Interviews

How Radio Brisa Tropical Started

We meet today with Taino Roldan from the fabulous station Radio Brisa Tropical. Good morning Mr. Roldan, hope you are well.  

Quite well, thanks to God. Warm greetings to you from our radio station Radio Brisa Tropical.  

How did you start liking broadcasting and how did you know you wanted to get into this? 

Whilst resident in Italy, I began my career as a DJ there and in Germany. When I returned to the United States, I started going to all the local stations to have a salsa show. At first, they always replied that they were not interested and the doors were closed to me, but that never caused me a problem. I have always believed that if a door has closed, you have to find a way to enter that world, no matter what. At last, I started working at an AM station where I spent three years and then at a FM station for almost 10 years.

During this whole period, I was studying broadcasting at the local university and playing with the internet. It was by that time that streaming and webcasting, which was in 2005 if I got it right. A friend of mine who was a computer programmer told me that I could broadcast my shows in this manner. I asked him for help, given he was the expert, so we did this and connected. At that time, Facebook or any of those things did not yet exist, but MySpace did. Then we managed to webcast until the streaming service came out from the hand of YouTube and other platforms, and that’s when I opened my accounts in those social networks and created my website.

While I was on FM, we continued webcasting until 2012, which was when I officially left that station. I was on about four FM stations, but on different days in the area where I was. After I stopped working in those places, I decided to keep right here in my own studio and do my show solely and exclusively on the internet and it has been the case until today. It has been 31 years of happiness and here I am still standing.

We understand that this Radio Brisa Tropical project started in 1991. How was this idea conceived?  

While I was on AM, my show was not called Brisa Tropical, but rather “¿Qué pasa?” There we included all kinds of music and gave cultural news about all countries, since I am in an area represented by all Latin American countries, the Caribbean Centre, South America and Spain. Having such a diverse audience, I decided to talk about all countries and not just mine, which is Puerto Rico. I talk about the important days of all the countries such as independence days and other historical events. I want to make content to entertain and educate the audience.

When I switched to FM, the station where I did my show is called “The Brise” and it played contemporary music in English. So, I sat with a friend who was helping me and it was there when I called my own program “Brisa Tropical”, as it is during that time that we included salsa, merengue, bachata, vallenato and much more.

Thank the Lord and the audience we have, we are more dedicated to salsa, and when I say “salsa”, I am including Cuban son and all these Afro-Cuban rhythms that were called salsa since the 70’s till present. However, we like to include all tropical music, classic as well as contemporary. So, it is at the point now where we have created an international audience, and that’s why it is so important to identify and mention the names of the artists, the orchestras, the composers, the arrangers, the members of the groups. Let us remember that there is plenty of time on the Internet. This is nothing like an AM or FM station that are commercial and you only have to reduce the amount of time. Here, I am the programmer and the announcer.

Radio Brisa Tropical is streamed exclusively on the Internet

You have already told us about the role played by the internet and social networks in implementing your project. So much so that networks have become the main transmission channels of the station. Is the internet the main broadcasting channel or are you still on the radio?  

My show is streamed exclusively on the internet. Commercial broadcasters were my beginning, but I am absolutely sure that the future is the internet and I am not just talking about Facebook because this social network is not a music platform. I have my YouTube channel, my Facebook page and my Twitter account, but webcasting has opened the door to all musicians, performers and composers from anywhere in the world. The internet is the future of music. I am dedicated to salsa and Latin jazz, but I usually include other genres that listeners often ask me for, such as cumbia, tropical music, vallenato, etcetera.   

In addition to salsa, your station plays other genres such as Latin jazz, vallenato, cumbia and plena. Why did you start this project with salsa as a base?  

I grew up with salsa and developed myself as a DJ for many years both in Italy and Germany. Although I used to play everything, when I saw the love of Europeans for salsa on the dance floor, I always decided on it. Salsa has always been my life. I like all positive music, but I will always prefer to broadcast salsa and Latin jazz. Now, if a listener asks me to play a good song that does not have high-flown words or anything, I have no problem with it. Here I have been asked to play even rancheras because I have learned that you never say no to that loyal audience. 

You currently broadcast live on YouTube, Facebook and your website. Do you know which transmission channel has a bigger audience?   

Most of my audience listens to me through the link to my server and website. Remember that the website has the links to the channel and the other social networks. Through TuneIn, I receive a lot of audience around the world. I also use Live365 because the station pays royalties and I have the license to broadcast legally. The problem is that this platform is not heard in some places in South America or Europe, which is precisely why I also use TuneIn. When I check my content every day, I realize that we have a lot of audience coming from the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Europe and the United States.

Age ranges of Radio Brisa Tropical

Many would say that the genres played on your station are to the taste of an older audience that enjoyed the salsa of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. What is the age range of your station?  

