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

Oscar Wilde

Before Oscar Wilde wrote the comedy of manners “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he visited Leadville in 1882. It was, he said, “the richest city in the world.”
By Jon Pinnow
Marble
Colorado Postcards

Yule Marble

In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is surrounded by 36 giant columns, one for every state in the union at the time of Lincoln’s death in 1865.
By Jon Pinnow
PIKES-PEAK-COG-RAILWAY-REOPENS-9
Colorado Postcards

Pikes Peak

Standing tall and broad-shouldered, Pikes Peak is Colorado’s best known mountain. The Ute called it “Sun Mountain.” Oral history says their ancestors walked the summit a long time ago.
By Jon Pinnow
Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards

Buckskin Joe

In Colorado, there was a man, who became a town, which became a tourist attraction and movie star of sorts. And now: “Buckskin Joe” is in private hands.
By Jon Pinnow