Jon Pinnow

Daily Production Manager

[email protected]

Education:
Bachelor's degree in English and mass communications, University of Denver; Master's degree in English, University of Denver.

Professional background:
Jon worked for many years producing and recording books for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a program of the Library of Congress. In addition, Jon taught and worked in various administrative positions at local colleges and freelanced as a writer/editor. Through it all, the music was always playing in the background — that is, until he came to CPR in 2001.

How I became interested in music:
When I was a child, my uncle moved to Australia, leaving his classical music collection in the care of my father. For years, the records sat on a shelf gathering dust while Eddy Arnold and Herb Alpert held sway on the turntable. But idly pawing through the stack one snowy afternoon, I was suddenly drawn to my uncle's old LPs: the Mozart Requiem, the Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon .... Reader, I carried them all down into my bedroom that very day.

A few years later I went off to college as a music major, where I soon discovered my skills as singer and trombonist — and my dedication to improving those skills — meant I'd be better off in the English department. Still, one highlight from my time as a music student was singing in the chorus of an enormous Easter Sunday performance of the Mozart Requiem.

Why I got into radio:
A true story: As a kid, I loved to build elaborate towns out of Legos, then commute through make-believe streets in a Matchbox car to a pretend job at a pretend radio station. A few years ago, I was driving to work early one morning, in an old VW, past little quiet houses that might as well have been made of Legos, and it hit me: I'm one of the people lucky enough to live out the reality of a childhood fantasy.

How I ended up at CPR:
I was hired as writer/content developer in 2001 and worked my way through a variety of positions to the post I hold now. I'm grateful to everyone who makes possible this grand experiment we call Colorado Public Radio.

Colorado Postcards

USS Colorado

Colorado is far from the ocean, but the state’s name has sailed the high seas on four different vessels since 1858. The first was a steam frigate.
By Jon Pinnow

Spanish Peaks

In Southern Colorado, the Spanish Peaks appear as a pair, a “double mountain” of mystical significance to Native peoples.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Steamboat Lake

In the Elkhead Mountains of northern Colorado, Steamboat Lake will strike you first with its beauty. But a gentle hike through meadows and woods will lead you to its solemnity.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Project Rulison

At first, it seemed no one could stop Project Rulison — a plan from the US Atomic Energy Commission to frack Colorado’s natural gas with a nuclear detonation.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Mt Sherman

You don’t hear of planes landing on Colorado fourteeners, except the time a Cessna landed on Mount Sherman near Leadville, in January 1967.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Waterdogs

West of Salida, the trail to Waterdog Lakes is steep. But dog-loving hikers should note: your canine companion is NOT what the lakes are named for.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Louisville

In Kentucky it’s Louisville, named for French King Louis. But in Colorado, German-born engineer Louis Nawatny bought 40 acres in 1878, and named it after himself: Louisville.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards

Sgt. Geronimo

In Commerce City, you’ll find the grave of Sergeant Geronimo, a member of the 507th Paratroop Infantry Regiment. But this paratrooper was unlike any other. Geronimo was a stray dog.
By Jon Pinnow