FM Stations
KRZA		88.7	Alamosa		[KCFR(AM) Denver]
			(San Antonio Peak, NM)		KPRN	N	89.5	Grand Junction
KAJX		91.5	Aspen		KPRH	N	88.3	Montrose
KGNU		88.5	Boulder		KDUR	N	91.9	Durango
KDNK		90.5	Carbondale		KRFC		88.9	Fort Collins
KRCC		91.5	Colorado Springs		KAFM	N	89.5	Grand Junction
KRLJ	N	89.1	La Junta		KUNC		91.5	Greeley
KSJD	N	91.5	Cortez		KSUT		91.3	Ignacio
KBUT		90.3	Crested Butte		KUTE	N	90.1	Ignacio
KUVO		89.3	Denver		KURA		98.9	Ouray
KVOD		90.1	Denver		KVNF		90.9	Paonia
KPRU	N	103.3	Delta		KVMT	N	89.1	Montrose
KCFP	N	91.9	Pueblo		KOTO		91.7	Telluride
KPRE	N	89.9	Vail

AM Stations
KCFR	N	1340	Denver		KKPC	N	1230	Pueblo
KCFC	N	1490	Boulder

General Comments

Unlike most states, public radio in Colorado is delivered primarily by non-profit community organizations.  Fourteen community licensees operate public radio facilities in the state as do three universities, a local school board and a Native American tribal entity operates two public radio stations.  The largest broadcaster in the state is Colorado Public Radio (CPR), which operates a dual network of translators and repeaters that distribute programming from its main stations KVOD and KCFR(AM) in Denver to communities throughout the western slope and Colorado Plateau.  Twelve other public broadcasters in the state also operate translator networks in the state.  A list of the translators in the state appears at the end of this section.  Despite the geographic challenges of the Rocky Mountains and the vast sparsely populated plains region of eastern Colorado, all regional centers of commerce and population receive at least one public FM radio signal and in many cases more than one.  The state is also served by three public AM stations which are operated by CPR.  

FM Service

Colorado public radio stations have invested significantly in erecting new facilities to reach formerly uncovered areas of the state.  Fifteen stations were included in the 1989 PTFP study. Eleven new stations and 53 translators have been constructed in the state since that time.  A significant amount of this investment has occurred in communities on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains and further west on the Colorado Plateau.  Three new stations, KPRU, KPRE, and KPRH, were built by CPR, and new stations KSJD, KAFM, KUTE, and KVMT were built by other broadcasters. Most of these stations cover areas identified as unserved in 1989.  CPR also constructed KCFP and KRLJ to extend service in the southeast part of the state.  KRFC is a new station that provides additional services in northern Colorado.   Some of the translators in the state have been built through public and private initiatives that are not directly part of the public broadcasting industry.   Pitkin and Lake counties in the Rocky Mountains have county offices that operate and maintain translators to distribute public and commercial broadcast services to residents.  Private enterprises have done the same in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau and Colorado's eastern plains.   KVOD and KUVO, in partnership with KRMA, a channel 6 public television in Denver, are building a new tower that will enable both FM stations to broadcast at full power, increasing their coverage. CPR is installing a new station in Glenwood Springs, KVOV, during the summer of 2004.  This is part of a larger transmission project with KAJX Aspen and KDNK Carbondale to improve the coverage provided by all three broadcasters.

The percentage of Colorado's population receiving a signal has increased from 88% in 1989 to 95.1% currently.  The total number of residents not receiving a public radio signal has been reduced from 340,000 in 1989 to 216,491.

AM Service  

CPR operates three AM stations in the state. All began broadcasting after the release of the 1989 PTFP study.  KCFC 1490 kHz Boulder operates at 0.87 kW during both daytime and nighttime hours.  KCFR 1340 kHz Denver operates at 1 kW during both daytime and nighttime hours.  KKPC 1230 kHz Pueblo operates at 1 kW during both daytime and nighttime hours.  The AM stations provide a news and information program service which is also broadcast on CPR's FM stations KPRN Grand Junction and KPRH Montrose.

