Beloved longtime voice of the Nuggets out as KSE makes major changes at Altitude TV

Marlowe, Hastings and Dempsey are out at Altitude — and the booth shake-up fits a familiar KSE pattern this offseason: keep what's cheap, cut what costs

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Jun 10, 2026, 2:19 PM

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It’s a summer where ‘everything outside of trading Nikola Jokic is on the table’ for the Denver Nuggets, according to the voice of ownership, Josh Kroenke.

That everything, it turns out, includes the voice of the franchise itself.

Chris Marlowe and Scott Hastings — the broadcast duo that has called Denver’s NBA games together since Stan Kroenke launched Altitude TV in 2004 — are out, four sources told The Denver Post. Hastings had been around even longer, calling games going back to 1993, just after his playing career wrapped up in the Mile High City. Studio analyst Chris Dempsey, a Boulder native and former Denver Post reporter, was let go too. Katy Winge and Vic Lombardi were retained.

This isn’t some replaceable local guy, either. Marlowe is a nationally respected broadcaster — an Olympic gold medalist in volleyball, NBC’s lead beach volleyball voice across seven Olympics and the 2023 Colorado Sportscaster of the Year. He’s arguably the best play-by-play voice in Colorado. The man has called the biggest stages in sports. Altitude just decided he wasn’t worth keeping around.

The move is a stunner for a fan base that has grown up knowing only two voices on Nuggets games — voices that carried them through the legendary Carmelo Anthony era and into Jokic’s reign, when the franchise finally climbed the mountain and won it all.

“All good things must come to an end,” Marlowe wrote Wednesday. “Altitude Sports is moving in a different direction and decided not to renew my contract. It has been a wonderful 22-year run. … I’m not retiring and this is not goodbye — it’s just so long for now.”

That’s not the language of a man who chose to walk away — it’s the language of a negotiation that came down to a number — and KSE deciding the number wasn’t worth it. Marlowe made clear he’s not retiring. He wanted to stay. They just didn’t want to pay.

Perhaps more shocking than the shake-up itself is the contrast it cuts against.

This offseason, Kroenke has already decided to keep David Adelman — a cheap, first-year option at head coach who replaced the franchise’s best in Michael Malone. Adelman got booed before a home playoff game just before the team bowed out to an undermanned Minnesota crew. Meanwhile, rumors run amok that the front office is considering moving the greatest point guard in franchise history, on the heels of a career year. What message would that send? Worse yet is the rumored idea of trading a guy nicknamed Mr. Nugget, Aaron Gordon, whose contract extension hasn’t even kicked in yet, after years of consistent, selfless sacrifice that apexed with him gutting through a Game 7 badly injured.

Kroenke would tell you he doesn’t deal in nicknames. That’s pretty funny coming from the self-proclaimed “chief culture officer” of his father’s organization — the same guy who wore an NBA Jam shirt of Jokic and Murray to the championship parade and flew to Serbia to hand Jokic an MVP trophy while wearing a cartoon cutout of his star’s head.

The NBA Jam shirt, the cartoon head in Serbia — it’s all great theater. It photographs well. But culture isn’t a costume you put on for the parade. It’s what you do when the cameras are off and the contracts are up. And what KSE did was let the voice of two decades go without ceremony.

So Josh Kroenke knows culture. He says he understands what these moments mean. Which is exactly why this one should sting.

Because the incredible moments that built all of it — the ones that made Denver fall in love with basketball, arguably for the first time ever — were voiced by Marlowe. The splendid Serbian spinners, the Blue Arrows launched, the oops between the two, the dagger threes, the buzzer-beaters and more. He was the soundtrack. He’s the man who handed some of these storied players their best nicknames in the first place.

Now KSE has decided his voice, and Hastings’ voice alongside it, no longer fit where the company is headed. It’s a business decision, sure. Altitude has every right to refresh its talent. Networks do it all the time. But this is another one of those big shake-ups KSE president Kevin Demoff promised, for better or worse.

And let’s be clear about what kind of business this is. Stan Kroenke is one of the richest men in the world — a man who built a billion-dollar stadium in Los Angeles and bankrolled a Champions League title chase at Arsenal. The idea that the Nuggets, champions of this era with the best player on the planet, need to pinch pennies on a play-by-play man and a power forward isn’t a financial reality. It’s the priority.

None of this should surprise anyone, either. Demoff has told those in and out of the organization that changes were coming, and even put his foot in his mouth this spring about not wanting to pay taxes. KSE warned you. The Nuggets aren’t being mismanaged into these decisions — they’re being run, deliberately, by people who decided the books matter more than the bonds.

There’s a throughline here worth sitting with. A young coach kept on the cheap, credited for a hot January without Jokic. A franchise icon in trade rumors over money. A beloved forward dangled to duck the tax. And now two broadcasters who gave this organization 20-plus years each, gone.

For a man who calls himself the keeper of the culture, Josh Kroenke sure is willing to chip away at a lot of the people who built it.

Update Wednesday night:

Altitude TV released the following statement:

“Today we announced changes to our Altitude broadcast team for the upcoming season.

Chris Marlowe, Scott Hastings, and Chris Dempsey will be moving on from their roles on the Nuggets/Altitude TV team.

Over several eras, they have been synonymous with Nuggets basketball, bringing energy, insight, and a genuine love of the game to every broadcast. They have been part of many of the most memorable moments in franchise history, including the 2023 championship run, and have helped shape how generations of fans experience Nuggets basketball.

Each has been an outstanding ambassador for our organization, leaving a lasting impact on our company, our fans, and the broader Nuggets community. As part of this transition, Scott Hastings will move into an exclusive radio role, where he will continue with KSE and remain an important part of our Nuggets radio team and overall sports coverage.

These changes give us the opportunity to take a fresh look at our broadcast and reimagine it for the future.

We want to sincerely thank Chris, Scott, and Chris for their contributions. Each has played a meaningful role in the success of our broadcasts and in strengthening the connection between Nuggets basketball and our fans.

We wish them continued success in the next chapters of their careers. We will share additional details as plans develop.”