News in Brief
Colorado West Broadcasting, owner of KMTS-FM and KGLN-AM, has signed an agreement to manage the day-to-day operations of Aspen-based KSNO-FM .KMTS (99.1), “The Best Country,” and KSNO (93.5, 103.5 and 103.7), a progressive rock station, have been longtime rivals in the Roaring Fork Valley and, according to local surveys, both have been at the top in terms of listenership. Starting on May 1, the two stations will be partners.Rumors have been flying recently about the future of KSNO, as staff was down to one full-time worker who was planning to leave. Much of the programming has been coming from KSNO’s sister station, KZYR-FM, in the Eagle Valley. Colorado West Broadcasting is taking over daily operations, and the purchase of KSNO remains an option. The company will honor all current advertising contracts for KSNO.
Highway 133 south of McClure Pass closed again about 11 a.m. Wednesday and may remain so through the weekend, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.CDOT opened the highway Tuesday evening after a rockslide blocked the road at the Paonia Reservoir dam on Monday. (The closure is about 16 miles north of Paonia, at mile marker 24.5). CDOT and contractor Yenter Companies have determined a large, unstable rock above the roadway will need to come down for the safety of both crews and the traveling public.The highway will remain closed until crews can mobilize necessary equipment to bring the rock down and clear the roadway. That will most likely require blasting operations, according to CDOT.Highway 133 links Highway 82 at Carbondale to Highway 92 in Hotchkiss. CDOT is suggesting Interstate 70 or U.S. 50 as detour routes.
Readers of AmericanStyle magazine have ranked Aspen the No. 14 small city in its annual Top 25 Arts Destinations readers poll. Falling three places from last year’s ranking, Aspen debuted on the list in 2005, according to the magazine. In the Small Cities and Towns category (populations of less than 100,000), Santa Fe took the No. 1 spot, jumping 15 places from last year’s ranking. Asheville, N.C., captured the No. 2 spot, and at No. 3, Corning, N.Y., achieved its highest ranking since debuting on the list in 2003.For the second year in a row, AmericanStyle readers were able to vote for their favorite arts destinations based on city size. “This voting structure highlights the unique and interesting ways in which cities and towns of all sizes are using art to fuel tourism and revitalization projects,” publisher Wendy Rosen said in a news release.Complete results of the annual readers’ poll and profiles of the top three cities in each category are featured in the June issue of AmericanStyle, on newsstands and at americanstyle.com.Also beating out Aspen, by the way, were Charleston, S.C.; Sedona, Ariz.; Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; Taos, N.M.; Key West, Fla.; Burlington, Vt.; Boulder; Carmel, Calif.; Laguna Beach, Calif. and Eureka Springs, Ark. (Vail wasn’t on the list at all, by the way.)
