850 KOA Colorado's Morning News

Here's a familiar site from Denver International. Of course, we're more used to seeing something like this in the winter time, but when people spend the night at DIA, you'll often see them trying to get just a little bit of shelter from the phone booths.

Underneath some of these phone booths, people have left their messages, making a "chronical" or journal if you will, of the many times people have been stranded.

Sorry these pics are so dark, but the lighting under these booths isn't exactly great, and the flash was overwhelming because I couldn't get a greater distance of about two feet.



Let's face it, when you're spending the night at DIA, you've got a lot of time on your hands!

This morning, May 07th, I was out at the RTD Park-n-Ride doing some stories about a rash of vandalism that hit over the weekend. On the way back to the office, for some reason I just decided that I'd rather stay off the interstate and take some side roads instead. So the next thing I know, I'm southbound on Tower Road, and when I hit Colfax, I thought to myself, "Let's stop by the old KOA building."

For those of us radio geeks, the history of the medium and the history of particular radio stations is part of the magic. I was lucky enough to start my career at a historic station in Oklahoma City, 1520 KOMA (now the call letters have been re-assigned to KOKC). KOMA was where the Wyoming legend Curt Gowdy got his big break when he started doing play-by-play for OU and OSU athletics. It was also the second station where Paul Harvey ever worked.

But few stations match the depth of history as KOA. In fact, when I got "downsized" from KOMA, I wanted to work for KOA precisely because I knew what a historic station it was.

But if you've never seen it, here's the building I'm talking about. ....18500 East Colfax.


This was the second transmitter site for KOA. It was completed July 7th, 1934, and that's the day KOA went to 50-thousand watts.

An old KOA document gives the following description:

"KOA's transmitter, so gloriously dedicated on that historic night, is one of the radio show places of the area. Visitors are constant at the transmitter building, behind which rises KOA's 478-foot antenna, one of the tallest self-supporting towers in the United States. Neon lighted at night, it is visible for 25 miles in all directions."

The tower was such a landmark, it's where "Tower Road" got its name.

The building was done in a complete art-deco style that transports you. Currently, the building is used by CDOT, and is being remodeled. That's why you see some of the windows boarded-over right now.

In 1934, radio was still an invention that captured the imagination....sending VOICES and MUSIC over the air by the use of waves. Nothing illustrates that better than the inlay directly over the front doors:

And look at the crowning ornaments.....celebrating the technology of the time, the radio microphone.

If you look back at the first picture, you'll also see the way the engineers combined technology with decoration. In the foreground, notice the planter. That actually was a fountain, but the water that ran through the fountain also ran back into the building and was used to cool some of the radio tubes used for the transmitter!

While I was there, I went inside just to let someone know I was going to take some pictures outside. Immediately I was introduced to Mike, the current building manager for CDOT. He showed me around, and at the time, I didn't have my camera with me. I'll get some photos from inside for later.

But since the building is going thru some interior renovations, a lot of the things inside are being shuffled around. The CDOT people still have dozens of old photos from the KOA days, and a lot of them have been taken down until the remodeling is through. I emailed Vicki Brashear with CDOT, and with her help I think I'll be able to borrow these photos while they aren't being displayed in the building, and I'll try to get some high quality scans made, and of course, share them with you on this page. So keep checking back!

Best yet, if you have an old KOA photo that you'd like to share, EMAIL IT TO ME!

Had a post from about noon today (Sunday) about the media interviewing the students and faculty at Virginia Tech.

Five hours after that post, I find an article where now the Tech student body is ASKING THE MEDIA TO LEAVE.

The story of Max Karson is going to be a good one at least until May or June.

Karson is the CU student accused of threatening his fellow students when he was discussing the Virginia Tech massacre.

YOU CAN READ THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PAGES FROM THE "PARTIAL" POLICE REPORT BY CLICKING HERE.


Here's Daniel D. Williams with the law office of Faegre & Benson along with Max Karson's father, Michael, just after Max had been granted a personal recognizance bond at the Boulder County jail.

YOU CAN LISTEN to father Michael get into a rather spirited debate with Newsradio 850 KOA's Dave Logan just moments after Atty Williams and Michael spoke with media. (This podcast I've linked-to is a full hour of "The Ride Home," and so the interview with Michael doesn't start until about half of the way through the file.)

And before that interview ever happened, Max was a guest for almost a full hour on the "Greg Hollenback Show," on 850 KOA's sister station, 630 KHOW. Listen to that interview here. (Interview starts about one-quarter of the way through this file.)

AND FINALLY, yes, Max publishes his own "underground" newsletter called, "The Yeti." But since he was arrested, the website is on hold. However, I did grab a copy or two of his writings....so sample one or two for yourself.

