It was an August day in 2000 when I walked into the KXCI studios in Armory Park. Probably hot and muggy like most August days in Tucson, about eight months after I returned to my hometown after an 18-year absence. I met Tony Ford, KXCI’s general manager, and asked if the station needed a volunteer programmer for Latino music. He asked what I could bring to the KXCI airwaves.

I shared with him my ideas and my experience in radio. I would call my program, “Onda Suave,” which means “cool waves” or “cool happenings.”

He said, “Welcome to KXCI.”

I had grown up in commercial Spanish-language radio here in Tucson. My late father, an immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico, had come to the Sonoran Desert in 1954 to start his career in Mexican radio. The soundtrack of my youth was rancheras, mariachi, trios and later, in high school, Latino rock with heavy doses of R&B and soul. While in college, I was fortunate to be part of progressive, ahead-of-its-time bilingual, multi-genre programming on the old KXEW-FM. We jammed on Latino rock, salsa, Afro-Cuban jazz, soul, reggae and a new sound called rap and hip hop.

But in 1982, I left Tucson to start a journalism career which took me to Worcester, Massachusetts then San Diego, California. While working as a newspaper reporter in San Diego, I began to write about Latino music and the beginnings of alt-Latino or rock en español for the local newspaper.

Eighteen years later, when I returned to Tucson to continue my journalism work, I was pleased to see that KXCI was flourishing. A year after I had left Tucson, KXCI hit the airwaves as an independent radio station. I didn’t think it would survive as corporate media began to eat its way across the landscape of locally controlled radio stations in the mid-90s.

But KXCI withstood the changes and grew because of listeners and volunteers who responded to KXCI’s independent, people-powered media. KXCI walked hand-in-hand with its wide community of supporters, engaging with community, responding to community.

This is what I walked into that August day 26 years ago. And on August 2nd after hosting Jazz Sundae, I’ll step aside from the KXCI mic. I’ve decided to make space for other voices. 

It has been a wonderful ride on KXCI, first as host of weekly Onda Suave programs for 12 years, then as a monthly rotating host on Jazz Sundae and substitute hosts for Wednesday night’s Latino music programs (The Chicano Connection, Sabor del Barrio and The Latin Connection), and Your Morning Brew.

Throughout my time as a volunteer programmer, I strived to share songs, new and old, familiar and obscure, that would move listeners. I conducted numerous live interviews, by phone or in Studio 2A, with Latino musical artists who came to perform in town. And I am exceptionally proud to have participated in several of KXCI’s Linda Ronstadt Day celebrations on her July 15th birthday.

I appreciate having had the opportunity to be on the KXCI airwaves and work with wonderful staff and fellow programmers. And I am thankful for the kind words from listeners who would stop me in public to express their love for KXCI.

Gracias,

Neto Portillo