{"id":491953,"date":"2026-06-24T16:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/?p=491953"},"modified":"2026-06-24T17:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:27:22","slug":"bret-saunders-leaving-kbco-denver-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2026\/06\/24\/bret-saunders-leaving-kbco-denver-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bret Saunders leaves KBCO after nearly three decades on Denver\u2019s airwaves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bret Saunders is leaving KBCO 97.3 FM after nearly three decades on Denver\u2019s airwaves, the radio DJ announced Wednesday, amid widespread layoffs by the station\u2019s parent company.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bret Saunders (Handout)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThank you for 28+ years. I\u2019ve loved every day with you, and being a small part of your lives has been my greatest honor and pleasure,\u201d Saunders wrote in a post to his Facebook page. \u201cI will miss the laughs, the countless people I\u2019ve met, and being a part of the community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saunders declined to comment on the reason for his departure, but in reflecting over the past three decades, said he hoped to find a way to continue working in the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have anything lined up, but I love Colorado,\u201d Saunders told The Colorado Sun. \u201cI hope that I can figure out a way to stay in the place that I really love that truly is my home.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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KBCO parent company iHeartMedia did not immediately return a request for comment. However, reports indicate<\/a> that the media corporation is in the process of a nationwide restructuring and layoffs to save $50 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we will be creating new roles to support our future needs, we also recognize that some colleagues and existing positions will be impacted as part of these changes,\u201d executives told employees in a memo obtained by the magazine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have given this a great deal of thought and do not take this step lightly; we are deeply grateful for the contributions of those affected, and we\u2019re committed to supporting them through this transition.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saunders had anchored mornings at the \u201cworld class rock\u201d station since the late 1990s. His \u201cmuch too early for a question, question\u201d segment was a staple during the morning rush-hour drive as was his \u201cStump the Sage\u201d spot. Through the years, he sent thousands of lucky trivia-guessing Coloradans to concerts for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is a longtime writer of The Denver Post\u2019s Sunday jazz column<\/a>. He was also one of the key curators for KBCO\u2019s live Studio C performances. Each weekend after Thanksgiving, hundreds would line up to get a Studio C CD featuring the compilations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early hours never seemed to bother him. So conditioned to the schedule \u2014 and so excited to get behind the microphone each morning \u2014 Saunders said he often didn’t even need an alarm clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am famous for saying that I think seven years have gone by without my alarm clock going off,\u201d Saunders said. The trade-off for his 8:30 p.m. bedtime was missing plenty of concerts, shows and evening events. That was difficult at times, he said, but he always got to hear about them the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could hardly wait to get into the studio every morning to just see what’s going on in the city and what we could comment on what people were thinking about and the whole music thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since he began working at KBCO in the summer of 1997, he\u2019s watched Denver\u2019s music scene transform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had Red Rocks, the Bluebird Theater and the Ogden, but now we just have venue after venue and it’s absolutely amazing. And I’m really proud to have been a part of that,\u201d Saunders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His path to Colorado began long before he arrived. Growing up in Detroit, Saunders said he always dreamed of working in radio and somehow knew he would eventually call Colorado home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He landed his first radio job while still in high school at a 10-watt station in Michigan and earned his broadcast license two years before he got his driver’s license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved the medium since I was a little boy and the funny thing is, growing up in Detroit, I always knew that I wanted to be here,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cI can’t even tell you why, but I always knew that I was going to live in Denver, Colorado, someday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, he got to talk with some of the biggest names in music, politics and entertainment. Among the most memorable conversations was  Lou Reed, one of Saunders\u2019 heroes and the late songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground, who stopped by the station in 2003 and spent several hours talking with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, while broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Saunders interviewed Barack Obama, though the conversation focused less on politics and more on their shared appreciation for jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Comedian Norm Macdonald also left an impression, Saunders remembered, describing him as \u201creally funny and very sweet and very strange.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly three decades later, that enthusiasm for radio hasn’t faded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the spontaneity of the work. I love the energy and the challenge of the work very, very much,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cThose are the things that made me want to keep doing it and I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The longtime music host hopes to remain in Colorado after leaving the station amid layoffs at parent company, iHeartMedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":491961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"credibility_indicators":{"original_reporting":true,"on_the_ground":false,"sources_cited":true,"subject_specialist":false},"gigafact_has_fact_brief":false,"gigafact_remote_fact_brief_post_id":0,"gigafact_remote_sync_timestamp":"","gigafact_remote_sync_status":"","gigafact_remote_sync_response":"","gigafact_has_been_published":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-06-24T22:10:13Z","apple_news_api_id":"9f3c9398-07b5-4998-aaf3-032c444437f9","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-06-24T23:27:27Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AnzyTmAe1SZiq8wMsREQ3-Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"hidden","newspack_post_subtitle":"The longtime music host hopes to remain in Colorado after leaving the station amid layoffs at parent company, iHeartMedia","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[385,30],"tags":[98,493,21109],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"type-of-work":[20869],"coauthors":[16955],"class_list":["post-491953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-news","tag-denver","tag-music","tag-radio","type-of-work-news","entry"],"credibility_indicators":[{"description":"This article contains firsthand information gathered by reporters. This includes directly interviewing sources and analyzing primary source documents.","label":"Original Reporting","slug":"original_reporting","icon":"<\/svg>"},{"description":"A journalist was physically present to report the article from some or all of the locations it concerns.","label":"On the Ground","slug":"on_the_ground","icon":"<\/svg>"},{"description":"This article includes a list of source material, including documents and people, so you can follow the story further.","label":"References","slug":"sources_cited","icon":"<\/g><\/svg>\n"},{"description":"The journalist and\/or newsroom have\/has a deep knowledge of the topic, location or community group covered in this article.","label":"Subject Specialist","slug":"subject_specialist","icon":"<\/svg>"}],"fact_brief":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nBret Saunders leaving KBCO after 28 years as Denver radio host<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n