Service from Adjacent and Other States

KANZ Garden City, Kansas, operates a translator at Lamar in Prowers County on the Kansas‑Colorado border which rebroadcasts KANZ’s main signal from Garden City. WWFM, a broadcast service of Mercer County Community College in Trenton, New Jersey, operates a translator that serves the Roaring Fork River Valley, which include the communities of Aspen and Snowmass. It also has its programming delivered to other western slope communities including Steamboat Springs through agreements with local translator operators. Nebraska Public Radio Network stations KPNE North Platte and KTNE Alliance broadcast signals that reach residents across the Nebraska‑Colorado border.  WRUW Laramie's signal reaches residents across the Wyoming-Colorado border as do the signals of KSJE Farmington and KCIE Dulce across the New Mexico‑Colorado border. 

Unserved Areas

The unserved areas of Colorado are either vast and remote from populated areas as is the case on its eastern plain and in northwest Colorado, or isolated and remote as in the Rocky Mountains and on the Colorado Plateau of far western Colorado.  In 19 of the 61 counties in Colorado, less than 40% of the residents can receive a public radio signal.  On average, 9.3% of the populations in those counties are able to receive a signal.  Terrain, remoteness, low population density and financial infeasibility combine to create high barriers against extending public radio service to the unserved areas of the state.

Region A  

Public radio service in the northwest corner of the state is provided by translators serving the local population centers.  Moffat and Rio Blanco counties contain less than 2,000 unserved people. CPR will be constructing a new station in Moffat County in the northwest corner of the state  This station, KPYR, will replace their translator K211BS, which is being bumped off that frequency by a new station.  Only half the population of Routt County receives public radio, leaving 9,800 people without service.  Most of Grand County, some 12,000 people, are without public radio service.

Region B  

Much of the eastern quarter of the state is unserved.  The population is extremely sparse.  On Colorado's eastern border with Kansas, Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties‑with a combined population of 10,242‑do not receive any public radio signal from any source.  In the few communities of size, service is provided by translators.  To the east of Greeley and Denver, Morgan County has the largest unserved population in the region, however, with over 25,000 people without public radio service.  

Region C 

Following the Continental Divide northward, Mineral County has no public radio service for its 831 inhabitants.  There is very scattered service for the central part of the state encompassing the Rocky Mountains.  Conejos County, with a population of 8,400, is traversed by the Continental Divide and is one of the counties with no public radio service in the state. Several of the counties in this region have significant unserved populations -- including Saguache (4,600 people), Rio Grande (6,000 people), Alamosa (12,400 people) and Park (11,000 people).  These sparsely populated counties, far from population centers and isolated by terrain, typify the difficulty that remains in extending public radio service to the remainder of Colorado's unserved residents.

Region D

The southeast portion of the southern border is rural and unserved.  In Las Animas County, 9,521 residents do not receive a public radio signal.  In Baca County, 4,500 people do not receive public radio.

Translators listed by operating station
Facilities in italics operated by out‑of‑state broadcasters

