KBCO FM 97.3

Hey everyone, I found a radio station a few months ago that actually does play world class music! It unfortunatly is an a.m. station but you can stream it. It is a.m. 1340 CPR (Colorado Public Radio), best of all… no commercials, but they do have pledge drives which I would recommend to donate. Cheers!!! P. S. They don’t play the hell out of the same four songs day in and day out!!!

Comparatively speaking, KBCO is OK — which is to say MOST of the radio stations in Colorado leave a lot to be desired. They focus on a VERY few songs by a handful of artists, and then play them over and over and over and over and freaking over, and then play them some more. (If I hear «Let Her Go» one more time, I may have to throw my radio into a brick wall really, really hard!). I’m pretty sure they’ve aired «For What It’s Worth» every day since 1967. Great song, but VERY overplayed — just like most of their minuscule playlist. But to be fair, they do break it up occasionally with stoopid Peak Kia commercials.
«World class rock»? Not so much. Their slogan really should be «World class repetition»!
Congratulations, Clear Channel. You sure know how to make a radio station suck.

KBCOh no it still BLOWS! Please for the Love Of All that is good and HOLY stop playing RANDY NEWMAN! And MACKLEMORE same love is NOT A SONG! Hes not singing!
Please?

Sorry guys… your star has been falling for a while in a gradual decline. Too many repeats… not enough music that falls outside of the corporate music paradigm… and where did the local music ever disappear to?
Every once in a while Brett pulls a cool interview in the morning, and select a set lunch shows where the listener’s head is at as opposed to the heavy rotation list… but that only gets you up to Meh… you’ll have to mix it up a little more to get more…

Once was great. Now just another Clear Channel bad factory. The «Free Market» strikes again. I guess free means whatever those with deep pockets choose to brainwash the masses into liking. We are living in the scrape the toast days to be sure.
Goodbye KBCO, Middle Class, Community.

I loved KBCO when I first moved out here. Back where I’m from there is nothing even close to this station. I couldn’t believe they play the Dead on the radio! Now that I’ve lived here for nearly 10 years, I realize they play the same songs over and over and over and over. I love Dave Matthews, Sting, and Coldplay, but I can only take so much. I swear a few months ago they played the same DMB at the exact same time every morning! There also seem to be a lot of commercials too. I don’t like the select a set either. I have submitted some killer sets and they never play them, but what they do play can be pretty dull and out dated music. Oh well, each to his own I suppose.
I still think it’s great to have a station playing this type of music. I have discovered some great bands as a result of listening. I really do like the morning show with Robin and Brett. They really play well off of each other. I do get a kick out of The Sage. That’s pretty much the only time I listen anymore, on the way to work, especially now that I have an iPhone and have the Sirius app. I like KBCO’s website. You can really stay on top of shows in Denver and Boulder. You can also have the chance to get pre-​sale tickets if you are an interactive member.
My parents love KBCO, they stream it all the time from PA. Brett even interviewed my dad on air once. They were doing a promo for their stream and were interviewing people who listen outside of Denver/​Boulder. It was a proud moment for the Sowers family haha.

It’s just got that Boulder sound that makes me feel a little better.
They can a play five-​song set that spans fifty years, and it works.
I do get kind of tired of the commercials. I do get kind of tired of the repetition, but sometimes it’s nice to hear a song more than once a day.
Not a big fan of Clear Channel, but somehow or another KBCO has managed to keep its spirit, for the most part, since I first heard it back in the 80’s.
Cheers to that.

Hmm… three stars, reluctantly. I say ‘reluctantly’ because the station could easily be 2 or 4 depending on what to focus on.
The music: better than most radio stations. Better than most Clear Channel stations too. That’s not saying much. But it’s still very listenable, so I guess that makes the music a solid 3.
Now my main area of conflict is about the annual Live from Studio C CDs. This is such a point of contention for me. The CDs are good — among the best of any Triple A station. They usually have a few songs by big-​name acts that don’t get on some of the other CDs too. But why do they have be so snobbish-​type exclusive about them?!? I know they say that since the proceeds go to charity, they can only make a limited amount. So they’re only available in the Boulder area and sell out the day of (or the next day) This & the KTCZ CDs are the ONLY ones which the stations don’t make available online. But the profits of the CDs from KMTT, KINK, WQKL, WXRT & others go to charity too, and those aren’t anywhere near as ridiculously restricted.

