Live music is an integral part of these Front Range radio stations

ON THE AIRWAVES

British artist Nabihah Iqbal records in the KGNU Community Radio studios in Boulder on Jan. 26, 2024. Iqbal was in town for a performance at Denver’s Lost Lake that night. PROVIDED BY KGNU

Singer-songwriter Cautious Clay performs a live session at the studios of Indie 102.3 in Centennial in 2021. PROVIDED BY ALISHA SWEENEY — INDIE 102.3

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By Miguel Otárola

motarola@denverpost.com

On any given day or night, one of several radio stations in Colorado could be airing a concert live to its listeners.

It could be Indie 102.3 (102.3 FM) recording a ferocious performance by a British rock band at their studios in Centennial. Or KGNU (88.5 FM), where a guitarist might be softly strumming next to the on-air host at the Boulder studio. Or maybe it’s an evening concert by the East High School jazz band taking place at the KUVO (89.3 FM) studios in downtown Denver.

Radio has served as a medium for live music since its inception. In Colorado, radio stations have featured bands big and small over the decades, through in-studio performances and regular sponsored shows at local venues.

“It’s just part of the fabric of what you do,” said Indra Raj, the music director at KGNU, an NPR-affiliated community radio station.

But live music on the radio is at risk of disappearing following President Donald Trump’s executive order in May to withdraw federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR, PBS and other public radio stations.

With public radio stuck in political limbo, Colorado Public Radio, the owner of Indie 102.3, has paused studio sessions in Centennial indefinitely, said Indie host and local music director Alisha Sweeney.

“It’s a big production, and with public radio right now, we just don’t have the capacity to do it, even though we would love to and bands would love to,” Sweeney said.

Indie’s archival catalog of studio recordings is available online and stretches back to 2011; it includes remote performances streamed on Zoom and YouTube following the pandemic.

Sweeney, who started DJing 25 years ago at the University of Colorado in Boulder, has favorite live moments. Shakey Graves recorded an early version of “Dearly Departed” at the Indie studios in 2014 that left people in awe, she said. Denver troubadour Nathaniel Rateliff once came in with nothing but an acoustic guitar and his boisterous voice. And she’s seen singer-songwriter Father John Misty perform three times for the station. (The first was recorded in her co-worker’s tiny apartment.)

And then there was the British rock group Idles, which arrived in Centennial in 2022 between dates at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California and the Mission Ballroom in Denver. “They blew the roof off our studio,” Sweeney said.

At the end of every month, Sweeney puts on the Local 303 meetup, a free concert by at least one Colorado band or artist. The shows are a way for local artists to come together and for Indie listeners to familiarize themselves with Denver venues, she said. The most recent meetup was at Bar 404 in Denver.

“I feel very lucky to be an ambassador of Colorado music and to have worked my career into this role to represent Colorado artists on the radio,” she said.

As a community radio station, KGNU has 150 DJs volunteering their time at its Denver and Boulder studios. While mainly known for its bluegrass contingent, bands of all genres visit the studio regularly to record and play on air, Raj said.

The station regularly sponsors shows across the Front Range and broadcasts live from the Louisville Street Faire and the RockyGrass Festival in Lyons in late July. The latter draws in livestream listeners from around the world, Raj said.

Kabaret, a weekly KGNU show Tuesdays at 7 p.m. that has aired for more than 20 years, has brought in local bands to play one hour live on air, Raj said.

“We have a smaller share of the market as a community radio station, so we rely on local artists as much as they rely on us to get the word out,” Raj said.

At the end of this year or early the next, KGNU will relocate its Boulder studios to a larger, more prominent space with its own black-box theater downtown, Raj said.

It’s not the only radio station making moves. Indie will leave its longtime studios in Centennial and join its parent nonprofit, Colorado Public Radio, at its planned Denver headquarters as early as next year, Sweeney said.

Early design concepts included a stage where bands could play live over the airwaves and in front of an audience. By then, Sweeney hopes Indie’s shows will be rolling again.

Commercial radio stations owned by iHeartMedia in Denver, such as KBCO (97.3 FM) and Channel 93.3 (93.3 FM), also stream live performances occasionally.

KUVO, a public radio station owned by Rocky Mountain PBS, has hosted bands in its studios for decades, according to station spokesperson Ayana Contreras. Its archive of performances dates back to 2018, she said.

Its stage at the Buell Public Media Center was graced in recent months by modern jazz luminaries The Bad Plus and Daniel Villarreal. The station also invites local high-school jazz bands to its studios.

Jazz, a genre that thrives on spontaneity and improvisation, is the lifeblood of the station, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. As long as the station remains on the airwaves, live music will continue to be a part of it.

(Editor’s note: Miguel Otarola is a former employee of Colorado Public Radio.)