Mid-winter blog of 2025
Jeremy Levy back with you to write more about media changes.
The Colorado radio blog is saddened to report that Tom Kraeutler, the host of the show The Money Pit radio show, has passed away after a surgery. He was in his 60’s. It said on Ramp radio that he had hosted the show for many years. I would listen to this show sometimes on Saturdays when I would be traveling in San Francisco, or Arizona, or Texas. The article on Ramp radio said that the show will continue on with Leslie Segrette as the host. They are looking for a new co-host for the show. Leslie did say in the Ramp radio article that Tom was with her through many important milestones of her life. She will miss him, as will many long-time listeners of the show will. If Paul Macgregor were still alive, I think he would be a great host of the show. Ken Moon might be a good host as well. Ken Moon was the host of the around the house program on 630 KHOW radio. He also hosts the show on KRDO radio in Colorado Springs. This might be good if this were to happen.
Switching to a happier story, Albuquerque is one of my favorite places to visit. KiKi Hernandez is un-plugging from the station KOBQ morning show from Carlos and Kiki in the Morning. She is moving down the hall to host a solo show for sister station KMGA radio. This is good news for her. Leah who used to be with Cumulus radio in Albuquerque and was with KBPI radio in Colorado before that, is re-joining Cumulus media Albuquerque alongside Carlos. This is good news there. Good luck to Leah with this new show. Chris Hoffman, who was with Kool 105 back in the 1990’s and now is the program director of Cumulus media is excited to have Leah back with them.
There is a new executive producer on 850 KOA radio Colorado’s morning news show. It is Michelle Belden. She started with them back at the end of January. Marty Lenz and Jeana Gondek are glad to have her as part of the team. I heard her doing an event for the Friday segment called what’s going on for the weekend. Michelle took over for Cole Peterson who left at the end of December.
On Wednesday February 12, 2025, Ross Kaminsky of 850 KOA radio announced that he is running the contest this year where e-mailers need to pick what number the S&P 500 will be at near the end of the year of 2025. People that are interested in this should e-mail him at Ross@iheartmediacolorado.com. The person that gets closest gets a prize of either lunch with Ross, and a guest and the person that wins, or they get to come to the studio and watch him, and his producer do the show, so they can see how the show works. I think this is a great prize. It would be great for someone to win who follows my blog. This is why I am mentioning this in my blog.
Good wishes go out to Peter Boyles of 710 KNUS radio. He had heart surgery this past week and is now recovering at home. Peter said when he called into the show hosted by Jon Caldara that one of the lessons in life is that you can’t fix a heart valve by yourself. Peter had been struggling with this for a couple of years. He will be back in the next couple of weeks hosting the show from 9 AM to 1 PM on Saturdays on 710 KNUS radio. Peter said on the air that he is laying on the couch not doing much. I was maybe hoping that he might be able to ski with Gary Defrange and I in February at Winter Park. This might have to be put off. Health comes first.
If you are a fan of nighttime radio, and late-night talk radio, you are probably familiar with the show Coast to Coast. This show was originally hosted by Art Bell and is now hosted by George Nurry. Amazon and a second company are both trying to get the rights to produce a movie about Art Bell. Art is going to be played by Paul Giamatti.
The Barrett’s media top sports markets for the year of 2025 are out and here are the Colorado results:
Top 20 stations of 2024
#14 104.3 The Fan
#20 92.5 Altitude
The program directors are:
#13 Amanda Brown
#19 Kevin Shockey
Morning
#11 Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth,
#16 Moser, Lombardy and Kane
Congratulations go out to Murphy Huston who is retiring from Kosi 101 radio. His last day on the air was Tuesday February 11, 2025. I have been a fan of his since 1996 when he used to do shows with Hal Moore on 630 KHOW radio. I have followed his career to 1430 KEZW and then to Kosi 101 radio. Many long-time hosts knew him including the Gabby Gourmet and Mike Boyle. Mike used to do a tip about restaurants on the show with Hal and Murphy. Murphy said in an e-mail to me that he will do some fill in work at Kosi 101 radio.
KALC radio had their annual Children’s Hospital Cares for kid’s radiothon on February 13, of 2025. This is always a wonderful event. I always mention this every year because I think it is a great cause. Children’s hospital helps many children from the most serious physical issues to the least serious physical issues. I encourage those of you who follow my blog to donate to this. You can find the donation link on KALC’s radio website.
A deal has been worked out with Comcast and Altitude TV to broadcast Nuggets and Avalanche games. This is really good news there. Many people have been missing out on watching the games. The Nuggets, and Avalanche are on their half season break right now the week of February 10th through the 22nd of February. They will both start back up near the 22nd of February. In the meantime, here are some podcasts for listeners to tune into. The Audio Theatre Central podcast had a great episode in February. J. D. interviewed Tory Martin a previous writer of Adventures in Odyssey audio theater drama. Tory has started his own podcast called of Moose, and Men. https://www.audiotheatrecentral.com/ Tory also explained of the creation of the character of Wooton Bassett. That was interesting. The last podcast I would like to mention is the Tomorrow Society Disney podcast, https://tomorrowsociety.com/podcasts/ hosted by Dan Heaton has come to an end. He did his 250th episode at the beginning of February. He said in an e-mail to me that he might be a guest contributor to some podcasts down the road. Dan, your podcast was really fun for me to listen to, and you had a great run with the podcast.
Thanks for tuning in.