KBCO has become such an institution in my life that it is literally how I tell time on Sundays. Wake up, listen to Studio C, make coffee, when Studio C is over, it’s time for football. Sunday owned.
Aside from Studio C Sunday mornings, I love Bret Saunders’ weekday morning show on KBCO. He’s intelligent, funny and gets the best interviews of any morning show around town. And he knows his shit, which is a wonderful thing in a market full of d-​bag DJs who don’t seem to know their ass from an Eric Hutchinson song.
Their 5 o’clock Commuter Comedy has saved many a Denver driver from my rage as it is the only thing that can soothe this beast on the PM rush-​hour drive out of the DTC.
I could complain about some of the songs that make my ears bleed that KBCO plays, but in all honesty, they play just as many songs that give me a lady boner, so I figure it’s an even break.
Despite being run by the evil empire that is Clear Channel, KBCO has found a way to keep listeners connected and invested and that makes me smile.
:) — see? That’s me smiling.

Yeah, I’d like to update my review to 1-​Star. Was out this morning getting coffee and heard Marc Cohn’s «Walking in Memphis» yet again and almost drove my car into a semi trying to change the station. Seriously, who really loves this song and why must KBCO play it repeatedly!!! Still think that song sums KBCO up. Washed-​down adult contemporary blah. Modern day elevator music if you will…

I love the KBCO A to Z they have going on. It’s great to listen and not hear a repeated song for 2 weeks. I listen nearly all day at work & in my car.
And just like their cheesy commercials say, I listen in the mountains too.

«Hey Jude», is currently playing on my radio and it’s KBCO I have on. I strongly believe that both Jude and KBCO «make it better», well for me anyway.
I don’t have one of those newfangled dishwashers in my house, I do them by hand. I do this every day and I listen to KBCO… and feel, better! I also have the common misfortune of driving in rush hour traffic. I listen to KBCO then too… and feel, better! Thank you KBCO for providing a kick ass variety of music and keeping me groovin’ along… and yes I said «groovin’ «!
As I peer out my kitchen window or drive on down the road your team of DJ’s are there for us and I REALLY appreciate it. The fact that my 8 and 11 yr. old will listen contently without Disney ANYTHING coming to mind is a miracle! I love Commuter Comedy and the Sage as well.
Eric Clapton, Everlast, John Mayer, Bonnie Rait, Stevie Wonder, Duffy, The Dead, Pearl Jam, Norah Jones, Traffic, David Bowie and everything in between ??? C’mon, this can’t be bad!
I really appreciate the simplicity of flipping on the radio and getting really exceptional results!

Who knew you could Unilocal a radio station!
I started out with 4 stars, because this is my favorite radio station. I went down to three stars because ever since clear channel bought them it has lost lots of its original Boulder flavor and become part of the homogeneous noise that is Denver (i.e. Clear Channel) radio. Ultimately, I have to go back up to four stars because I listen to it so frequently and because Bret Saunders (host of the BCO Morning Show) is a great DJ.

Maybe it is just me, but I can’t seem to stand radio. They play some poppy b.s. which will soon be thrown into the dust-​bins of bad songs after the new element has ended, followed by a seemingly never-​ending stream of trying-​to-​be-​funny-​or-​interesting but instead are just extremely annoying radio commercials. Whistles and sirens should be banned from radio, seriously.
But I digress.
Anyway, as far as major radio-​stations go, KBCO stands out in my mind. I remember on ski trips with my family when I was a kid they would always turn on KBCO once we got to Denver, and I remember actually thinking they played some decent stuff.
World-​class is definitely an over-​statement, but as far as modern rock stations go in the Denver-​Boulder area, you are not going to find much better.

The only radio station without annoying, cheesey-​ass DJ’s in the morning or on the drive home. These guys are cool and smart, no contests about who has the gross-​est story to win concert tix. They play all the popular stuff that isn’t too hard, wish they would get a littel more diversity though. I get really tired of hearing the *same* songs, a couple slightly harder ones would be good too.

I do think its kool to see the DJ as you pass by on Pearl BUT still, this music is… janky, no? Folky bullshit if you ask me … about one percent of the time you may catch some David Bowie or Talking Heads, oh and sometimes they play Hey Jude. But besides this, not a lot here seriously. Cant take this Pink Floyd OVER AND OVER. But that’s not the worst of it. PF is fine, its everything else I’m sick of. Trust me, crank it up.

Great boulder FM station. They claim to play «world class rock» but kind of stick to the trendy, recent top-​20 (they have to make money somehow, I guess). Lots of John Mayer and the like. I grew up in Boulder and liked it when they used to do more ‘funky’ stuff like Talking Heads and Devo more commonly.
The «Sage» is great in the morning. News is informative. Probably the top station for Boulderites.
They also sponsor the Boulder Kinetics Conveyance Challenge (where bribing the judges is actually encouraged) in Boulder in May which is a blast and should be experienced at least one in your life.