The Message

Some news organizations seem more receptive than others. In advance of the NYC visit, Clark says the Denver crew contacted CNN and MSNBC, but neither bit, and Newsweek "wasn't able to free up a reporter." Then again, the journey as a whole went infinitely better than one Clark took with former mayor Wellington Webb back in 1992. By happenstance, they arrived in New York to hype the airport, which was then under construction, the day after the passage of Amendment 2, a controversial proposal limiting homosexual rights that led to a boycott against Colorado; the amendment was subsequently ruled unconstitutional. "A gay-rights group called Queer Nation chased us all over the city," Clark remembers. "We spent all our time explaining why we weren't a hate state. That wasn't our best day."

Clark expects a better outcome in January, when Metro Denver is flying three international reporters into the city to give them a firsthand report about FasTracks, T-Rex and DIA. "We know we can't just go out and say, 'Do a cool story on us, because we're a cool place,'" he says. "You really have to have something to show them -- and we do."

Mark Manger

Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation's Tom Clark is pitching the city.

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More About

• Tom Clark
• Carl Nimbus
• John Hickenlooper
• Jeff Potter
• Dan Igoe

With luck, the price tag will be considerably less than $20 million.

Walking the plank: The November 4 version of this column shared the experiences of Denver Free Radio's Carl Nimbus, whose pirate station had been shut down by the Federal Communications Commission three times over the span of a few weeks. At the time, he was unbowed, saying, "This is all about determination. They bust you fast to discourage you, but we're not going to get discouraged. We're going to keep coming back on the air."

Nimbus was as good as his word -- at first. But after several more raids, during which the FCC appeared to be actively building cases against the pirates and building owners who were purposefully kept in the dark about what was being done on their property, he reconsidered. Earlier this month, Nimbus sent an e-mail to listeners of Cactus Radio, as the signal was nicknamed, revealing that he and his cohorts were moving on to other projects. He blames the massive Clear Channel group of stations for much of what happened, even referencing a letter written to Westword by Clear Channel spokeswoman Lisa Dollinger defending the company against some of his published accusations. "Why were they afraid of a tiny, local, non-commercial broadcaster?" Nimbus writes. "Because our signal was reaching nearly ONE MILLION people, that's why. If you were tuning us in, you were tuning them out."

Although Nimbus has sold his gear to so-called "interested parties," he hints that Denver may not have heard the last of Cactus Radio. In his words, "We're looking at options that could make us untouchable." Watch out, Eliot Ness.