April 22, 2010 07:41 PM UTC

Iraq is a surprise topic on commercial drive-time radio in Denver

• 3 Comments
• by: Jason Salzman

Even those of you who hate KOA radio have to admit that KOA-style expression and journalism look pretty good, if you’re standing in Iraq.

So you have to respect KOA Colorado Morning News anchor Steffan Tubbs and others from Colorado, including Ryan Huff, a Boulder Daily Camera editor, and folks from Altitude Sports and Entertainment, who are there now to teach Iraqi reporters about journalism.

Here’s an excerpt from Tubbs’ blog post about his presentation:

…today was a busy one, with my presentation to Iraqi journalists off-base at a place they call Camp Midicah. It is only a couple of miles from where we sleep… and consists of some older Iraqi buildings and mostly U.S. trailers.

I addressed them on TV, radio and overall journalistic technique. The group is about 50 in size… and they were attentive, inquisitive, funny and intelligent. They are a respectful people for the most part, though if they are bored, they will let you know!

They liked my examples of both my TV work and portions of KOA and Colorado Morning News… but they were most interested in whether or not I could truly report on what I want to report. They had a bit of trouble comprehending that… I think so many of them are set in their ways from the old regime. But they are changing. I hope I made at least a dent.

Colorado’s Morning News has been airing Tubbs’ stories from Iraq this week, making it the only major commercial drive-time radio show in the country that’s actually reporting directly from Iraq these days, if ever. I don’t know that for a fact, of course, but who would want to bet me on it?

I mean, if you don’t know the show, Colorado Morning News fixates on traffic, weather, entertainment, sports, and the water-cooler headline news-which is certainly not Iraq.

You’ll hear political and entertainment heavyweights on the show, and the questioning they get from Tubbs and co-anchor April Zesbaugh ranges from fawning to lightly critical.

But ongoing reporting about something that’s off the news radar? Almost never. But this week, Iraq.

Tubbs isn’t offering investigative reporting, and he’s being too much of a cheerleader, but still it’s great to hear our troops on commercial drive-time AM radio-as well as Tubbs’ other stories.

“Steffan is the driving force to make this happen,” said KOA News Director Kathy Walker. “He very much wanted to do this trip, and he was invited by the military. He obviously worked hard to find Colorado soldiers who had great stories to tell, and we could all relate to here in Colorado.”

Good luck Steffan Tubbs.