WARNING: THESE "YETI" PAPERS CONTAIN ADULT IDEAS AND SEXUALLY EXPLICIT LANGUAGE!


YETI10.pdf

YETI11.pdf

YETI12.pdf

These papers, newsletters, whatever you want to call them, they got Max into some trouble with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Ron Stump last fall.

You can hear what some students and faculty think about Max, and about his arrest in this piece I produced that aired on April 19th. LISTEN HERE.

Let me know what you think about this whole story. SEND ME YOUR EMAILS.

This isn't a new blog topic for me......INTERVIEWING VICTIMS.

But it has come back to mind with the events at Virginia Tech this past week.

On Tuesday, April 17th, I had the chance to speak at an intro-to-Journalism class at Metro State. The class is taught by Anne Rice, the wife of Mike Rice in the 850 KOA sports department. I talked with the students for about 45 minutes about what my job is like, the way my job works, what I like and what I dislike about the job. For the last 10 minutes, I took questions from the class. One student on the front row asked one of the very last questions: "When you were in Holly covering the tornado, what was it like to ask people to tell you their stories? Was that difficult? What was their mood like?"

In Holly, actually, it was quite easy. Whenever I tried to interview someone, they were usually raking up debris, or doing work, and so I think when I approached them, it gave them an opportunity for a physical break, and it gave them the chance to work through some of the emotional pain as well. Plus, the people of Holly are just plain friendly. Not once, not a single time, did I ever go up to a resident of Holly and ask to speak with them and they turned me down.

There is an aspect of "telling your story," that is therapeutic. However, at the same time, I understand when people don't want to talk, when they want to keep their story private. In fact, since January, I had been working diligently on trying to get a major interview (not the Walker-Lindh interview, by-the-way!). I was turned down for this interview a couple of weeks ago. I understood completely. The reason this interview was so newsworthy also made a pretty compelling reason for the parties involved to keep the story private, and not do a media interview. Perhaps that will change, in time, with this particular interview.

I also remember when I INTERVIEWED THE PARENTS OF LANCE CORPORAL LANCE HERING. I won't take you through all of the details in that story again. But I just remember how emotional the almost TWO HOURS of interviewing was. When I left the house, both Lloyd and Elynne told me that they were feeling much better, about everything, for having shared their story with me.

But all of this comes to mind, obviously, because of Virginia Tech. As I've listened and watched the coverage, the most compelling part of the story is when someone closely associated with the tragedy shared their personal time line or their personal grief. It is a difficult dance, those first few seconds, when you interrupt someone, explain that you are with a media outlet, and that you want to ask questions that are going to be emotional, painful.

To those students and faculty at Virginia Tech that took time to talk to a microphone, or to share in front of a TV camera to the point that tears came......we owe those people a lot for helping us understand the tragedy.

He's still sometimes called "The American Taliban," ....John Walker Lindh (herein referred to as JWL) has been transferred to Supermax.


But this blog entry is more about the interview I didn't get, and I'm still scratching my head as to why.

Today as I'm writing this, it's Friday, March 13th. At this time last week, the parents of Lindh were making new pleas for a Presidential pardon for their son. What spurred on this new cry was the fact that an Australian man, David Hicks, was charged with supporting terrorism, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and he received a 9 month sentence. This seemed disproportionate to JWL's parents, so they renewed their calls for a pardon. FOX NEWS HAS A COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

Last Friday, I contacted attorney James Brosnahan in San Fransico. Mr. Brosnahan is the attorney for JWL's mother, Marilyn Walker. I asked for an interview with Marilyn , or with JWL's father, Frank Lindh. Mr. Brosnahan seemed agreeable, and told me to call his press handler, Kerry Efigenio. I spoke with Kerry on the phone, and also duplicated my request to her by email. That was Friday the 6th. On Monday the 9th, I got a reply email that only said,

Hi Todd, I spoke to Marilyn Walker and she unfortunately is not able to do this
interview. Sorry.
--Kerry

I'm just trying to understand this.

Mrs. Walker has made a plea for a Presidential pardon for her son. 152 executions took place under George W. Bush when he was Governor of Texas. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I do believe it shows a tendency that clemency isn't a high priority for President Bush, so Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh might have a better chance with a different President.

However, if they DO think that a pardon is a possibility at some point, surely they must realize that laying a foundation to build popular support for this action would benefit them. Pardons that cause a huge public stir such as a Marc Rich or Richard Nixon really are the exception, not the norm. But if you're going to get a pardon for your son, wouldn't you want to build public support for the issue? Doing so would make it easier on whomever is in the Oval Office at the time.

