Shakeup in Denver Radio

Problem is, everyone has the same wheelhouse, and that's led to increased homogenization. The once-distinctive KOOL is now spinning tunes like the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up," which can be heard on KBCO/97.3-FM, The Fox/103.5-FM, KCUV/102.3-FM, Jack/105.5-FM and even the Mountain, which has gone from what program director Raines describes as a "niche, eclectic format" that gave airtime to worthy but less prominent rock acts to a style "that's a little more accessible, a little more mass appeal," with mainly major artists getting the deep-track treatment. "We don't just play two songs from Hotel California. We play all of them," he says in a statement that's either a promise or a threat depending upon one's tolerance for the Eagles.

There's a lot of that going around. In January, Lee Larsen, who oversees the eight Denver-area radio properties owned by the enormous Clear Channel concern, sent a memo to staffers pointing out the corporation is "slowing the amount of marketing we do for our stations and holding off on filling open positions" due to "a slowdown in revenue." Larsen says he's optimistic this will be short-lived, but he acknowledges that "terrestrial radio has its challenges, just like traditional print and television and all of that. It's a changing world, and we've got to be moving at all times to stay ahead."

One expenditure Clear Channel has made involves AM-760, its progressive-talk station. In the beginning, the outlet teamed closely with Air America, but the liberal network subsequently lost its biggest name — Minnesota senatorial candidate Al Franken — and remains financially unstable, having been sold for the second time in around a year. With that in mind, Kris Olinger, head of AM programming for Clear Channel's Denver cluster, has reached beyond the Air America roster for the syndicated Ed Schultz show, and she recently hired Mario Solis-Marich to helm an afternoon-drive show unique to the station. But unlike morning personality Jay Marvin, who's live and local, Solis-Marich typically broadcasts from Los Angeles, and during his first few weeks on the air, he's definitely sounded like an out-of-towner more comfortable talking about national issues than the local kind.

To complicate things further, the addition of Solis-Marich displaced syndicated yakker Thom Hartman, prompting an unexpected freakout among Hartman's fans. "We got more than a thousand e-mails and many, many phone calls," Olinger says — a reaction far beyond what she anticipated considering that Hartman's ratings were often less than a quarter the size Franken generated during the same time period. In the end, Olinger placated the masses by returning Hartman's show to the schedule, albeit in the early-evening slot, and she expects that this lineup will hold steady in the near term. After all, she put these pieces in place with an eye toward the upcoming Democratic convention, which she hopes will bring AM-760 a much-needed boost.

Still, there are no guarantees. Given the struggles today's radio industry is experiencing, everything's subject to change.