(Boon's note: His last name is pronounced BUR-jin. He was named KOA news director in 1980. Although this obit mentions that Clarke co-hosted with Arleen Arnsparger on KOA, I think most people who lived around Denver in the '80s remember him more for teaming up with Cynthia Hessin, who's now with Rocky Mountain PBS. Most of his best work on the KOA morning news was part of the great team headed by Gus Mircos, a solid news block that began its decline when Belo sold to Jacor and Tracy Pratt-Savage was brought in from Detroit as PD in 1987 -- a decline which continues unabated 18 years later.

Clarke's first Denver job was at KFML, where they made him go by "Ken Clark" -- and he hated it.)



(Click here for original article)

Longtime voice of KOA broke the commentary mold

By Virginia Culver
Denver Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 18, 2005 -

Clarke Bergeon, a longtime Denver radio man, was a gentle soul and a natty dresser with a great voice and a car that perpetually fell apart.

Bergeon, on KOA radio for years, was 75 when he died April 8.

"He had a great voice, loved to talk and loved the news," said his son, Christopher Bergeon of Lone Tree.

"Clarke had a gift for writing, and his commentary pieces were so good that the station stopped doing them when he left," said Jerry Bell, who was news director when Bergeon worked at KOA.

"No one could fill his shoes," said Bell, now at KHOW. "He was a classy, professional guy."

Bergeon was always resourceful. Once, when he couldn't get near a torpedo-laden truck that had overturned on Interstate 25, he rented a room in a nearby hotel, where he had a perfect view, and broadcast from there.

Arleen Arnsparger, who co- hosted a morning program with Bergeon, called him "the gentlest soul" and someone who never lost his cool while broadcasting, even when co-workers tried to distract him.

"He had an amazing memory for trivia" but rarely remembered messages someone gave him, said Arnsparger.

Cool and dependable as he was, his blue MG wasn't. He often told friends to follow him in their cars and keep an eye out for his, in case it stalled or wound up in a ditch.

Clarke Chandler Bergeon was born June 17, 1929, in Charlevoix, Mich., and went to high school there. A clarinetist, he was in an Army band stationed in New York City in the late 1940s.

The band played as military ships docked and departed from the harbor, Chris Bergeon said. "He had a great time being stationed in Manhattan and going to plays."

Clarke Bergeon went to Northwestern and Michigan State universities and then got a job in radio on WION in Ionia, Mich.

Bergeon had some "dumb luck" the day he was hitchhiking to a job interview in Michigan. The driver who stopped to pick him up was the general manager of the radio station. Bergeon got the job.

It was at WION that he met Ruth JoAnne Medler. They married on Jan. 19, 1956.

On the advice of relatives who said Colorado was a great place to live, the pair set out for Denver with no jobs. He soon got work as a deejay on KTGM, and then moved to KFML, KBTR, KLZ and finally KOA, where he worked for 17 years until retiring in 1990.

In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by his daughter, Victoria Ann Fogerty of Pinewood Springs, and six grandchildren.

Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.

--- "Clarke had a gift for writing, and his commentary pieces were so good that the station stopped doing them when he left," said Jerry Bell, who was news director when Bergeon worked at KOA. ---

--- retiring in 1990.---

So Jerry Bell kicked or pushed Clarke out when Clarke was what? 60 years old? What a waste of a great talent. Clear Channel is truly evil. In the words of Seinfeld's Babu: You bad man! You are a very bad man Jerry Bell!

I don't think it was Jerry Bell as much as it was the corporate culture of Jacor, which has largely been adopted by Clear Channel: The "sound" is more important than the "content." Good newsmen like Clarke (and Gus, and KIMN's Don Martin for that matter) can't exist well in an atmosphere like that.

KOA should have something about him on their website. The fact that they don't speaks volumes.

Thanks for posting this. I couldn't agree more about KOA.

Dear Tracy, that slime queen, got fired the next year, didn't she? Anybody know what ever happened to her?

Hard to believe, but in 1987 Jacor only had 14 properties. And we still had local radio news competition.

Quote:

Originally posted by Boondocker Although this obit mentions that Clarke co-hosted with Arleen Arnsparger on KOA, I think most people who lived around Denver in the '80s remember him more for teaming up with Cynthia Hessin, who's now with Rocky Mountain PBS.

Boon, sorry to dig up an old thread, but something you said has been bugging me for a month. I kept thinking that it wasn't Clarke Bergeon who co-anchored with Cynthia Hessin on KOA as much as it was another male anchor. But I just couldn't think of his name ... until I heard a certain CDOT spokesman today. The name I tried to remember is Gene Towne.

Gene has been around here for eons; according to that great "Denver Radio: 80 Years of Change" page, he was part of the staff of 710-KBTR that briefly went all-news in 1967.