalities
Starr Yelland became a popular host in the immediate postwar period hosting general interest programming and announcing live sports, eventually adding television to his radio hosting duties.
Other BPC Hall of Fame honorees who worked at KOA at points of their career include, Bob Shriver, Ed “Weatherman” Bowman, John Rayburn, Merrie Lynn, Bob Palmer, Don Roberts and Bob Rubin. Bob Hix, Mick Schafbuch, Jim Hawthorne and Lee Larson are Hall of Fame honorees who worked at KOA in executive positions.
KOA was sold to Metropolitan Television Company and major shareholder Bob Hope in 1952 and prepared to open KOA-TV once the FCC lifted the licensing freeze that kept television out of Denver. KOA-TV went on the air in 1953 utilizing many of its radio hosts. The radio and television operations moved a new building at 1044 Lincoln St. in 1959 and remained linked until KOA radio separated from the TV operation in 1983.
The News-Talk Era
When AM music waned in popularity with the rise of FM in the 1970s, KOA-AM re-tooled its format around news, talk and sports. KOA-FM’s beautiful music format became KOAQ with a Top 40 and adult contemporary focus (eventually becoming the Classic Rock format KRFX). The Colorado Morning News has been the mainstay of the daytime lineup since the 1970s. Sportstalk with local news and traffic updates predominantly filling the evening drive hours. Major hosts for the station include Gus Mircos, Evan Slack, Steve Kelly, Carol McKinley, Ed Greene, Stefan Tubbs, April Zesbaugh. KOA’s News-talk format began simulcasting on FM at 94.1 in 2015.
KOA drew tragic national attention after talk host and outspoken liberal Alan Berg was murdered in his driveway in 1984 by white supremacists enraged by his broadcasts and popularity in Denver.
KOA later adopted a more conservative talk format with Mike Rosen taking the late-morning slot for over 20 years and was one of the few stations allowed to tape-delay Rush Limbaugh’s show in favor of local programming. Rick Barber’s offbeat show was a mainstay of live overnight programming for 30 years.
Other notable talk hosts during this period include Gary Tessler, Greg Dobbs, George Weber and Tom Martino.
KOA Sports
Sports has played a major role in KOA’s lasting success in the Denver market. Though the Denver Broncos started broadcasting on other stations, KOA has been their radio partner since 1969, with the legendary Bob Martin (later teaming with Larry Zimmer) becoming the voice of the Broncos. After Martin’s death, Zimmer took over Broncos play-by play, ceding that role to Dave Logan in the late 1990s to focus on his broadcast passion, CU football and basketball. KOA is the only radio outlet the Colorado Rockies have ever had since their inception in 1993. CU Athletics has been with KOA for most of their broadcast history, and KOA has featured DU Hockey, The Denver Bears, the Denver Nuggets and CSU athletics at various times.
Bob Martin Calls The Broncos First Playoff Win in 1977
KCNC Channel 4 obituary report for Bob Martin.
Larry Zimmer’s most famous game call. CU Hail Mary pass vs. Michigan.
KOA At 100
KOA is currently part of iHeart Media’s Denver holdings, alongside AM outlets KHOW and KDFD, and FM music stations KRFX, KBCO, KTCL, KBPI and KWBL.
At the exact moment of KOA’s 100th anniversary at 8PM, December 15, 2024, KOA interrupted a Broncos postgame show to commemorate this broadcasting milestone.