KXCI and the Chicano Connection

Note: To hear some of my old shows (2013-2020), please visit the Chicano Connection Archive. Thanks.

KXCI is a non-profit, non-commercial, community radio station in Tucson, Arizona, that first hit the local airwaves in late November, 1983. It was the brainchild of several local music lovers, including Paul Bear, John Cannon, Frank Milan and Roger Greer. Together these individuals, with the help of countless others,  laid the groundwork for the establishment of KXCI, forming the Foundation for Creative Broadcasting, applying for an FCC license, as well as  raising funds and awareness for the idea of “community” radio in Tucson. Getting such a project off the ground was a lot of work that took several years, and I for one am very grateful to these guys for  having the vision and drive needed to establish KXCI! The station was located in the old Dave Bloom and Sons building,  a decent sized  storefront  at 145 E. Congress, on the northwest corner of Sixth Ave. and Congress.  In 1987, operations were moved to the station’s  present location at  220  S. 4th Ave.

1983 was a year that would change my life. At the time, I was a recent college graduate and was working part time at Fry’s Food Stores while taking classes at the University of Arizona  as  an undeclared graduate student. I didn’t know which direction I wanted to move in career-wise, but  I felt I needed to explore my creativity,  so I joined a radical theater collective called Teatro Libertad. It was with the Teatro that I developed a sense of self confidence. I learned the basics of acting and was also able to utilize  my musical skills singing and playing my guitar and flute.  I’ve always loved  music, and with the money I was earning as a grocery clerk, was also able to begin building what I thought was a pretty good, eclectic  record collection of music from all over the world, including Mexico and the US.

Playing my guitar at Oak Creek Canyon, 1983 (Click image to enlarge it).

One day in late Spring, 1983,  I read an ad in the local weekly alternative newspaper about a class being offered in radio programming at a new radio station called KXCI. I was intrigued and decided to sign up. I thought it would be cool to be a disc jockey and to be on the radio. My brother Rudy had gone through similar training at Tucson High School back in the mid-1960s. The photo below appeared in the Tucson Daily Citizen on October 12, 1966.

I felt that becoming a radio dj would be a great opportunity to turn people on to the music that I loved. It cost a few hundred dollars,  but in the end, was well worth it and one of the best decisions I ever made. Richard Towne, one of the station’s  staff members,  taught the class. There was a lot of technical information to learn, but it wasn’t too difficult to understand and I caught on very quickly.

The really fun part started when we were given time to  practice producing our own shows, which included writing out scripts and announcements, and selecting music to play on the air. I fondly remember putting my very first mock show together. Every song I featured was either about drugs or alcohol. My very first “commercial” was for what I called “Tata Jerry’s Bong Juice Cookbook”. Go figure. I was very young and wild at the time… By the end of the class, I had my very own programmer’s license. I was now legitimately qualified to work as a radio announcer and could hardly wait to go on the air!

My FCC radio license

In addition to Rich Towne, the core staff at KXCI  included  Sheila Key, Paul Bear, Frank Milan, Martha Van Winkle,  John Cannon and Roger Greer. There was such excitement in those early days!  Everyone’s  goal was  to get the station up and running. In November, after much anticipation, the station aired its first broadcast, a marathon program that featured the history of recorded sound and music from its beginnings to the present. I think it was called “the big broadcast of 1983.”

By December, some of the most challenging bugs had been worked out, and KXCI was officially on the air. I was invited to host two of my very own radio shows, one of which I dubbed “The Chicano Connection”.

The show featured a variety of genres of Latin music, in addition to oldies but goodies, r&b and soul. While the above flyer indicates the show was from 11pm to 1am on Thursday nights, originally it aired from 7pm to 9pm on Thursdays.

Yours truly standing in front of the KXCI station on Congress St.

I had two shows initially and I was a”techie” for both Victor Blue, who hosted the Bluegrass show, and for Ted Warmbrand, who hosted a folk show called “Music From the Living Loom”. By Techie, I mean I ran the control board, cue-ing up music, and turning the mics on and off for the announcer. It was my way of giving back to the station. I felt so grateful for being on the air!

The other show I hosted was called the Friday morning music mix, and it  aired weekly from 9am to noon.  The morning music mix shows  aired Monday through Friday and were intended to appeal to a broad audience . Programmers were encouraged to  feature lots of contemporary jazz like Spyro Gyra and Weather Report, but I played just about anything I wanted, even though it got me into trouble a few times. More on that in a minute…

My very first playlist for my very first show. Aretha Franklin’s hit, “Respect,” was the first song I ever played on the air.

I didn’t own a lot of Latin music at first, but over time, I have acquired quite a collection, especially of Mexican rancheras.

My knowledge of music and my shows were also starting to get noticed out in the community, and I quickly became known for playing stuff that nobody else was playing or was long forgotten. Senator Dennis DeConcini even wrote to the station early on and noted how impressed he was with me and Kidd Squidd. I was in heaven.

