THE PEOPLE OF KUVO

Carlos has over 40 years experience in radio. While still in high school, his first night on the air was January 13, 1968 on the Armed Forces Caribbean Network in Puerto Rico. In 1970 he was the week night host on WOUR in Utica, NY, one of the first FM “underground rock” stations in the country. By the late 70’s Carlos moved back to Puerto Rico where he produced and hosted a new show on WZAR called Jazz Where It’s Been and Where It’s At. During this time he met and interviewed many jazz artists, including Count Basie, Betty Carter and Dexter Gordon.

Lando came to Denver in 1980 where he spent 5 years as Music and Program Director and mid-day host at the nationally recognized soul music station KDKO. Carlos worked a year for KBCO in Boulder before coming to KUVO in 1987. As Program Director he has helped establish KUVO as one of the most respected community based jazz stations in the country. He remains committed to airing culturally diverse programs with significant appeal to people in the Latino and African American communities. In 2012, Carlos was awarded a Five Points Jazz Festival Tribute Award for his contributions to jazz in Five Points and beyond. 

Carlos is currently co-hosting First Take with Lando & Chavis. It’s music, news and community affairs every weekday morning at 6am on KUVO and KVJZ-Vail. Carlos can be reached at 303-446-7618 or carlos@kuvo.org.

Tina has been a part of the KUVO family since 1990.  During her tenure at KUVO, she has developed the Membership and Underwriting Departments, coordinated all "Live at the Oasis" CD series, helped the station's annual budget reach $1,000,000, and developed the station's website (past and current).  In 2006, KUVO produced "Caliente: Latin Jazz with Eddie Palmieri"; Tina coordinated the national marketing efforts for this successful series.  Tina can be reached at 303-446-7612 or tina@kuvo.org. 

If you have any questions about what we play or need a little history on some of the great music you hear on KUVO, Arturo is "the main man"!   Arturo  is a member of the Five Points Jazz Festival planning committeer.  You can contact Arturo at 303-446-7616 or at arturo@kuvo.org.

Yvonne is a native of Abilene, TX who made the trip north to Denver in 1974. She studied radio and television broadcasting and first came to KUVO as an intern. Currently she is assistant to Program Director Carlos Lando, with responsibility for producing the High School / Collegiate Series, scheduling the on-air hosts and scheduling the various artists who come into the studio for interviews. Yvonne says "Mexican music runs in my veins"; explaining her on-air position as host of Cancion Mexicana. Yvonne has been married for 24 years and has two wonderful daughters.

Victor graduated from Denver's East High School and attended CU before serving in the Air Force.  He has a long history in broadcast journalism, including Channel 7 television and radio stations KOSI, KADX, KRKS and KHIH - to name a few. He started as a volunteer substitute on-air host and is now our  Production Manager.  Victor handles the "voice" of KUVO, creating the recorded spots, recording interviews and shows and a whole lot more!  Contact Victor at  victor@kuvo.org or 303-446-7621.

Steve Chavis is co-host for KUVO/KVJZ's morning program, First Take with Lando and Chavis, as well as being Public Affairs Manager for the award-winning Jazz format radio station in Denver. Steve began in public radio as an intern in Detroit. He served in the early days of KGNU in Boulder, too. Along the way he was news director for KBCO, KHOW and KHIH, and spent a dozen years directing communications for an international non-profit organization in Denver.
In addition to rising early to get First Take started at 6:00 a.m., Steve is currently producing a documentary film in Detroit.
Steve and his bride Theonita have been married for 32 years. They are the parents of two sons, two daughters, a son-in-law and grand-humans to their German shepherd mix “Sparky.”

You can reach Steve via e-mail at Steve@kuvo.org or at 303-446-7627

Ready to volunteer? Have fun at a festival? Provide food for our drive or special events? Donate tickets?  Arvida can help you connect with KUVO in many ways. Arvida can be reached at  arvida@kuvo.org or 303-446-7631.

