A New Way To Listen

Forever in search of the perfect sound, ListenUp became an initial roll-out partner of Sony and Polygram/Philips, co-creators of Compact Disc Digital Audio, selling more Sony CD players in 1983 than any other dealer in the country. With help from Polygram, ListenUp also became a source for the discs themselves with a dedicated CD store, the ListenUp Disc Connection. The Disc Connection played a huge role in CD’s acceptance, as most record stores were reluctant to add another format to their inventory of LPs and cassette tapes. ListenUp’s role in the success of the CD format has been chronicled by trade magazines, including Billboard, which covered the ListenUp/KCFR CD marathon, and in the book Perfect Sound Forever. Walt personally spun the first digital music ever played on Colorado’s airwaves at KVOD, KFML, KBPI and KBCO, and gave four public presentations of the new technology that together attracted more than 1,500 people to Phipps Auditorium, Gates Planetarium, Turn of the Century and The Rainbow Music Hall.