Small Placitas radio station going strong

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-Alonzo Lucero has a passion for music that many New Mexicans hear on the radio.

After 51 years as a DJ in New Mexico, he still goes non-stop during his three hours of Spanish music each weekday morning on KUPR.

"To me, it’s the same as when I started. I started in 1970," said Alonzo, who is 81 years old.

He believes his style is a lost art.

The corporate structure of most radio stations means fewer DJs are live. Many of them also use digital music libraries to automatically create song selections.

"To me, that is very, very, very boring," Alonzo said. "If I had a radio station, I wouldn’t allow that."

Alonzo still plays a lot of local music off of CDs.

"If I don’t play their music, nobody else is going to play their music," he said.

As a Low Power FM station, it reaches into parts of Rio Rancho, but not quite into the heart of Albuquerque.

"We’re non-commercial, so that means we’re funded by donations, community donations mostly," McNerney said. "It’s underwritten — it’s like PBS."

The station is run out of a donated trailer. It has 19 on-air personalities, all volunteers.

"It’s just a lot of fun," said John McNerney, KUPR DJ. "That’s how I see it."