Now, I understand that JWL's parents can't say yes to every interview. But their son now lives in the most famous prison in America, which just happens to be in Colorado. Furthermore, **IF** the next President ends up being a Democrat, that person will be nominated to that office right here in Denver. And once again, I harp on the beauty of radio interviews, I could interview Mrs. Walker or Mr. Lindh with minimal inconvenience.....of course, all we need is a phone and 10 minutes of time.

I wanted the interview not in order to promote anyone's cause; I wanted it because it would naturally be interesting to a majority of the 850 KOA audience. However, Mrs. Walker declined an opportunity to talk on a 50-thousand watt blowtorch, and her words certainly would have uncovered some of her enemies here, but also would have uncovered some friends. I think she'll be in need of many friends if her son is ever to be free again.

Send me an email.

I continue to be fascinated by the March 25th shooting of three students who were taking in a concert in the Five Points neighborhood. The shooting capped off a series of four aggravated robberies that eventually made the New York Times. I would link to the "Times" article itself, but it has already been archived.

I spoke with a long-time community activist in Five Points, Jeff Fard, a man who usually is best known as, "Brother Jeff." He was one of the best interviews I've had in a year. Every answer he gave seemed to answer the original question, but also the question that was next on my list. I produced a longer on-air piece to examine not only his ideas, but some ideas that were emailed and IM'd to the station.

I think I'm also fascinated by this crime because, like the Holly tornado, the damage and death toll so easily could've been higher. I saw the wound of John Watt with my own eyes, two bullets, one bullet hole, right in the area where the left-front of his neck meets his collar bone. He'll live with those bullets inside of him probably for the rest of his life.

If you didn't hear my full 16 minute interview with Trenton Foster and Dakota Hensley, you can check it out by clicking here.

Email me with your thoughts/ideas.

February 12th and 13th I ran an exclusive story, a two-part series with the parents of Lance Hering. I sat at their kitchen table for nearly two hours on Friday, February 9th. Eventually, sure, what WAS AN EXCLUSIVE was soon picked-up by other media outlets. But I think one good reason why you heard it first on KOA......no cameras.

There were two phone calls, one to Elynne, and one from Lloyd, that were necessary to set up the interview. In each case, I reminded them that other than the intrusion of one small microphone on the table, there wouldn't be any difference in this interview than if they were getting an old friend caught up on the details of the last five months of their lives. Radio, at its best, is usually very intimate when it is broadcast. The same can be true of when the story is being gathered.

Some other thoughts about the interview. First, it was two hours of incredibly intense emotion. They knew I was going to ask them to relive certain moments, yet even when those questions finally came, you could see a physical change.

Also, I watched some intense verbal and non-verbal communication between a couple that's been married over 30 years. At one point, Elynne had taken her eye glasses from her face, folded them, and then was playing, playing, playing with her glasses. Lloyd reaches over and....believe me when I say this, it was almost like he was scratching a place on her back that she couldn't reach.....he takes the glasses from her hands. It seemed to me it was like he was doing her a favor, and she appreciated it.

At other times, their body language was more communicative than their words. And unfortunately, I never found a way to put that in the radio story. So for that failure, I apologize. There were so many things to say or point out.....like the Christmas tree that was still standing beside the living room even though it was February.

At the station, we did receive some emails asking why do this story? To paraphrase one emailer, why profile "a coward" who wouldn't uphold the contract he made with his country? It's a tough and fair question.

I don't have all the energy right now to summon up my best answer, but sometimes, as reporters and journalists, you look for "representative" windows. Case studies. Just in the same way the Darrent Williams murder has forced the media to examine gang problems in Denver, the Hering disappearance allows us a look at some of the emotions brought home by the war. High profile cases force us to look at trends or stories that were previously unnoticed. I don't know why, but right now the story of Karen Carpenter and her eating disorder comes to mind as a high profile story that was instructive to the larger population.

+ + + + +

Story number two: Supermax in Florence.

I went down to Florence yesterday (February 22nd) for the press conference by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, intended to address possible security shortcomings at Supermax.

One of the security issues being debated is whether or not there should be a final, full-perimeter security fence that goes all the way around all four prisons on the campus. I expected to find more consensus on this issue. Senators Salazar and Allard are both strongly for a fence. Although he didn't say yes or no to a fence, A-G Gonzales seemed to be more inclined to spend the estimated 17 million dollars on other needed items within the federal prison system. But I talked with two local leaders, and both said they felt a fence wasn't necessary at this time, and that they weren't fielding tons of calls from constituents who were demanding that this be done. By far, this Florence City Commissioner and Fremont County Commissioner both felt that increased staffing was more crucial, at least right now.