KAJX Aspen, CO					K280DZ5	N	103.9	Leadville
K215BC1		90.9	Aspen		K218BG	N	91.5	Montrose
K216BF1	N	91.1	Aspen		K218BF	N	91.5	Silverton
K208EP1	N	89.5	Basalt		KDUR	Durango, CO
K207DT1	N	89.3	Carbondale		K230AC	N	93.9	N. La Plata Cty
K205AZ2		88.9	Glenwood Springs		KUNC Greeley, CO
K215BD1	N	90.9	Redstone		K202CV	N	88.3	Breckenridge
K215AC		90.9	Snowmass		K296CL4	N	107.1	Breckenridge
K206AQ1	N	89.1	Woody Creek		K210AY		89.9	Buena Vista
KGNU	Boulder, CO				K215BE		90.9	Estes Park
K206DB	N	89.1	Fort Collins		K259AC		99.7	Gypsum
K229AC	N	93.7	Ward		K210BJ6	N	89.9	Holyoke
KDNK Carbondale, CO					K206BD6	N	89.1	Julesburg
K202AT		88.3	Aspen		K203BQ		88.5	Steamboat Springs
K202BA1	N	88.3	Basalt		K214AK		90.7	Steamboat Springs
K202AB		88.3	Glenwood Springs		K215AN		90.9	Sterling
K203EE	N	88.5	Redstone		K214AW		90.7	Walden
KRCC Colorado Springs, CO					K228DL6	N	93.5	Wray
K239AE	N	95.7	Buena Vista		K204BH		88.7	Yuma
K289AH	N	105.7	Canon City		KSUT	Ignacio, CO
K218DT	N	91.5	Lake George		K261CM3		100.1	Cortez/Mancos
K210CC	N	89.9	Limon		K220DZ3	N	91.9	Dolores
K211AW		90.1	Manitou Springs		K208BG		89.5	Durango
K203AT		88.5	Westcliffe		K287AA	N	105.3	Pagosa Springs
KSJD Cortez, CO					K210BA	N	89.9	Purgatory
K216DA	N	91.1	Dolores		KVNF Paonia, CO
K216DB	N	91.1	Dove Creek		K252AM		98.3	Hotchkiss
K281AC3	N	104.1	Mancos		K204BR	N	88.7	Lake City
KBUT Crested Butte, CO					K259AO		99.7	Montrose
K210BS	N	89.9	Gunnison		K210BP		89.9	Norwood
K235AK	N	94.9	Jack's Cabin		K211BH		90.1	Ouray
[KCFR-AMDenver, CO]					K256AD	N	99.1	Palisade
K211BS	N	90.1	Craig		K205BA		88.9	Ridgway
K203BB	N	88.5	Gunnison		KOTO Telluride, CO
K216BP	N	91.1	Meeker		K207AT	N	89.3	Norwood
K218BE	N	91.5	Ouray		K207AU		89.3	Ophir
K202BI	N	88.3	Parachute		K207AS		89.3	Pandora
K216BO	N	91.1	Rangley		K288BM		105.5	Placerville
K202BJ		88.3	Rifle		KANZ Garden City KS
K204BK	N	88.7	Rio Blanco Cty		K214CO		90.7	Lamar
KUVO Denver, CO					WWFM Mercer County, NJ
K209ED4	N	89.7	Breckenridge		K269DS1	N	101.7	Aspen
KVOD Denver, CO					K224CE7	N	92.7	Canyon Valley
K207CK4	N	89.3	Breckenridge		K201AZ	N	88.1	Carbondale
K273AE3	N	102.5	Cortez		K265CS1	N	100.9	Carbondale
K204DZ3	N	88.7	Dove Creek		K219DA7	N	91.7	Steamboat Springs
K206BE	N	89.1	Gunnison		K292EG1	N	106.3	Thomasville

¹ Licensed to Pitkin County Translator Dept., Pitkin County, CO. Operated by KAJX, Aspen, CO; KDNK, Carbondale, Co   or WWFM, Mercer County, NJ.
²Licensed to Valley Public Radio, Glenwood Springs, CO. Operated by KAJX, Aspen, CO.
³Licensed to Southwest Colorado TV Translator Assn., Cortez, CO. Operated by KSJD, Cortez, CO; KVOD, Denver, CO or KSUT, Ignacio, CO.
⁴ Licensed to Summit Public Radio and TV, Breckenridge, CO. Operated by KUVO, Denver, CO; KVOD, Denver, CO or KUNC, Greeley, CO.
⁵ Licensed to Lake County TV FM Inc., Leadville, CO. Operated by KVOD, Denver, CO.
⁶Licensed to Region # 1 Translator Assn., Yuma, CO. Operated by KUNC, Greeley, CO.
⁷ Licensed to West Slope FM, Steamboat Springs, CO. Operated by WWFM, Mercer County, NJ.