Judi Williams is a native Coloradoan, but spent most of her life in the greater St. Louis area.  A large part of her working life has been connected to education and medicine - and she worked a number of years in "every woman's dream job" doing association management in the shoe business.  So many shoes, but she could only wear one pair at a time!  She returned to Colorado in 1998 and while surfing for a good jazz station she found "Rockin 'n' Rhythm with Mama Kat" on KUVO.  After volunteering for several years, Judi became a staff member in 2006; she processes membership donations and underwriting payments in addition to handling KUVO customer service.  Judi can be reached at 303-446-7614 or judi@kuvo.org.

A long-time station member and supporter, Denise manages the content on the KUVO website. She is also involved with various marketing efforts at the station. Denise comes to KUVO via a circuitous route that started in Washington DC where she studied and worked as a demographer, through to Denver where she had a 15-year marketing and public relations career in the IT industry and then spent 8 years as owner/operator of a small neighborhood cafe. She enjoys all of KUVO's programming and has expanded her musical horizons through her association with the station. You can reach Denise via e-mail at Denise@kuvo.org or at 303-446-7625

Martha comes from Santa Fe and has years of experience with public relations and marketing. She has been on the KUVO team since 2006. Martha's passion for KUVO comes across in her friendly voice on the phone. She loves tango dancing, colorful art, music and people. Martha can help increase revenue for your business. Contact her at 303-446-7624 or martha@kuvo.org.

At KUVO, Laurie’s talents as a writer and editor have been brought to bear in her copywriting and editing of sponsor spots, promotional materials, correspondence and web content. Additionally, she maintains the pledge drive databases. Outside of her KUVO life, Laurie works as a freelance editor on book manuscripts and doctoral dissertations, and she also works as a conversation partner with international students seeking to improve their English skills. She says her 7 years of choral singing have resulted in her being better able to appreciate the finer qualities of jazz. Contact Laurie via e-mail at Laurie@kuvo.org or at 303-446-7632.

Thomas is a full-time volunteer here at KUVO, and he makes sure that all of the membership premiums, mailings, postcards and information gets sent out on time! You can reach Thomas at 303-446-7636.

Jeanne is originally from Oklahoma, but has lived in Colorado for over 20 years. She has been volunteering at KUVO since 2009, and is happy to use her tax, finance and legal skills to help out at the station. You can contact Jeanne at 303-446-7610 or Jeanne@kuvo.org.

Jim is retired from his career as the manager of a machine shop and graciously volunteers many hours of every week at KUVO. He is responsible for the Events Calendar on our web site, ensuring that this is the place to turn to when you are looking for information on what’s happening in the Denver area. Additionally, Jim coordinates the stations’ appearances at festivals and concerts, making sure that everything gets where it’s supposed to be and that the station is represented in the best possible way. Many times, he is also the smiling face representing KUVO in the booth. Contact Jim at 303-446-7626 or via e-mail at Jim@kuvo.org.

Mike Pappas brings a wealth of knowledge in broadcast media to his role as Chief Engineer at KUVO.  Mike serves as the Senior Applications Engineer for Sennheiser Electric Corporation. Throughout his wide-ranging career, Mike has been a prolific broadcast engineer with experience including more than 1,500 live sporting events, the 2000 Democratic convention and various Super Bowls. In addition, he's been nominated for multiple Emmys and has recorded international jazz artists. Mike schedules the ISDN telephone feeds, handles the CD recordings in the performance studio and coordinates the live broadcast remotes.  He has been at KUVO since 1994. Mike can be reached at 303-446-7623 or mike@kuvo.org.

Joey has been in the broadcast field for 13+ years and has diversified his engineering talents over television and radio. Joey’s talents range from broadcast systems installation to specialized IT networking solutions. He is an alumni of the University of Colorado at Denver; his passion for the recording arts brought him to KUVO radio in 1999. You can reach Joey via e-mail at joeykuvo@gmail.com or at 303-446-7620.

 You can contact Devin at Devin@kuvo.org or at 303-446-7622.