My first morning music mix playlist. I would play the same artists a lot over time, but would try to vary the individual songs that I featured.

Here are more of my playlists from December, 1983. (click the title to see the list).

The Morning Music Mix, December 16, 1983.

The Chicano Connection, December 22, 1983.

The Morning Music Mix, December 23, 1983.

The Chicano Connection, December 29, 1983.

The Morning Music Mix, December 30, 1983.

The music I featured included folk music, classic pop, soul, R&B, Latin music, rock and roll, oldies and classic jazz. I developed a loyal following of listeners,  and was featured in a newspaper produced by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union , of which I was a member at the time.

ABOUT TOWN WITH THE MEMBERS

(Just a quick correction… The above article notes that the class I attended was free. Not so. I paid a lot of money, $300 if I recall correctly,  to attend the class. Kathy got it wrong.)

Unfortunately, a couple of members of the station management at the time didn’t appreciate my playing protest music or leftist songs like “The Internacionale”,  nor was I allowed to bring in more than a few albums of my own at a time. There was a little rule that stipulated that we were supposed to use the station’s music when on the air, and I had a difficult time with that, because I felt that my own record collection was far superior to the material the station supplied.  Things got so tense that I quit at one point after I was reprimanded for playing my own material, including an anti-gun  song called “Shoot First” by Judy Collins.  Quitting wasn’t a very smart move on my part, but I wasn’t thrilled about being censored or coerced into playing music I thought was boring and irrelevant, when there was so much good music out there that I felt people needed to hear!

Lo and behold, within less than a year, Paul Bear invited me  to return to KXCI to host a Latin show from 11pm to 1am on Thursday nights.  I named program “The Chicano Connected Revisited”! I guess  the station management figured it was okay if I played radical protest music late at night when most of the uptight crowd was already asleep! I happily agreed to return to the air, as I missed being on the radio.  I also missed my friends at the station.

I have lots of fond memories of these years at KXCI. The highlight of the entire experience was getting to meet and interview the great singer-songwriter, and one of my heroes,  Buffy Sainte Marie,  after a benefit concert she gave at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Other highlights included co-hosting a gay and lesbian-themed Father’s Day show with Jamie Anderson, a local folksinger, and hosting a two hour Aretha Franklin tribute show.

I also remember  having a great time dancing in broad daylight on Congress Street during KXCI’s fun-filled  street parties. The station also sponsored a number of great concerts, including shows featuring Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band, Albert Collins, Ray Charles, Etta James, The Persuasions and countless others. Oh, what fun we had back then! They were wild times, indeed! KXCI put Tucson on the cultural map, and the Old Pueblo has been a musical paradise ever since, thanks in large part to the dedicated staff and volunteers of this little community radio station.

1985 KXCI program guide

I stayed with the station until December 1986, the same month I graduated from Library School at the University of Arizona. By the following month, with master’s degree in hand, I was working as a librarian in Nogales, Arizona. From there, I moved to Ann Arbor Michigan for several years and worked at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library. I finally made my way back home in 1992, after being offered  a job at the University of Arizona Library.

2003-2020

After spending nearly three years with the station, I left KXCI in December, 1986 . I had just graduated from Library School with a master’s degree in Library Science. Early the following month, I started my new career as a librarian in Nogales, Arizona. After sticking it out for 7 months, I decided to try my hand at academic librarianship, so from there, I moved to Ann Arbor Michigan for several years and worked at the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library. I finally made my way back home in 1992, after being offered a job at the University of Arizona Library.

After I returned to Tucson, I never thought I’d go  back to radio.  It had been over five years since I had been on the air, and I had heard and read that KXCI was having its share of ups and downs, with managerial and board  shake-ups happening on a regular basis. I still maintained a passion for music, however, and continued to collect records and cds and learn as much as possible about all kinds of music, particularly Latin popular music. At my job at the UA Library, after eight years of working in an administrative position, I applied for and was offered the music librarian position. While classical music wasn’t my forte, I quickly learned all  I needed to know to serve the students and faculty of the School of Music. It helped that I knew how to read music and that I played several instruments.

I also started conducting local and regional  workshops focused on building Latin music collections for librarians interested in serving Latinos and the Spanish speaking. These workshops were fun to do,  well attended and quite popular, and were a way for me to continue focusing on the music I loved.

After reading about my work  in the local paper, in May, 2003, Ernesto Portillo Jr.,  a KXCI dj, newspaper columnist and old friend, called  to invite me to be a guest host on his program, Onda Suave. I put a show on Mexican rancheras together for the occasion, and I was happy to hear that Ernesto’s listeners, (especially his father, a former Spanish language radio personality and Tucson legend),  enjoyed the show. Before long,  I was filling in for Ernesto on a regular basis,  and within a year,  I was back in the saddle as a regular programmer. From 2004 to 2006, I co-hosted a show with longtime KXCI programmer  Pepe Galvez,  called Barrio Sounds. I featured music from Mexico and the U.S.,  but played other  genres as well. The show aired every Wednesday from 10pm to midnight.

