CPR's OpenAir launched on Oct. 31, 2011, when Alisha Sweeney played Paper Bird's "Colorado."
Now, we celebrate the fifth anniversary of that first broadcast.
At the time, we broadcasted at 1340 AM in Denver. We've since moved to 102.3 FM in Denver and Boulder and 88.3 FM in Fort Collins.
We'll feature some special on-air programming throughout the next few weeks to commemorate the occasion. In the meantime, here are some highlights from the first five years of CPR's OpenAir.
We've hosted more than 400 sessions in the CPR Performance Studio.
- Some memorable sessions include Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Courtney Barnett, Todd Rundgren, DeVotchKa and Gregory Alan Isakov.
We've built a library of nearly 30,000 songs.
- And it's still growing. You can explore our online playlist to get to know our original blend of new and independent music.
We've launched two podcasts.
- Inside Track helps you learn about up-and-coming musicians through insight and storytelling surrounding their songs. Recently featured artists include Dinosaur Jr., The Lumineers, Odesza and Elephant Revival.
- OpenAir Sessions features performances and interviews from national and Colorado musicians in the CPR Performance Studio. Recent episodes feature Paper Bird, Diane Coffee, SHEL and Benjamin Clementine.
We've received recognition from some big media outlets.
- The New York Times recognized us as a supporter of local music in a 2013 article.
- Westword named us "Best New Radio Station" after we moved to an FM frequency in 2015, and Alisha Sweeney as "Best Radio DJ" in 2013.
- Paste Magazine included us in their list of "10 Public Radio Stations You Wish Were In Your Town."
- NPR Music has featured selections from Jessi Whitten, Mike Flanagan and Scott Carney for their "Heavy Rotation" playlists.
We have a TV show with Colorado Public Television.
- "OpenAir Live & Local" debuted in 2014 and recently launched its third season on Denver's CPT12. The program highlights performances by Colorado artists we've filmed in our studio and at venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Watch all previous episodes, and tune in to CPT12 Saturday nights at 9:30 for new episodes.
We've filmed nearly 1,000 studio session and live concert videos.
- They're all featured on our YouTube channel, which has over 2 million views and counting.
