iHeartMedia News/Talk 850 KOA Denver officially announced the launch of its simulcast on 94.1 K231BQ Golden/KBCO-HD3 during this evening’s Denver Broncos pre-game show.
In a few weeks 94.1 K231AA Boulder (which currently rebroadcasts CHR “95.7 The Party” KPTT) will also begin simulcasting KOA as the two translator signals are synchronized to maximize coverage.
KOA had quietly been rebroadcasting on 107.9 K300CP Denver for the past couple years. With the addition of the two 94.1 translators, K300CP/103.5 KRFX-HD2 have begun stunting as “Colorado Christmas 107.9“.
The former “Smokin 94.1” format continues for now on 1550 KBUD Golden and online.
iHeartMedia Denver announced today the addition of an FM simulcast for KOA NewsRadio.
Effective immediately, all KOA NewsRadio programming will be heard on both 850 AM and 94.1 FM. The new 94.1 FM signal covers the Denver area. 850 AM is one of the most powerful stations in North America, and will continue to reach areas well beyond Colorado’s Front Range. In the coming weeks, KOA NewsRadio will expand its coverage on 94.1 FM in Boulder, resulting in full market coverage of 94.1 FM in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area.
“We’re excited to extend KOA NewsRadio’s reach to 94.1 FM,” said Pat Connor, Market President of iHeartMedia Denver. “This enhancement will allow KOA NewsRadio to reach more people and better serve our listeners, partners and clients.”
KOA NewsRadio 850 AM and 94.1 FM features 24/7 coverage of local news, traffic and weather, as well as exclusive play-by-play of the Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies and University of Colorado Football and Basketball.
iHeartMedia is a leading media outlet in the Denver market and its programming and content are available across multiple platforms, including its broadcast stations; online via its branded digital sites; mobile; and social, with nationwide listening through iHeartRadio — with its more than 700 million downloads, more than 75 million social media followers and 87 million digital uniques across the Network.
Original Report 10/23: The Pot Rock format of “Smokin 94.1” K231BQ/1550 KBUD Golden, CO will come to a premature end after just five months.
Marco Broadcasting has sold the K231BQ translator to iHeartMedia for $950,000. The 250 watt translator will begin to carry programming of News/Talk 850 KOA via 97.3 KBCO-HD3 on Friday, October 30 according to the Rebroadcasting Agreement included in the contract.
Midday host Bo “Stoney” Reynolds, a longtime veteran of the Denver market posted online earlier this week that he’s out with the sale. 1550 KBUD is not included in the sale, but a sale of that should be forthcoming as the demise of the station was forced by a medical situation involving owner Marc Paskin. Paskin has also been hosting afternoons on Smokin as “Gary Ganja”.
Paskin launched the station on June 1 with a mix of Rock music, Marijuana news, and the Bubba The Love Sponge morning show.
Dr. Akbar 
Destructor 
ksradiogeek 
Bongwater 
That’s a new high…at least for a translator in Denver!
Oh well… Seemed like it would be a cool format for a stoner. 😉
Well…that went up in smoke quickly. That joint was too small to last long. They ate all the munchies. Anyone want to add anything to this?
Well, here’s your stoner point of view 😉
(Pardon me while I take a cultured toke….)
First off, when these stations started, I pretty much thought they would be a fad. Something to stir it up a bit. But the problem seems to be that these stations lose their way very quickly. Talk tends to run off into other topics and the music tends to get repetitive and stale. Second, stations like K-High 1580 (which lasted a few months in Colorado Springs) pretty much burned out. Mostly because it was a talk station and cannabis users like music as well.
While the world is becoming more stoner friendly and more and more people are discovering/rediscovering cannabis, the difficulty is it’s not easy to program an entire station around it. You have to always be compelling and exciting aurally. That’s not easy to do in any format, but for a dedicated format marketed to the stoner community, it’s triply hard.
I’ve listened to these stations and it seems like overkill. While there’s always something new daily in cannabis news and related music, the trick is making it work 24/7. And at this point, we haven’t achieved that yet. What cannabis users want is more locally germane news about cannabis, reviews of the latest strains, concentrates, BHO waxes, edibles and other products. And most of all, from someone who actually uses them. They don’t have to be “under the influence” on the air (I wouldn’t recommend that anyway), but someone who doesn’t approach the subject from a distance. But more than anything else, WHERE to find them locally.
You still can’t advertise cannabis directly (that’s still a federal thing that needs to be worked out) but once it is permissible, there may be new hope for the format. But at present, it’s a very difficult thing.
I think a more rational compromise would be setting aside the 4pm hour (pausing of course for the celebratory 4:20 toke) to do it. There, you can give the rundown on the day’s cannabis news, play the newest toker tunes and generally have fun. But 24/7 for now is probably a bit much.