Gene Huston
Gene Huston started life in Neligh, Nebraska and left his home town in 1951 to join the US Air Force. Following his discharge from service he was hired by Montgomery Ward in Denver but was soon transferred with the company to Sterling, Colorado. Ward’s operation there did not last but Huston’s Sterling association was just beginning.
In 1967 Huston, looking for a new opportunity, joined the sales staff at KTVS-TV. Recognizing his ability he was promoted to sales manager, his position until 1974. At that time he became general manager of the station. Under his leadership the Channel 3 news and weather coverage was developed and became vital since it covered the entire Northeast area of the state.
A very important member of the community he worked to promote tourism in the Sterling area. He was active in the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and served as president of the Miss Colorado State Scholarship Pageant. Huston is a life member of the Disabled Veterans Association and in 1978 was recognized by KBTV for his volunteer service. He served six years on the board of directors for the Colorado Broadcasters Association.
In 1992 Huston retired from KTVS-TV Channel 3 in Sterling. However, in 2001 KCDO-TV in Sterling hired him as manager of the station taking advantage of his many years of experience. He is still there hard at work in the TV industry and continuing to serve Sterling, his favorite Colorado community.
Gene Huston passed away in 2022 at the age of 93.
Tom Mulvey
Nebraska native Tom Mulvey has been active in every area of broadcasting and advertising for over 50 years. His early career was in sales with Channel 2 in Denver, KLZ radio and KTLN. After a stay at KOA radio he became sales manager at KHOW in 1957. His next broadcast achievement was his promotion to general manager of the station.
From 1963 until 1967 he was associated with three of Denver’s top radio stations: KLZ, KLAK and KOSI. He then became general manager of KBTR radio and changed the format from rock to news, just the sixth station in the country to go all news.
Mulvey then turned to publishing and co-founded Media Memo, a broadcast industry magazine. In 1983 he created Colorado MAC News which stood for Media, Agencies and Clients. With his column in Advertising and Marketing Review he kept readers up to date on people and activities in the media business.
For two years Mulvey and Merrie Lynn McNabb hosted a senior talk show that aired on KHOW, KEZW and KDEN. Mulvey also taught broadcasting at Metro State College as an adjunct professor.
in 1997, he was elected as a Littleton City councilman and served as mayor pro tem. He was one of the founders of the Metro Denver Dinosaurs as well as the Broadcast Professionals of Colorado.
Tom Mulvey’s vast experience in broadcasting has touched many lives and his BPC and Denver Dinosaur friendships attest to that fact.
John Rayburn
Born in Anna, Illinois John Rayburn excelled in sports during his school years but athletics were set aside when in 1945 he joined the US Navy. His education was at The College of St. Thomas in St. Paul and at Iowa State in Ames.
Rayburn’s broadcasting career began over 62 years ago at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he was a staff announcer and sportscaster. In the following years he was employed in Farmington, Missouri; Harlingen, Texas; Mt. Vernon and Peoria, Illinois.
Heading to Denver Rayburn began his on air activities at Channel 4 KOA-TV in 1959 winding up as the 10PM news anchor. Next was a switch to Channel 7 KLZ-TV in 1963 where he was hired to do sports coverage and worked with Carl Akers, Starr Yelland and Warren Chandler as the team dominated the market. In 1966 he replaced Akers as KLZ-TV news anchor.
After a brief stay in Kansas City as lead anchor at WDAF-TV he returned to Denver. Rejoining Akers they co-anchored the news on Channel 9 KBTV-TV. When Akers shifted away from his anchoring duties Rayburn paired up with Ed Sardella and they were the team that moved Channel 9 into first place in the ratings in the mid 1970’s. His well remembered closing was always, “May all your news be good news!”
Rayburn is the only anchor to have worked for all three Denver network affiliates and was the first play by play broadcaster in the Super Dome for a Denver Broncos exhibition game. He wore many hats during his Colorado tenure as he broadcast Denver Bears baseball, DU hockey, preseason Denver Broncos football, Air Force Academy football and CSU football. We say “Well done, John.”
John Rayburn passed away in 2024.
Larry Zimmer
At the age of ten Larry Zimmer began to dream of being a sportscaster. He did his first broadcast while in high school at WJBO in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After pursuing a journalism degree at both LSU and the University of Missouri he began his sports casting at KFRU in Columbia, Missouri. He called high school games and Missouri Tigers basketball and baseball before moving to WAAM in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There he became the voice of Wolverines football, basketball and hockey.
In 1971 Zimmer moved to Denver and joined KOA radio before becoming the sports anchor on KOA-TV in the mid 70’s. For 19 years he worked with sportscaster Bob Martin as the color commentator on the Denver Broncos Network.
He took over the Bronco play by play duties from 1990 to 1996. During the 1995 season he broadcast his 500th Bronco game.
He has enjoyed a long association with the University of Colorado doing play by play for Colorado Buffalos football. In 2004 he moved to the color commentary spot for CU football and currently broadcasts with KOA’s Mark Johnson. He also did play by play for the CSU Rams and was the voice of CU Buffalo basketball from 1985 to 2003.
In December of 2009 he received the prestigious Chris Schenkel Award for his distinguished career broadcasting college football and for his long association with the University of Colorado.
Larry Zimmer passed away in 2024 at the age of 88.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Noel Jordan
A New York City boy, Noel Jordan traveled to Boston where he earned his BA at Harvard University. After returning to NYC he was hired immediately by NBC where he started at the bottom of the ladder as a page and clerk. The timing was good and Jordan soon found himself promoted to the newly formed television department. There he gained experience as property man, floor manager and, in a crisis, spare announcer. Jordan was part of the original station staff when NBC inaugurated the first regular TV broadcast service in the United States. The first show was President Roosevelt at the New York World’s Fair, April 30, 1939.
After serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII, Noel Jordan was soon recognized as a capable TV producer/director and he quickly earned a reputation as a remote broadcast specialist. He directed many firsts for NBC including the first live telecast from the United Nations, from a submarine, from an aircraft carrier, of Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra and the 1948 Republican, Democratic and Progressive Political Conventions from Philadelphia. He was also an accomplished writer for the network handling genres from documentaries to dramas.
Jordan was asked in 1948 to join the radio television faculty at the University of Denver. One of his first assignments was to prepare the KLZ staffers for their transition to television. Their training started two years before Channel 7 went on the air. He was also one of the founders of Western Cine in Denver which for years processed all of the news film for the Denver TV stations.
He prepared many of the current BPC membership for successful careers in broadcasting and communications. The list includes Ken Custer, Jim Lannon, Art Knott, Merrie Lynn McNabb, Ron Mitchell, Jack Mumey, Ann Richardson, Bob Rubin, Jerome Ryden, Phil Stinemates and Joe Tourtelot.
Noel Jordan is one of the true pioneers of the television industry.