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10 Questions with ... Jason Thomas
September 19, 2022
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1. What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?
KITS/San Francisco, KNBR/San Francisco, KGO/San Francisco
2. What got you interested in the radio business?
There was a high school station with a hard rock/heavy metal format not far from where I lived. Most of the hosts were high school students getting on the mic for the first time and when I heard them doing it I knew that I could do it, so the first chance I got, I signed up for the program and was hosting the morning show within my first month.
3. How do you uniquely position the station in a market with 3 Triple A Outlets?
I'd say that we're mostly a AAA, or AAA for lack of a better term. With a market as crowded as this one, we pluck from alternative, R&B, hip-hop, there are always a few under-the-radar selections in there as well, and we're playing local music at least once an hour, every hour, every single day. We present ourselves as a "music discovery" format and we do our best to back that up.
4. What would surprise people most about the station?
I'd say one thing that's sometimes overlooked is how many different places you can hear us on the FM throughout the state. Our listeners can take us with them on almost all of their Colorado road trips… Denver/Boulder 102.3, Fort Collins 90.9, Colorado Springs 89.7, Vail 88.5, Carbondale/Roaring Fork Valley 96.7, Glenwood Springs 107.7, Pueblo 93.3, Basalt 92.3.
5. How would you describe the musical approach on the station?
In addition to creating some space between our sound and the other AAAs in the market, as referenced in question #3, Colorado Public Radio is committed to diversity and inclusion. One of the things that means is that we do our best to have the mix of artists in rotation reflect the makeup of the market as a whole which includes a healthy balance of male/female artists and artists of color. We preach "music discovery" and sometimes that means playing pop records from Lizzo, Spanish-speaking superstars like Bad Bunny, and older, deeper cuts from a band like Faith No More that your average 30-year-old might not be familiar with. We're also member-supported, so when we're actively asking people for money to keep the operation alive and well, we have to give them a mix that they're not going to get anywhere else in town while at the same time not being too out there and scaring off folks that want to hear something that they know and love a few times each hour.
6. Where do you find new music?
Mostly my inbox! Haha. Getting to the bottom of the inbox and listening to everything that comes in each week is non-negotiable. I also host our new music specialty show, and reviewing everything each and every week and giving stuff a spin or two on that show gives us a feel for how it might sound in regular rotation. So, yeah, the inbox, some of the main music news sites, streaming charts, staff recommendations, listener recommendations, and going to shows early and seeing the openers.
7. What new acts are you most excited about?
I've been going on and on about Turnstile for over a year now. Their 2021 release, Glow On, is the gift that keeps on giving, IMO. We're on our third track from the record here at Indie and seeing the band rise to the point where they're headlining Mission Ballroom here in Denver is pretty exciting. Some people in recent years have been lamenting the fact that there aren't as many exciting young rock bands coming up as there used to be, and to those folks I present Turnstile.
8. Who was your favorite artist to interview so far and why?
One of my favorite (and easiest) interviews was Run the Jewels at Lollapalooza back in 2017. Both El-P and Killer Mike are old enough and have been in the game long enough to appreciate the success that they're experiencing, which makes them cool as shit and when I talked to them they had just come from Wrigley Field after throwing out the first pitch at a Friday afternoon game. They were pretty high on life that day and high in other ways as well.
9. If you were to leave the radio business today and you could choose any other occupation, what would it be?
It probably won't be a sales job because I did do that a few years ago when I was between full-time radio gigs. I respect the hell out of anyone that can do that job well, and while I worked at it and could hold my own after a while, the fluctuation between highs and lows was a bit too much for me.
10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without …
...getting the blood flowing in some way. Running, lifting, skating, snowboarding, biking, etc. Being active every day lifts my spirits, keeps me sharp mentally, and being physically able to take on pretty much any kind of activity at any time is a good thing too.
Bonus Questions:
Last non-industry job:
Sales rep for Phoenix Solar Roofing in Schaumburg, IL.
First record ever purchased:
Thriller
First concert:
Ozzy/Alice In Chains/Blind Melon, Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oct 8, 1992. (fun fact: it was supposed to be Ozzy/Motorhead/Alice In Chains but Motorhead dropped out at the last minute)
Favorite band of all-time:
Metallica
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?
Listening to my 7-year-old tell jokes.
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