A radio format geared to pot enthusiasts bowed Monday in Denver as Smokin 94.1 FM. Picking up the format from Bubba the Love Sponge out of Tampa, FL, the station is also on 1550 AM. The details:
Bubba the Love Sponge “loves weed, fast cars, hot girls and rock music” – and that’s why Colorado station owner Mark Paskin of Marco Broadcasting adds Tampa-based Bubba for mornings, starting today. Bubba is equally enthusiastic (and quotable) – “Rock music and smoking pot [as you can do legally in Colorado] have historically gone together like peanut butter and jelly.”
He adds that from a policy standpoint, his show “has been an advocate for legalization long before it was the cool thing to do.” He says “I wait to fire it up in Denver” – though some Denverites won’t be able to catch his new signal. It’s on Marco’s KBUD at 1550 AM, licensed to west-of-Denver Golden, Colorado, and rebroadcast on a translator at 94.1. The AM has a construction permit to raise daytime power from 990 watts to 5,000, and the translator over-achieves. It’s 250 watts sitting high in the Rockies, more than 2,000 feet above Denver. For those able to get a contact high from one of the two signals, “Smokin’ 94.1” is the new home of Bubba the Love Sponge.
Chuck Lontine, a longtime Colorado radio operator and broker, said, “I’ve been involved in countless discussions with radio owners and investment bankers all over our state [and in Washington] who have attempted to blend this industry into a radio revenue model. It’s quite the Gordian knot. At the end of the day, dispensaries are pretty much becoming as common as a Starbucks. Only with armed guards.
“Only time will tell how this bold move will translate into a successful revenue plus listener model.”
INTRODUCING SMOKIN 94.1, DENVER'S NEW MARIJUANA RADIO STATION
In mid-April, a former Colorado Springs-area Fox Sports radio outlet switched its format to K-HIGH, a marijuana-talk station.
Now, a Denver station has followed suit.
What had been KDCO-FM/Mile High Sports Radio is now KBUD-FM, also known as Smokin 94.1.
In March, the station and its sister signal at 1550 AM were reportedly sold to Marc Paskins's Marco Broadcasting for $875,000. And this morning, Smokin FM launched with syndicated host Bubba the Love Sponge.
Bubba, who's made headlines for shenanigans aplenty over the years (click to read about his claimed Hulk Hogan sex tape), is based in Florida, and his show isn't exclusively about pot. This morning, however, he kindly did an extended segment about THC lube.
Starting at 10 a.m., the man behind the microphone will be Ed Blaze....
...followed by Gary Ganja and Stoney Reynolds. And on weekends, the man in charge is Billy Blunt:
What to expect? A blend of pot talk and rock music that's considered to be smokin'. Like, for instance, Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," which I caught this afternoon.
"I have created a unique radio format, there is no radio station anywhere in the country like Smokin 94.1," Paskin told AllAccess.com, adding, "There is not a better fit for our mornings than Bubba the Love Sponge. He loves weed, fast cars, hot girls and rock music. I think Bubba will take Denver by storm!"
In his own statement, Bubba added: “Rock music and smoking pot have historically gone together like peanut butter and jelly. The Bubba the Love Sponge Show has been an advocate for the legalization of marijuana long before it was the cool thing to do. Our listeners understand these facts, which is why many loyal Bubba Army members from my national audience have moved to Colorado since they legalized weed, so it will be like hooking up with old friends. I can’t wait to fire it up in Denver.”
Given the challenges facing terrestrial radio these days, the folks behind Smokin 94.1 are hardly guaranteed success. But give them credit for trying something new (or at least pretty new), rather than cycling through the usual formats.
For more information on Smokin 94.1, and to listen, click here.
Well I guess it is true about radio, and the FCC. They really don't care what a person puts on the air, just so they follow some kind of rules and regulations? This really does show a person is free to put what ever on the radio.
Well I guess it is true about radio, and the FCC. They really don't care what a person puts on the air, just so they follow some kind of rules and regulations? This really does show a person is free to put what ever on the radio.
Did you think there were some rules about legal drugs?
There's ads all of the time for them on radio and tv.
The whole pot thing is a great gimmick to get their new format a bunch of media coverage.
Meanwhile, Mile High Sports Radio just keeps growing.
"Gil Whiteley @Gilfest May 21 Denver, CO
Mile High Sports Radio grows again. . . We are moving to a new and stronger signal next week on June 1st. I'll keep you posted."
I figured they'd be finished with all of their "growing" by now (June 2nd). If they keep growing at this pace for much longer, they may need a bigger market (NY, LA or Chicago maybe).
Gil Whiteley We will relaunch as soon as the FCC approves the deal, it's shouldn't be long. . . I going stir crazy myself. . .
2 · June 1 at 3:00pm
This isn't about any pending FCC approval. I'm not sure whether Gil is dumb enough to actually believe that or whether he thinks his former listeners/clients are fools. Stations change formats and management all the time while official approval is pending. The Mile High Sports group are cash poor and are in a mad scramble to figure SOMETHING out. They're not "growing," they're dying. They had virtually no listeners before. They'll have even fewer listeners when they get back, IF they get back. Who in his/her right mind would spend hard-earned money to advertise with these people ever again? They just stop broadcasting one day; they lie about when they'll return; they lie about why their return has been delayed (that evil F.C.C. is to blame). I wouldn't trust these guys with my kid's lunch money.
Now Gil claims Mile High Sports Radio will return in late June.
Gil Whiteley @Gilfest Jun 6
@acetalkssports This has been a weird time for all of us and I have posted on FB and twitter many times about our return June 29th CU Then
Posted "many times about our return June 29th"??? This is the 1st I'd seen it, and I've been looking. I wonder whether this is just more BS or whether they actually do have something in the works. I'm inclined to think this is just more BS, to get everyone off their backs for a few weeks, 'til they prove otherwise.
Ok, and what position on the FM dial is he thinking of putting it on? The only two power houses that have a strong signal is 104.3 and 105.5. Now we all know that soon Lincoln well be a thing of the past and 104.3 well be available for purchase. I also remember hearing something about 105.5? This station (and I could hear in Westminster on 94.1) is quite interesting to listen to. Most of the music is geared towards pot, and It makes me wonder.. Who is going to want to do business with this station with this format? Without advertisement of some sorts, there is no way in the WORLD this station can last.
Smokin 94.1 FM bows weed radio
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Originally Posted by radiodude
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