My friend Alex Rivera and I in the KXCI Library

In 2006, one of the Latin night programmers decided to take a break from radio, and I successfully lobbied the station management to let me have my own show, which I decided to once again dub “the Chicano Connection”. I particularly enjoyed putting together  thematic shows featuring specific genres and styles  of both Latin and American music such as corridos and rancheras, protest music, and music written by specific composers. I also enjoyed playing civil rights-themed music on Martin Luther King Day and Cesar Chavez’s birthday.  I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to interview  singers like  Tish Hinojosa and work with local musicians  John Contreras, Olga Flores and Justin Enriquez, arranging recording sessions for them and intervewing them  in our station studio.

Unfortunately, there came a point when juggling  a full time job, family obligations and a late night radio show every week turned out to be more of a challenge than I could handle, so  in October 2008, I decided I needed a little break. Justin Enriquez, a fine young mariachi musician, took the reins,  changing  the name of the program to “La Serenata,” which featured  mostly mariachi and ranchera music.

My time away from the station didn’t last too long this time around.  After subbing here and there  for Justin and other programmers,  in late 2010, I approached Justin  and asked him if he would consider letting me  co-host La Serenata. He graciously agreed. We took turns hosting  for the first nine months of 2011, but in  September, he handed the program  over to me full time. A short while later, Onda Suave host Ernesto Portillo, Jr. decided he needed a long term break, and I requested to have my show moved   from the 10pm to midnight slot to the 8pm to 10pm slot. The request was granted and I’m very happy with my new time slot.  I’m now on the air every Wednesday from 8pm to 10pm.

Being a programmer on KXCI presents itself with many wonderful opportunities. Last Fall (2012), I had the pleasure of  producing four  specialty shows, which I called “Songbirds of the Sixties”. Each week for a month I featured a different singer–Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Buffy Sainte Marie and Joni Mitchell.  I went through all of my recordings of each of these women and found material that I thought was worth including, some of it was quite rare and included songs that folks probably had never heard before on KXCI. For example, I played Scarlet Ribbons by Joan Baez, a song that appeared on her very first, unofficial recording session back in 1958. I also played a song or two from her “Folksingers Round Harvard Square” album, a very rare recording that has long been out of print.

At this point, I don’t ever plan to leave radio again!   I have found that it keeps me focused and energized when I have a weekly commitment such as a radio show.  I also love the music and I love being on the air. The station management allowed me to change the name of the  program back to  “The Chicano Connection.” I  now once again have a very loyal foilowing and have a venue for promoting Latin music as well as the work I do at the University of Arizona Library, where I now, among other things, coordinate exhibits and events for Special Collections. Some things are just too worthwhile to let go of for good!

KXCI is member supported, so if you like what you hear, become one of the many, many people who support the station. Use this link to learn more about how you can become a member!

November 2015 Update: I’m still here! I never seem to tire of doing this work and am so, so grateful to the members of KXCI and to all the folks that listen to my radio show. Thank you!

January 2020 Update: Wow,  how time flies! I’m still on the air and hope to continue for a while longer. My record collection continues to grow, and I am always listening to new material, even though I don’t always play it! There’s nothing like hearing the classics. I  am so grateful to all the listeners in Tucson and beyond who come forward during our fund drives and support my show and the station. Thanks so much, my friends. Here’s to hoping that the new year will be a better one than the last one, as it was sure a challenge living through all the turmoil our current administration has caused. Anyone with a heart knows that children shouldn’t be kept in cages and packed in like sardines in jail cells meant for a mere fraction of the number that are put there. Music helps soothe the soul in troubled times. I hope that the music I play achieves at least a little of that. Peace, my friends. — Bob Diaz

March, 2020 Update:

Putting shows together these past few weeks has been more difficult than usual. I seem to have lost the creative spark that usually helps push me forward with yet another show. I promised myself that if this volunteer gig became too much of a burden, that I’d let it go, and unfortunately, the time has arrived to hang up my headphones for good. It’s been a wild, fun ride all these years. I’ve enjoyed this work immensely, and I’m happy that many people in the community enjoyed it too. It’s time to move on to other endeavors. I don’t foresee myself going back at this point, but one never knows. Lord knows I’ve done this before! My replacement will be Gwen Hernandez, who I believe will be an outstanding radio host. She knows Mexico and Mexican music, and that to me is what is most important, to have someone on the air who knows what a ranchera is and what son jarocho is, and who knows the history of Mexico’s music. I’m sure Gwen will be just wonderful. Please join me in supporting her and give her shows a listen. Thanks, my friends. So long. Love you!