Piracy, Hip-Hop Style

"We want to keep the station alive," Bass Ghost adds. "Whatever it takes to put hip-hop on the map in Colorado, we're going to do it."

Shuffling the numbers: KNRC, at 1510 AM, launched earlier this year with the goal of changing Denver's talk-radio landscape ("Dialing for Differences," July 18), and it's made some progress toward that goal. Partly financed by gazillionaire Phil Anschutz through a company called Newspaper Radio Corporation, the station has evolved into a credible alternative to Clear Channel-owned properties such as KOA and KHOW and has proven it's willing to irritate powerful folks -- even Anschutz, whose dealings with troubled Qwest Communications have been debated on KNRC's Friday morning roundtable, The State of Colorado. But while more callers are ringing up the station (a relief, no doubt, for hosts such as Greg Dobbs and Enid Goldstein, who had to engage in near-monologues in order to fill time in their first weeks on the job), KNRC's audience remains on the teensy side. The station has yet to show up in the Arbitron ratings.

John Johnston

Panda (left) and Bass Ghost display their Skyjack equipment.

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More About

• U.S. Federal Communications Commission
• Philip Anschutz
• Jon Sprague
• Radio
• Hip-Hop and Rap

Nonetheless, Tim Brown, Newspaper Radio's chairman of the board and chief executive officer (as well as Anschutz's son-in-law), is confident he's on the right track, and to prove it, he's making a major investment. Less than a year after buying the station, formerly known as KDKO, for $2.7 million, Newspaper Radio has purchased another property, KCUV, a Spanish-language talk specialist at 1150 AM, for around $3 million. "It's basically a signal swap," Brown says.

Both stations have daytime power ratings of 10,000 watts, making the shift between these remarkably similar sets of digits seem illogical. However, broadcast quality becomes less reliable on the right side of the AM spectrum, where 1510 resides, than it does to its left. Just as important, 1510 wasn't allowed to transmit to much of the Boulder area because of interference issues with KCFC/1490-AM, owned by Colorado Public Radio. No such difficulties trouble 1150 AM, giving KNRC the opportunity to broaden its reach significantly.

That KCUV came on the market at all is moderately surprising, since Spanish-language radio has lately been doing more expanding than contracting. Witness the announcement late last month that Zee Ferrufino, owner of KBNO/1280-AM, popularly known as "Que Bueno," had purchased stations in Colorado Springs and Pueblo with the notion of forming a homegrown Spanish-radio group. But growing competition within the format prevented Miami-based Radio Única, KCUV's owner for the last two years plus, from gaining much traction in Denver. "This was their only station here, and they were looking to consolidate in other markets that are larger than Denver," Brown notes. "So they called to see if we were interested in the station -- and we were."

Brown's concept is to pull the plug on KCUV and upgrade the facility technically, much as was done to KDKO (to the tune of $700,000). Afterward, KNRC will move to 1150, and 1510 will be put back on the market. All the Skyjack Radio principals need is a few million portraits of dead presidents and they can be back in business.

KNRC's impending transition may well cause confusion for a station still struggling to register with Denverites, many of whom were first introduced to the outlet via election debates that informally paired it with television's Channel 4 and Channel 12. "I'm encouraged by some of the Arbitron diaries we're getting, and I think we'll make the fall ratings book -- just barely," Brown says. "But we have a big hurdle to overcome to let people know we're on the dial" -- particularly when that dial position will change a few months from now.

Even so, Brown goes on, "we're in this for the long haul. We're at mile one of a marathon, and we're going to keep plugging away."Mouse hunt: The City of Denver continues to move forward with plans to purchase the Rocky Mountain News building, at 100 Gene Amole Way, in order to put up a new jail. But if a recent memo circulated at the News is any indication, prisoners who ultimately wind up at this facility may suffer cruel and unusual punishment from vermin even worse than the usual journalistic sort.

The memo read, "Due to the ongoing mouse problem, NO food should be left in the drawers or on the desks unless it is in a sealed container. The problem is, the mice prefer real food over bait, and that is exactly what has happened in this situation. The maintenance guys have declared war on the critters, but if food is left out or accessible (and the drawers of desks are just good places to eat in peace), the individuals are essentially giving aid to the enemy."

So that's who moved their cheese...