Thanks to TC Smythe for capturing Hazel Miller and her band at this year’s High Peaks Music Festival rocking the Feedstore Amphitheater. High Peaks was just one of a number of musical events that KLZR sponsored this summer.

InTune with Gary Taylor

We hit it out of the park this summer with first class musicians and a mix of folk to blues all summer long. I hope you made it out for one of our events. Everybody had a great time.

Thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, and fans (and especially TC Smythe) for a successful concert season – 10 concerts (two 2nd Street Block Parties, seven Summer in the Park Concerts, and the High Peaks Music Festival) – with 9 of them free to the public. Capping off the season was the 7-piece Hazel Miller Band warming up a chilly day with several hours of dance music!

Once again, we are teamed up with Kirkpatrick Bank and the Wet Mountain Valley Community Foundation (WMVCF) to air spots featuring local non-profits in conjunction with the annual WMVCF Spirit Campaign. And thanks to the N50 grant and Sandi Dalton for the great work putting together the training manual for our community broadcasters making it easy for anyone to try their hand at producing a radio program.

And remember, we are always looking for new volunteers to join our team – we can accommodate most any skills, interests and schedules. Speaking of volunteering, in this newsletter you’ll see a feature on our friend and your DJ, David Niemeyer who has been broadcasting for us for 11 years, producing over 1000 Sunday Classics programs. Listen up on Sunday night or check out the whole collection that we’ve podcasted!

As the leaves change and the crispness of fall starts to blanket the mountains, we are grateful for the support from businesses, individuals and foundations that continues to help us put on musical events, program the station 24/7 and bring you the weekday morning news.

Please enjoy the upcoming holiday season with family and friends. And, give us a call, post on our Facebook page or stop by the station and tell us what song you want to hear on KLZR – or talk about ways you might join our team as a volunteer!

Gary Taylor, Board President

DJ Backchat: Voices You Know

We are pleased to welcome our newest DJs who are already hitting their stride.

Tamra Adducci – Wednesday. 2:00-4:00

Skippy Diggler – Friday, 2:00-4:00

Dennis Hagerty – Tuesday/Thursday, 10:00-noon

Cameron Kessler (welcome back!) – Tuesday, 2:00-4:00

Stefanie Sere – Tuesday, noon-2:00

How about you? You’d make a good DJ!

Send a note to info@klzr.org for more info.

This week Paul Leach along with Gary Taylor and TC Smythe laid our newest batch of pavers in the courtyard outside the KLZR Station. Thank you, Paul!

The newest additions include: Marge Chandler, Debbie & Phil Rabinowitz, Bob Fulton, Judy & Chuck Zehr, Kevin & Jo Enz, Bob & Mary Lou Giacometti, Steve Lasswell & Ann Donohoe, Chris & Dana Derick, Jacke & Vic Barnes, WMV Community Storytelling, Steve & Gail Gunnels, Drew & mary Horton, Lennie Anderson, Ray & Sue Bodis, Robert, Kendra & Kyle Gaarder & Janet Booth, Des & Don Lipka, Steve & Whitney Short, Steve and Lissa, Jan & Paul Clopton, D&P, and Anonymous. Come on by and take a look!

A Little Bit of KLZR History - All the Way from Kansas City

We had a fun conversation recently with Mike Schmidt from Prairie Village, Kansas, about the origins of our call letters, KLZR. Mike had written to the station saying that he had used the call letters KLZR at his Lawrence, Kansas station, “The Lazer”. We knew a little about that but Mike provided us more detail.

When the KC station got their new KLZR license in 1979 they were moving to album-oriented rock and launching into concert promotion – perhaps, he said, bigger than might be anticipated for the size of Lawrence. But it was after all a college town - Go, Jayhawks!

Their early concerts featured Bob Marley and John Cougar (back when he was still John Cougar). They moved on to Springsteen before he was big, Elvis Costello, and new wave groups like Flock of Seagulls, The Clash and The Boomtown Rats. Mike says that when he was starting out, he never imagined that he would meet artists like The Boss, The Rolling Stones and Sir Paul McCartney. I asked him who he was listening to these days. Not being stuck in the 60’s, he favors Wilco and Japanese Breakfast and likes to keep up on who’s happening now.

We appreciate Mike filling us in on a little history and were pleased to send him one of our new caps and T-shirts so that he can keep the KLZR brand high and mighty over there in Kansas.

Click here to sign up for Valley News – in your email box every weekday morning.

*NEW* – check out the KLZR web page for links and information about important community resources

This fall KLZR received a $5000 matching grant from The Colorado Media Project (CoLab) The station must match the funding by year-end. Funds go to support our news efforts - Valley News and the Wake Up Call. CoLab will support KLZR with coaching and materials for community engagement.

KLZR is one of 33 news outlets across the state to receive support in this effort to support homegrown Colorado news. We hope you will help us meet our match during the upcoming Spirit Campaign!

KLZR saw half a dozen new DJs join our team over the last few months. This picture shows veteran DJ, AJ Biggerstaff, along with new DJ, Skippy Diggler, showing off the broadcasting studio to visitors during the Labor Day Block Party.

THANKS

This week I'm sharing some KLZR thanks to:

Custer County for American Rescue Plan funding that supports our musical events; Colorado Creative Industries for general support for our music programming; and, Kirkpatrick Bank for their support of our promotion of Custer County nonprofit organizations in anticipation of the Wet Mountain Valley Community Foundation’s upcoming Spirit Campaign. We are thrilled to have their support. It makes all the difference for us, and we are extremely grateful!

Over the past year, KLZR Board Member Sandi Dalton, working with former board member, Shanna Lewis, developed training materials for volunteers looking to help the station with programming. The new training package covers all the steps needed to develop, write and broadcast a short program for community listeners. See here for more information. Thanks Sandi and Shanna!

KLZR thanks Valley Ace Hardware for its continuing support of the radio station. Contact the station for underwriting opportunities or click here. When you underwrite with KLZR, you invest in locally produced programs, including music shows DJ’ed by your friends and neighbors. Underwriters provide essential support to our mission of providing music, news and informational programming reflecting the values and culture of our valley community.

Did You Know...

...that KLZR has over two dozen businesses and organizations who support our station with their donations?

Click here to check out our list of underwriters and be sure to share thanks next time you see them!

Remember KLZR when you shop.

Visit https://smile.amazon.com/, set your charitable choice as Wet Mountain Broadcasting, Corp., and the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to KLZR!

KLZR

[Quarterly News] Inside KLZR