Small Placitas radio station going strong
[anvplayer video=”5041158″ station=”998127″]
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.
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"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."