Audio By Carbonatix
On June 24, IHeart Radio let Bret Saunders know that as part of a cost-cutting move, his morning program was being booted from KBCO, after more than 28 years at the legendary FM station. “I was pretty surprised,” he says. So were his many fans, some of whose “comments made me cry, which is not the easiest thing to do,” Saunders adds. “I feel very moved and touched.”
And fans left many more comments on the Westword Facebook post of Michael Roberts’ interview with Saunders. At the same time they praised the ousted host, they panned the current state of FM radio.
“It’s so crazy for a company to discard of their proven ‘special sauce’ without any fanfare or obvious game plan. Just dumb. What poor sucker has to replace him? Or are they thinking of an AI DJ? iHeart sucks…”
– Janice Jensen
“IHeartRadio is ruining everything. Hope that Bret lands somewhere good. Check out Indie 102.3 and support something local, crowd-funded and NOT iHeart. Dana in the mornings is amazing, but the rest of the DJs are also amazing.”
– Jake Miller
“The very thing that made FM was the on air personalities and the music. Deep cuts, knowledge of the artist, these are constants even today but the media corporations kept hacking away at the product instead of reinvesting in the thing that made FM cool to begin with. The more they hacked, the worse it got so more hacking needed obviously till we are here. FM used to educate us and turn us on to music. KBCO in Boulder, KLBJ in Austin and others coast to coast. The dumbing down continues and terrestrial radio will soon be forgotten. How did the bean counters ever get control over the creative? Be nice to see a revolution in FM!”
– Ron Wilson
Hate to give up KBCO, but guess it’s time.
— Jane Sloan Potts
“He’s the only reason I still listened to KBCO. Hey, people, what should I listen to now? Know any good stations?”
– Denise House Bauer
“I hope people don’t verbally attack people who still work for KBCO. I interned for Kool 105 when Randy J was let go. People would yell at us from their cars that we ‘fired’ Randy J! It wasn’t even the management in Denver that let him go, it was corporate big wigs. I worked with Brett before the Clear Channel layoffs in 2008. He was the nicest co-worker and very nice and grateful to the listeners.
– Elena Jaramillo
Not how you treat an icon. He and Nuggets icon Chris Marlowe should share a beer together.
– Mark Lotto
What do you think of KBCO’s moves? FM Radio in general? Share your thoughts in a comment, or email editorial@westword.com.
