Altitude unveils new Nuggets broadcast team

Two months after KSE gutted the most recognizable broadcast booth in Denver sports, Altitude finally showed its hand Wednesday.

Noah Reed, a rising play-by-play voice out of northeast Indiana with five years of college hoops and football work across ESPN, NBC and FOX, will replace Chris Marlowe as the television voice of the Denver Nuggets. Katy Winge, the longtime Altitude staple who joined the network in 2018 as a host and reporter before working her way into the analyst chair, gets the full-time promotion to lead color analyst.

Former NBA standout Jason Richardson slides in as the new studio analyst and will double as a second color commentator on select home broadcasts. Lauren Gardner, a Denver native who left Altitude a decade ago for stints at MLB Network, NHL Network and DAZN in New York, returns as a host and reporter. Vic Lombardi stays put as lead studio host, as expected, and Bill Hanzlik will continue to pop up on select pre- and postgame shows.

That’s the new crew for their slate of 67 Nuggets games starting Oct. 24 against New Orleans — the home opener.

Back in June when it was reported that Marlowe, Scott Hastings and Chris Dempsey were being let go the reaction was immediate and visceral — and rightfully so. Marlowe is a legend around these parts for his work behind the microphone locally and at NBC as part of the Olympics. He’s been the soundtrack to every meaningful Nuggets moment since 2004. The splendid Serbian spinners. The Blue Arrows. The improbable comebacks where Denver evened the score for the first time since Hector was a pup. His voice is stitched into the fabric of this franchise’s best era.

Hastings had been on the broadcast since 1993 and his rants about the referees are iconic. That context — with Marlowe and Hastings — matters, which makes the decision to push them out all the more baffling.

Altitude didn’t swing for a household name to replace Marlowe, and that’s fine. Reed is a Ball State product who climbed the ladder the old-fashioned way — calling Peoria Chiefs minor league baseball, working for BEK Sports in Bismarck, North Dakota, grinding his way onto ESPN’s radar and eventually landing college assignments on FOX and NBC. Front Office Sports named him one of its “26 Rising Stars in Play-by-Play Announcing” last year.

Reed doesn’t carry the je ne sais quoi Marlowe brought, but that was never going to be the standard for a network looking to make a change. What he doesn’t have yet is a relationship with Denver, which is something Marlowe spent two decades building. That takes time. The fan base should give him the room to earn it. Replacing a legend is a thankless job and Reed deserves a fair shake at what is likely his dream job.

The big news here — even if it was expected — is Winge’s elevation. She played college ball at Illinois State, earned a master’s in journalism from Northwestern and has been in the Altitude ecosystem for eight years — she knows what she is talking about when it comes to hoops in the Mile High City.

Her promotion makes her the third woman to hold a full-time lead analyst role on an NBA team’s regional network, a milestone worth noting. But it’s not why she got the job. She got the job because she’s been auditioning for it in real time on air for seasons and has been good enough to earn it. She was recognized for her talent as the winner of Colorado Sportscaster of the Year in 2024.

Richardson gives the studio a jolt of real NBA credibility — fifth overall pick in 2001, two-time consecutive Slam Dunk champion, 14-year veteran, national champion at Michigan State.

Gardner, the Denver native, left for the national stages and comes home to bolster the broadcast.

This looks to be a strong broadcast team but it’s still gonna be a yucky feeling turning on the TV in October and not hearing Marlowe and Hastings. KSE made that choice. Maybe they went the cheap route like they did with the team’s head coach, maybe they just wanted fresh faces — either way, it’s gonna be new voices in our ears and that’s somewhat sad.

Reed and Winge should be a fun listen, they don’t deserve any of this baggage even if they’re going to be measured against ghosts.

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