A screen shot from the website kunmmemories.org.
COMMENTARY: The days surrounding Nov. 1, El Día de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), have been or will be marked by numerous events in the Paso del Norte and greater borderlands- parades, art exhibitions, poetry readings, musical performances, memorial altars, and the gathering of families in cemeteries to honor their loved ones.
Ciudad Juárez, El Paso, Mesilla and Albuquerque are just a few of the places where a festivity rooted in Indigenous traditions is growing in participation. Here and there, the bright colors of the marigold flower (la flor de cempasúchil) emblematic of the Day of the Dead, splash the landscape, mirroring the autumn bloom of the cottonwoods guarding the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, which mark another transition.
On this year’s Day of the Dead I will be remembering my late colleagues and friends who helped build KUNM-FM Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest public/community radio station, into a New Mexico media and cultural institution.
For more than a year, I have been writing biographies of deceased volunteer deejays and programmers who served at KUNM from the 1970s until recent years. So far, nine stories are finished and posted at kunmmemories.org. If you’ve ever listened to KUNM you might recognize names and voices that helped craft the soundtrack of your life.
If you are a newcomer to or unfamiliar with KUNM, you will find that the memorial bios surpass the personal and embody histories that touch on the politics, culture, music and mores of New Mexico, the United States and the world during the late 20th Century and early 21st Century.
New stories cover the lives of David Lescht, KUNM deejay and dedicated practitioner of the Mimi Fariña, (Joan Baez’s sister) school of bring-music-to-the confined masses; Cecilio García-Camarillo, founder of the station’s long running Espejos de Aztlán (Mirrors of Aztlán) cultural/ public affairs show and bilingual interviewer extraordinaire who left a taped archive of platicas that dug deep into the past, present and future of New Mexico and beyond; and Oliver Stone, a colorful KUNM personality whose multiple lives spanned the beatnik, countercultural, Reagan, Clinton and Bush eras.
The three new memorials add to six existing ones, some of which have been updated with new information.
Our stories also sketch the lives of David House, jazz deejay and actor who appeared in “Breaking Bad” and other productions; Marilyn Altenbach, member of the trio that produced KUNM’s longest running musical program (45 plus years and counting), Tuesday night’s highly acclaimed The Home of Happy Feet; Spencer Walaitis, Albuquerque artist, activist and musician who gave his life for KUNM; Dave Denny, Native American deejay who was rightfully called “New Mexico’s Godfather of the Blues;” and Jesus Guzmán, a bilingual deejay and news announcer for KUNM who later helped co-found the Tumblewords Project and achieved recognition as a poet in the Paso del Norte borderland.
Last but far from least, you’ll read about KUNM’s own “Woman of the World,” Jane Blume, who spearheaded the station’s election night coverage for years, interviewed countless UNM scholars and played folk music on Saturday mornings, among other radio chores.
The stories of KUNM’s gone but not forgotten volunteer broadcasters include photos, audio clips, songs and poems. You can check it all out at kunmmemories.org.
Keep checking from time to time, as more stories will be posted in the near future. Oh, and remember, in this age of the Internet you don’t have to live within KUNM’s broadcast radius to hear the station. Just go to kunm.org and enjoy the live streaming. You can even listen to programs you’ve missed on the two-week archive.
Kent Paterson is an independent journalist who covers issues in the U.S./Mexico border region. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.