Check Out Chuck Lontine’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chuck Lontine.

Hi Chuck, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My love of radio began at a very young age. We lived in the southwest suburbs of Denver less than a mile from a 100-foot radio tower and station.

Our neighbor was a civil engineer for the city of Denver (his name was Bill Smith and he later went on to oversee the construction of Denver International Airport). I was about 10 and Bill help me modify a Marconi radio kit a bought for 50 cents at the community summer market for kids at my elementary school.

With that kit, I was able to listen to AM radio stations all over the country from my little boy’s bedroom all night.

I became particularly fascinated by the late Paul Harvey from WLS in Chicago (where I ultimately worked at in my late 20s and met Mr. Harvey as a young advertising executive). His delivery of the news was remarkable, especially in the area of creating a news story behind the actual headline.

With that radio and a very inexpensive Westinghouse reel-to-reel tape recorder my father bought for me from one of his clients (he was a hairdresser) my obsession slowly evolved into a passion.

I started recording everything.

Ultimately those recordings also included my voice reading the headlines from the local neighborhood paper The Lakewood Sentinel. Now maybe 14 I began to learn from recording those headlines and listening to the radio, the pace and phrasing of how to read a 3-minute newscast.

At the time Denver radio was rich with some remarkable on-air talent too including Harry Smith on KHOW (he’s part of NBC News now). Ironically, I would ultimately manage KHOW ad sales in my 30s.

Everything changed for me on Easter Sunday in 1976. Now 15, my home church (Denver First Assembly of God near Sloans Lake) was looking for a narrator for its upcoming Easter play. I was very active in the church’s summer youth program and it seem natural for me to audition.

It was the first time I’d ever spoken in public. To my amazement and my pastor (who sadly just passed and was one of my biggest supporters) I was a natural with a microphone and speaking in public.

The performance also caught the attention of a young operations manager at KLIR-FM in Lakewood (remember the radio station less than a mile from my house?). He hired me just shy of my 16th birthday.

That high school part-time job began a nearly 50-year career as a radio broadcaster both here in Colorado and all over the country (including CBS in San Francisco, ABC in Chicago, and The Howard Stern Show in Philadelphia).

Now in my 40s and recognizing how radio and consumer listening habits were beginning to change. I began to explore streaming, on-demand listening, and podcasting. This was in 2005. So I began to design and build a business model that I called KPOD in the Cloud. The program was pretty simple.

Cloud-based music and spoken word content (which no one was talking about back then) that would live on shuffle (then a new thing) with interesting interviews with interesting people.

Not just the artist, but authors, politicians, and people making a difference in Denver. After pitching the concept to both investors and radio companies (which I regret)…nothing. No takers of a complete pivot from the status quo of traditional radio.

So I tabled the idea. Now in my 50s, I began following with great interest The Obama Administration’s initiative to revitalize AM radio.

The FCC plan was to allow AM radio stations access to FM Translator signals. These signals are all low power, but in a populous area could reach millions of people. It took 5 years but I was able to find a failing AM signal in Golden and a dark FM (meaning off the air) in Montrose, Colorado.

But Montrose was almost 200 miles from the front range?!? Thankfully that same initiative allowed radio owners to move the signals to within 20 miles of each other. With the help of my FCC lawyer and a family friend who is a brilliant radio frequency engineer, I was able to sign on my AM and FM in late 2015.

I quickly learned that being a stand-alone entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. The AM (now KKCL) was broadcasting on a remote site within the abandoned Rock Flats Nuclear Weapons facility. It was a recipe for disaster.

Within days of signing my signature soft rock format on the air with spoken word elements from locals? I was off the air! Unbeknownst to me a neighboring herd of cattle was allowed to graze my tower site. Within days a herd of cattle trampled my grounding system and ruined all of my transmission equipment.

Some one left the gate open! Then a high wind storm on Christmas Day mangled one of my radio towers made worse when a snow plow nearly knocked it over. It was maddening. But my biggest break came on Valentine’s Day in 2016.

After researching a better transmission site I signed on from 8000 feet atop Look Out Mountain in Golden. That changed everything and it’s been full blast ever since with now a full book of advertisers and daily listenership that grows daily.

Technically too I’ve been able to improve an entirely automated full-service radio station with zero staff, no studio or office expense, and the type of on-air sound that my listeners have embraced. In life through this journey, I went to CU in Boulder and DU. Married, built a family, raised our children and now have three wonderful grandchildren.

My wife Susan of over 30 years represented our home district for four terms in the Colorado House and our radio station has been able to provide nonprofits over 10,000 free ads over the years and we’ve partnered with local food pantries to distribute over 5 tons of free fresh food every holiday season.

Golden Built. Colorado Proud. You can stream the Cloud at http://thecloud.fm.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Any sole proprietor will confess that being a stand-alone entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart and you need to develop some pretty thick skin and some big ones too.

Expect the unexpected and be prepared to deal with anything and anyone. I’ve also learned over and over again that working alone is not in the bubble we’re led to believe. Your life and life’s work are under a very big microscope.

Make sure that at the end of each day, you completed what you set out to do. Also, prepare yourself for what’s next both mentally and physically.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m most proud of the work I’ve been able to do for the people of our current home base in Golden, Colorado.

Artistically, I created a local listening experience on the radio with Golden in mind. Every holiday, I put together a team of donors and volunteers to help distribute free fresh turkeys, hams, bread, and all the trimmings for a special holiday meal.

During the pandemic, I also recorded over 100 podcasts with Jeffco Health and various agencies and people involved in law enforcement, educators, and nonprofits about their struggles during what was an unprecedented time in all our lives.

Everything you hear in the Cloud is all about Golden and Jefferson County.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Everything you hear in the Cloud is all about Golden and the West Metro Suburbs.

As I expand the signal into downtown Denver that same level of the community will grow too.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://thecloud.fm

Image Credits
Let the Light in Studio and KKCL News Archives