B737 captain reported ATC was operating all positions from one frequency during heavy traffic demand...

Narrative:

This report is a safety concern during a recent trip through den international. [At the time] the entire airport was being controlled by a single tower controller. The airport was experiencing snow showers; low visibility and low ceilings and was busy with deicing operations; and many arrivals and departures. After the completion of our deicing; we found that all ramp; ground control and tower frequencies were combined on 135.3 and being controlled by a single controller. As we taxied out; we heard the controller issuing taxi clearances; and reporting runway RVR numbers for all the takeoff and landing clearances. While we were on frequency; we heard the controller mistake the runway assignment for several landing aircraft and was confused as what spots and taxiways aircraft were calling for clearance from. It would seem that time of day drives the combination of frequencies; not the work load or actual traffic demand.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported ATC was operating all positions from one frequency during heavy traffic demand; with several mistakes to clearances and generally an unsafe situation.

Narrative: This report is a safety concern during a recent trip through DEN International. [At the time] the entire airport was being controlled by a single Tower Controller. The airport was experiencing snow showers; low visibility and low ceilings and was busy with deicing operations; and many arrivals and departures. After the completion of our deicing; we found that all ramp; ground control and tower frequencies were combined on 135.3 and being controlled by a single controller. As we taxied out; we heard the controller issuing taxi clearances; and reporting runway RVR numbers for all the takeoff and landing clearances. While we were on frequency; we heard the controller mistake the runway assignment for several landing aircraft and was confused as what spots and taxiways aircraft were calling for clearance from. It would seem that time of day drives the combination of frequencies; not the work load or actual traffic demand.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1531273
Time
Date	201803
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DEN.Airport
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 329
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B737 captain reported ATC was operating all positions from one frequency during heavy traffic demand; with several mistakes to clearances and generally an unsafe situation.