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The year was 1977 and KIMN was at the beginning of their adult contemporary format. Caroline Wilson (promotions) and Loren Owens (morning drive/PD) came up with the idea for a station mascot. Caroline made several calls to local colleges looking for someone who was athletic, acrobatic, and "kind of nuts". Jim Fulcher graduated from Metro State with a degree in Recreation. When the call came for someone who was acrobatic and "kind of nuts", they knew who was the perfect guy for the job.
The first Chicken costume's head was made out of Solastic and was very hard. The head was very heavy, didn't breath very well, and made it almost impossible to do the acrobatics. In addition, the costume had the zipper in the back and as Jim said, "oh man was it tough to go potty in that thing".
Jim took a hiatus from the Chicken gig from January - September 1978. KIMN had a stand-in for the Chicken. It was the owner of the Denver Nuggets that wanted Jim to do the Chicken. The stand-in didn't have the same energy and interaction with the crowd. And the Nuggets owner wanted the funny guy back and no one else.
So after the success of the Chicken and Jim's return to the gig, Jim convinced Steve Keeney (GM of KIMN) to let his wife, Karen, and Ron Cresentini design and make a new costume. They came up with a new head and costume that was more "wearer-friendly". It breathed better, was cooler than the original costume, was lighter so he could be more acrobatic, and most importantly - the zipper was in the front!
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