Private support from listeners, corporations, foundations and partners accounts for approximately 95 percent of CPR's total budget.

In 1973, KCFR began carrying programming from National Public Radio (NPR), beginning with All Things Considered.

But despite protests from those listeners, within a few years the KPRN studios were closed, all volunteers and news staff positions were eliminated and it became a satellite station of KCFR.

[7][8] CPR added more satellite stations in the following years, including KPRE Vail in 1994, KCFP Pueblo in 1996, and KPRH Montrose in 1998.

CPR also began adding other low-power translators, sometimes in competition with existing public radio stations.

[9] In 2001, CPR attempted to purchase the University of Northern Colorado's FM station KUNC in a closed-door deal with then-UNC president Hank Brown.

In 2001, KCFC Boulder, KKPC Pueblo and KPRU on the Western Slope joined the CPR network.

Initially, the station's format of NPR news during the day and adult album alternative music at night remained the same.

[13] In August 2023, CPR purchased a six story 72,000-square-foot building at 777 Grant Street to house its studios, offices and auditorium.

Produced by Rachel Estabrook, Nathaniel Minor, and Ben Markus, it gives the story about the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, in Colorado.