Howe Xcellent

"I have nothing against hip-hop, but there's just so much great music out there," he continues. "It just seemed like there was just one thing, one sound -- and that didn't seem right. There's just too much music. You've got music from the '70s, '80s, '90s. You've got artists that do everything from rock to funk to soul to filtered. And with the dance beat being at 120 bpm-plus, psychologically, it actually makes you feel better because the music increases your adrenaline. It's a scientific fact: Music at a higher bpm makes you happy; it makes you feel better. So I've always kind of leaned in that direction. It's really a multi-genre format of all styles of music, but blended and mixed together. I can go from Bon Jovi into Eric Prydz into AC/DC, but perfectly in the mix, with some sort of interesting beat content."

Howe hasn't tested this mix yet on his XM show, where he's played strictly commercial dance music since the gig started just over a month ago. But he's already found a fan base -- he's received at least a thousand e-mails from listeners, he says -- and last week, XM brass contacted him to discuss the prospect of doing a live broadcast at Rise that would reach over four million listeners.

And put Denver back on the electronic map.