DENVER — For four decades the soundtrack to Colorado rock and roll has been provided by radio station KBCO. For even longer, concert promoter Chuck Morris has been bringing many of those same bands to Colorado for live performances.
On Dec. 3 both will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.
When KBCO morning show host Bret Saunders was a teen, he listened to the radio station and knew he wanted to work there.
“There was a warmth to it,” Saunders said. “Intimacy to the people on the air and performances I heard on the air. Those were things, the feel of it, the lifestyle of it, it was different for me than any radio station I’d ever heard.”
For the past 41 years, KBCO has been the go-to station for many rock fans.
It’s always been an important part of the community in other ways too. In the '80s, the station sponsored the “Kinetic Race”, a huge crazy race at Boulder Reservoir featuring human powered contraptions. Many would sink immediately. Others barely made it to the finish line. But it was a big party for all involved.
KBCO’s biggest community event has always been the sale of its Studio C CD. Every year after Thanksgiving, listeners line up to buy music recorded by artists live at the station. They’ve hosted all kinds of big names, including Coldplay, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Melissa Etheridge, Dave Matthews, and many others.
Just about everyone who is anyone in rock has performed in Studio C. And the CDs have raised $2 million for charity. Saunders said the Dave Matthews session was memorable because when Matthews saw hundreds of people lined up in the parking lot to greet him he invited them all inside. People were stacked everywhere.
Along with KBCO, Chuck Morris, the CEO of AEG Presents will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Since the early '70s when he started a music venue called Tulagi in Boulder, Morris has been bringing the biggest stars to Colorado for concerts.
He’s friends with all kinds of rock icons, like Joe Walsh, who he remains friends with to this day. Morris said being a rock promoter is as cool as it sounds, but added that he really was just lucky.
"You know, I was able to make a living out of this, this is something I love, you know I’m a lucky guy. As I said I thought I’d do it for six months and go back to graduate school, which my parents wanted me to do. But I’ve been doing it for 48 years”.
KBCO and Chuck Morris will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on Monday, Dec 3, at a ceremony at the Paramount Theater. It will feature many artists, including the Lumineers, and Amos Lee, members of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, the Fray, String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, among others.
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