Longtime 97.3 KBCO Radio Host Ginger Retires

Local radio has had stiff competition in recent decades amid the rise of streaming services. But radio also has one critical benefit that podcasts and Spotify playlists don't: personal engagement with listeners.

And that's what's kept 97.3 KBCO icon Ginger Havlat at the "World Class Rock" station for 34 years out of her four decades in radio. While interviewing rock stars and playing quality music already made for a dream job, Havlat says she's stayed at KBCO for so long because "our listeners are so dedicated, and they have been through the years. ... We always pride ourselves on the fact that we talked to our listeners — we don't talk at them, we don't talk down to them. We were on an even keel there, and that is so important. For me, what's always been number one has been that relationship with our listeners."

Havlat is now seeing just how important her audience found that relationship, too. Since she announced her retirement, with her last show slated for Saturday, December 31, she's been trying to answer as much fan mail as she can, and says she's been overwhelmed by the love she's been receiving. "I've had people saying, 'I grew up listening to you,'" she recalls. "One man called me and I was moved to tears. He said I was with him, that he was listening while he was going through chemo; he's now cancer-free. I was so touched by what he said."

While many stations have downsized in recent years, Havlat says that radio has stayed strong in Colorado. With podcasts, she notes, "you don't have that personal community touch that you get with a local radio...and it's a great market for radio here. We have so many music lovers, and such an incredible talent pool of musicians that want to come to Denver, and great local bands. It's built a reputation as being a great music environment, and we're so lucky with Red Rocks and our other venues. Musicians want to come to Colorado; they know that they've got an audience here."
Her road to radio was an unexpected one. "As a kid, I loved radio, but I certainly wasn't a public speaker, by any means," Havlat reflects. "I tried to take speech classes in high school, and I was so shy, I dropped out of the class." And although she would eventually be introducing thousands of listeners to new music, Havlat wasn't a musician, other than a brief stint with the accordion, "because this was Nebraska, and I'm Czech and German, so.... 'There's nothing like a good polka!,' as my aunts and uncles would say," she laughs.

But she was a music fanatic. Raised in Crete, Nebraska, Havlat spent many days listening to loud music in her room — especially the Beatles. "I was a Beatles maniac," she emphasizes. "Big Beatle fan, almost to a fault."

Havlat took her passion for music to Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she studied journalism and joined the school radio station. Although she was still timid about public speaking, she dipped in her toe by doing "rip and reads" of AP reports once a week, and eventually became the station's news director. "I asked if I could do a music show, because I wanted to do the turntables and talk on the radio about music," Havlat recalls. "And that's where it started. Then, just about a day after I graduated from college, I got hired at the local commercial radio station in Sioux Falls."

Two years later she moved to Boulder, where she joined KBCO on December 31, 1981. Havlat began as a graveyard shift disc jockey, turning tables from midnight to 6 a.m. It wasn't as lonely as it sounds, she says: "It was kind of fun in radio — it was a different world, people had time to talk. I used to get calls from Safeway in Castle Rock. They'd be stocking the shelves, and they'd always call up for this song by Asleep at the Wheel called 'Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens,' which I always thought was so funny."

While she briefly left KBCO for its AM station, she returned after two years — "Sometimes you have to leave home to appreciate home," she says — and began the midday show that made so many Coloradans consider her a friendly companion with all the best music.

Havlat's favorite memory of the station is a no-brainer: Her Beatlemania reached its peak when she got to interview Paul McCartney, her favorite Beatle, at Folsom Field in 1993. "I was a nervous wreck; I couldn't hardly sleep for a couple days beforehand. This was the ultimate," she says. "And as soon as I shook his hand, I really felt his warmth. I felt so comfortable. And it was kind of like, 'Well, Paul, if you're ready, you want to sit down?' And we just sat there and chatted one on one, and all my nerves melted away. Even when we got the sign that we needed to wrap it up, I had one more question, and he didn't rush away. That was a moment."

Other memorable interviews included such music legends as Stevie Nicks, Sting, Bob Weir and John Mayer. Havlat talked with Mayer early in his career as well as later on, and is happy to report that fame didn't appear to affect his attitude. But did the infamous playboy make a move? "I do always love to tell the story that I interviewed him in his hotel suite," she says. "It was when he was playing Red Rocks; I think he was sharing the bill with Sheryl Crow, well over ten years ago. He was short on time, so we packed up the equipment and met him and did the session at the hotel. So it's not like I was in his room — but I can fabricate," she jokes.

Havlat isn't burned out, but she decided to retire on a high note, while she still loved her job. "I kind of just woke up one day and I said, 'You know what, this has been such a great ride.' The time was ripe," she explains. "I feel good. I'm active. There's other things I want to do. I want to travel; I want to volunteer."

And she'd still like to do some on-air cameos. But in the meantime, she offers this to her longtime fans: "Thank you, just thank you so much for listening. It's because of the KBCO audience that I stayed as long as I have, because I have enjoyed that relationship so much."

Listen to Ginger's final show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, December 31.