RADIO for lovers of Latin music

Latin Beat Magazine, Oct, 2001 by Jesse Varela

Throughout the country, you will find programs, more than likely on public radio, spinning salsa and Latin jazz music. There's some amazing programs being presented that dig deep into the soul of this music of Afro-Caribbean roots. Awilda Rivera doing a three-hour tribute to Chico O'Farrill at WBGO in Newark, New Jersey; Emiliano Echeverría, just fresh from La Habana, playing a live performance by Orishas over KPFA in Berkeley, California; the in-depth interviews and features of Raúl Rico, Chico Alvarez, José Rizo and so many other super-mixologists providing great grooves and sonic backdrops to life. This is good radio!

Yet, listening to recordings of Benny Moré on Radio Progreso in Havana, or Machito and his Afro-Cubans, live from Birdland in New York City, you realize why the period between 1930 and 1950 is known as the golden age of radio. The presentations were electric and framed by top-notch announcers who neatly packaged, in English and Spanish, the segments of the broadcasts with perfect diction. This was a time when radio was all the entertainment there was, and it was the theater of the mind.

U.S. radio stars like Symphony Sid Torin exposed thousands of non-Latinos to the Cuban mambo, with late-night broadcasts that went against the grain of the segregation that divided blacks, Latinos, Asians and Caucasians back then. In the late 1940s, black radio began to emerge, as station owners recognized the financial potential of this untapped market. With Latinos, things evolved differently, as the advent of Spanish-language radio brought unwanted retributions.

On the West Coast, it began with mom-and-pop shows in the 1930s playing ranchera music, like that of Pedro J. González y Los Madrugadores. They would buy a block of time daily that they financed with commercials out of a small station in Pasadena. This tested the waters of race relations, and as González began to speak out against the discrimination the Mexican community was experiencing in Los Angeles, he was railroaded to San Quentin on allegations of sexual misconduct.

In Puerto Rico, radio progressed slowly even though WKAQ was licensed in 1922 and many pivotal examples of the island's folkloric music were recorded there. By 1940, there were only five radio stations in Puerto Rico, compared to 119 in Mexico at the time. Radio in Panamá, Colombia and Venezuela further fueled the airwaves into Peru, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, where they too began to enrich the culture and broadcast the stars of their regions, who many times helped propel the legacy of icons such as Argentina's Carlos Gardel.

Powerhouse stations such as XEW in Mexico City and CMQ in La Habana transmitted with unregulated watts at the time that the mambos, chachachás and boleros were getting hot. This nurtured a cross-cultural appreciation for modern Afro-Caribbean music that served as a catalyst for Spanish-speaking people to get together and help sensitize non-Latinos to the sounds and rhythms of Latino culture.

In the 1960s, the creation of the Top 40 format in the U.S. actually created a mixed genre/pop sound that blended everything from country, rhythm and blues, rock'n'roll, and the occasional Latino crossover hit.

Watermelon Man, El Watusi, Soul Sauce and many other tunes made a splash as the 45-rpm record ruled as the format of preference. Many grassroots shows prevailed but just as many were bumped when new corporate broadcasting networks began to pursue frequencies for acquisition.

As the Top 40 format became the norm, U.S. Spanish-language radio embraced it and a pop sound rose that was fueled by new teen sensations such as Angelica María. Aside from the Mexican regional sounds that dominated the airwaves, this was all there was. Yet, legendary disc jockeys Dick "Ricardo" Sugar, Polito Vega and many others in New York City kept the airwaves burning with salsa. The same occurred on the West Coast with Chico Sesma.

The top-40 format set in motion a process of commercialization that still holds a firm grip on the industry, with pay-for-play that is just a thread away from being payola.

In the 1970s, as a result of the civil rights movement and the Latino empowerment struggles of the Chicano movement in the west and the Puerto Rican Young Lords in the east, the search for a platform for these activists to express themselves opened up space on the public radio airwaves.

Filling the void were the Pacifica stations of WBAI in New York City, and KPFK in Los Angeles. It was here that collectives came together that included Edward James Olmos, Moctezuma Esparza and others involved in a variety of Latino programming.

From there, young Chicanos and Latinos with a desire to communicate via radio jammed college and community stations for time slots. Since then, it has led to a loose but growing network of salsa and Latin jazz-oriented shows with programmers who function as volunteers. Programs range from weekly shows to nightly programs at WDNA, WBGO and other stations.