Colorado Music Hall of Fame | KBCO-FM Exhibit Copy
KBCO-FM
From its low-watt beginnings, KBCO embraced the Colorado lifestyle and altered the FM radio landscape.
Owning a radio station was a dream come true for Bob Greenlee, a radio enthusiast and recent Iowa State University graduate in 1975 when he acquired Boulder’s KADE-AM. But Greenlee knew that radio’s future was in FM, and in 1976 he purchased the 1,000-watt KRNW, which came with both a loyal local following and a Class C license that allowed a signal boost to 100,000 watts. The station’s call letters were changed in 1977 to KBCO to reflect its home town and state, and it was branded “Boulder Radio” on the air.
In its early days, KBCO played primarily acoustic music and expanded its Boulder fan base by sponsoring events like the legendary Kinetic Sculpture Challenge and the Cardboard Derby. A signal boost in the mid-1980s sent KBCO beaming across the Front Range and was accompanied by a change in programming vision that ultimately led to a new and abiding radio format. The likes of Lyle Lovett, the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt and the Talking Heads took over the playlists, and music programmers and on-air talent were encouraged to dig deeper into albums than the singles pushed by record companies. By the end of 1988, KBCO was the No. 1-rated radio station in the Denver market.
KBCO’s approach was gradually adopted by FM stations across the country and pioneered what would become known as the Adult Album Alternative (or Triple A) format. The format became so popular nationally that Billboard added a Triple A chart in 2005, and the annual Triple A Radio Convention is held in Boulder—and hosted by KBCO—each year. Greenlee sold KBCO to Noble Broadcasting in the late 1980s, and today KBCO is part of the iHeartMedia empire and continues to rank among the most popular Front Range radio stations.
Throughout its 30-plus year history, KBCO never lost sight of its dedication to Colorado’s music scene and musicians. The station’s weekly Local Edition program, which spotlights Colorado-based artists, and its Studio C series, which features live recordings from visiting performers, are nearly as enduring as KBCO itself.