For 35 years, Cheyenne woke up every weekday morning to The Morning Proshop with Larry Proietti on KYOY FM radio.
He went off-air this New Year’s Eve but continues to work behind the scenes at the radio station he now owns and operates. He admits that radio is in his blood and is grateful for all the years he spent entertaining his audience.
“I call myself a big ham,” Proietti said. “I just had fun in everything that I did.”
His memorable voice is still celebrated in Cheyenne where he not only hosted his morning show and an afternoon show, but also did play by play for the high school games throughout the Cowboy State and served as radio announcer at the Cheyenne Frontier Days.
“He is a throwback to the “boss radio” sounds of the 1970s,” former co-worker and Cowboy State Daily Editor Jimmy Orr said. “I would describe his style as BIG. Big voice. Big presentation. Everything was just BIG about him.”
Flashback To How It All Began
Proietti started off in radio doing commercials as a kid in Pittsburg, California. His mom had a coffee shop a few doors down from the local radio station, KKIS, and he used to hang around the radio station to watch all the deejays. He got to know them all and became their unofficial mascot.
“I just stuck my nose in the door there,” Proietti reminisced. “I was more of a pest than anything.”
One memory that stands out is that they use to give him the duplicate 45s. Instead of keeping them, Proietti would take the disks into the alleyway and throw them against the walls to watch them explode.
In 1966, the radio announcers took him to his first promotion when he was just nine years old. It was his first introduction to meeting a live band, The Loving Spoonful, and he had fun hanging out with his idols. After that, whenever they needed a kid’s voice, the announcers would grab Proietti for the job.
During these years, his mentors, such as Larry Ickes and Ray Farrell a.k.a Bobby Ocean, were big influences not only for Proietti but in the world of radio.
“A lot of those radio announcers in Pittsburg, California, ended up going off to San Francisco and Los Angeles and became big names over the years,” he said. “It was interesting hanging around that radio station. They had fans that would come by and stare at them through the window.”
Rediscovering His Passion For Radio
As he entered high school, Proietti became more interested in sports and wanted to be a professional baseball player. However, after one year of college, he injured his arm and needed a new direction in life.
By now it was 1975 and he joined the Cuesta College radio station where he had to remember all the lessons he had learned as a youngster cutting commercials. That same year, he got his first paying radio job, a part-time gig at KBAI-AM in Morro Bay, California.
Over the years, Proietti worked his way up the ranks at various radio stations. He started off as a studio engineer until he was able to break through and got an on-air shift. He continued to work his way up to music director, program director, operations director, general manager and, finally, in 2013, owner of the Cheyenne radio stations, KYOY AM and longtime heritage KRAE-AM.
Arrival in Cheyenne
Proietti was working in Fort Collins in 1986 for another radio station when he was offered better pay in Cheyenne. He accepted the job offer with the intention of only being in Wyoming for a short while.
“The rest is history,” he said. “I got on the phone to my mom back in California and said, ‘Mom, I'm going to hang out here about a year, and then I'm heading back west.” Here it is almost 39 years later and I'm still here in Cheyenne!”
In 1989, he was offered the position as the host of a morning show and began waking up folks in Cheyenne with his booming voice. He named his show The Morning Proshop and over the years was privileged to work with his son, Nick.
“The nice part about doing the mornings is that I've had people and clients follow me from 1989 all the way until the time I stepped off the air in 2024,” Proietti said. “I actually call them family and friends because I've made a lot of friendships through the years, just talking to people in the morning and entertaining them.”
Proietti never considered himself a disc jockey but instead chose to think of himself as an entertainer.
“I try to put smiles on people's faces, do some jokes once in a while, talk about the daily news, a little bit of this, a little bit of bit of that,” he explained. “I really enjoyed what I did through all these years.”
Right, By 1980, Larry Proietti had returned to radio and was working at KPAY in Chico, Calif. (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
Larry Proietti raised his son and daughter in the radio business at KYOY FM in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
In 1972, Larry Proietti was planning to go pro. His friend, Vince Troia, loaned Proietti his Vida Blue glove for this tournament at City Park in Pittsburg, California. (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
This newspaper clipping was from the 1970s in California: “Larry Proietti hurled four-hitter at Concord.” (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
Larry Proietti in 2009 working at KYOY in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He loved going on location and meeting with people in person. (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
While he never went pro, the love of baseball followed Larry Proietti into the radio business. Over his career, he called over 2,000 games on KYOY. (Courtesy Larry Proietti) 
Larry Proietti still finds time to fit in a game of baseball. (Courtesy Larry Proietti)
Beyond The Studio
Over the years, Proietti also did play-by-play for about 2,000 games of various sports all over the Cowboy State. He made a goal to describe the action as vividly as possible so that his audience could see the action for themselves. He would talk about the temperature, the team running onto the field, the smells of the food and whatever else he would observe to paint the whole picture for his audience.
“You're being conversational,” he said. “It’s about, hey, if you are here, this is what you are seeing right now.”
Living in Cheyenne was more than just the morning show and baseball games. Proietti also was able to be the radio announcer for the Cheyenne Frontier Days for 13 years.
“Back in the day, we used to have pre-night shows where I'd be out there introducing some of our local talent,” he said. “I would even get a chance to pop on stage and introduce some of the top acts that used to come into town.”
From 1987 to 1998, he was the University of Wyoming Cowboys Public address announcer which he said was a blast.
“I liked to ham it up,” he said. “Especially when they would hit a three pointer or when they win a game.”
He rarely took vacations over the years and the longest time he was off-air was in 2016 when he was diagnosed with nasal cancer.
“I had about six surgeries over six months,” he said. “I got tired of sitting at home and recuperating. I just wanted to get back on the air. I just missed what I was doing. It just gets in your blood.”
Signed Off
Proietti finally did step off the air this past New Year’s Eve.
He is now working more on the business side and taking care of the day-to-day operations such as sales and FCC regulations. He enjoys being out on the street, talking face to face with his clients.
“I never felt I was going to be rich in this business,” Proietti said. “My richness has been being on the air. I've lived a full life. If I had to do it all over again, I would learn a little bit more of the technology, but other than that, I have no regrets with the career path I chose.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