According to the demographic information and the comments I am getting, I have seen that we have people from 10 or 11 years old and up. Once, a lady sent me a comment saying that her 100-year-old dad stayed in bed listening to the station and even sent me a picture of him smiling. I’ve also received messages from young people. I would say my demographic ranges from 20 years old and up.

I include classic salsa because many of those performers and bands remain relevant with their legacy despite having passed away, but there are also many salseros from that golden era in the 70’s and 80’s who are still active like Willie Rosario or La Sonora Ponceña. I have a lot of Venezuelan and Colombian friends from Venezuela who always send me music.

 I like to balance my way to program. I like to take people back to the 70’s and even beyond, bring them back to the present and explain the ins and outs of a song or album. One of the most important things a broadcaster must do is to mention the artist, the composer, the arranger, the musicians, among others. You have to talk about the piece that is playing and what is behind it.

What you are saying is very important because many times people only focus on the vocalist or leader of a group, but they do not wonder about all the behind-the-scenes work or even talk about the rest of the members, such as the guitarists, the pianists, the arrangers or the musical directors. In that sense, what do you do to disseminate all this information? 

I like reading a lot. If I am going to talk about a specific artist, I will look for who he is, what his trajectory is, how his beginnings were, what he did, what he is doing now. Of course, I have never included any personal data. This is very important to me because this helps the artist to sell his stuff. When there were a lot of record sales, I had the habit of checking the back to read the liner notes of that artist. That information is very valuable to me because that is what I use to  inform the audience unequivocally.

From what you have told me, you have been working exclusively on the Internet for many years. Did you do it before or after the pandemic?  

I had already been webcasting my program on the Internet for many years. In fact, I have been doing it since 2012. Thank goodness, the pandemic has not affected me in any way. My wife and I have taken care of ourselves and followed the sanitary rules, but this situation has not affected our work. On the contrary, I am here before the microphone in my studio while I speak and play music every day in the morning. It may also happen that I bring my laptop to a remote location and air the show from there or through my cell phone. I have done a lot of interviews during all this time because I like it so much.    

What other projects or shows are you carrying out?  

I have discovered that I can do a show about music, but without playing music. Sometimes I do it, but this is not my usual due to the issue of copyright with Facebook. I have a show called “Hablando de Salsa” and I am proud of it because it has been very successful. I am doing this project with Eduardo Saya. The show is entirely about salsa and we broadcast it every Wednesday at 6 PM CST. There, we always choose a different subject to be tackled every day.

Link to the Facebook page of Taino Roldán: Taino Roldán

His beginnings

Today we have famous Puerto Rican Kharim Santos. Mr. Santos, how have you been feeling? We learned that you were in poor health due to Covid-19.  

First of all, I want to thank you and all your audience for the opportunity to take a few minutes to share with you and be able to talk. In regards of my health, I have always said that the Lord’s way is mysterious and I contracted Covid-19 despite being vaccinated three times, but I am out of that now and in the process of recovering fully. I am forever grateful to the Lord who gives us new opportunities to live.

During my convalescence from Covid-19, we released a new song entitled Lo Van a Entender and it received wide acceptance, so the Lord always blesses in mysterious ways.

You were interested in music from an early age. Could you tell us about the first memory of music?  

I was born in a neighborhood in Puerto Rico called Puerta de Tierra where many important people like Isidro Infante, Joe Quijano, Raphy Leavitt and many other artists have come from. I was born and raised in that neighborhood and my mother, due to his relationship to Daniel Santos “El Anacobero”, received many artists of all musical genres at home like Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez or Ismael Rivera.   

Being such a musical family, music was always very important to me because “Bohemian Nights” were held at my place. A group of friends came to my house and sing “Bohemia”. I was very young when I became really interested in music. I remember Daniel telling my mother that I had a lot of chances in that world.   

The first time I took singing lessons, my teacher was Juan Luis Barry, may he rest in peace. He was the pianist for Silvia Rexach, one of the greatest poets of our country. I also started taking dance lessons with Leonor Contanzo, who is a very professional dancer in Puerto Rico and it was from there that I started to follow the path of music. This has been a complete blessing because this profession has helped me to go to many places both professionally and personally.   

Do you consider that Daniel Santos was some kind of inspiration for starting down this road?  

Oh, yes! What I have always said about Daniel Santos is that the new youth does not know a part of his story, but he was like the “Ricky Martin” or the “Bad Bunny” of the time. He was quite unique because he sang any kind of music and felt very comfortable in any genre. No genre was a problem for him because he sang it very well. He was an icon. I will never be able to be like Daniel Santos and have always wanted to shine with a light of my own taking into account the vision he had of music without disrespecting his career. I made a song called Linda in his honor. I believe that Daniel has been a fundamental part of my career and that of many artists. 

Besides Daniel Santos, what other artists influenced your style and music?  

I will take your question as an opportunity to extend a very special greeting to my friend Cita Rodriguez, daughter of Pete El Conde Rodriguez. Pete was one of those artists who was often on my way home and my mom had a warm friendship with him. I remember his singing, his way of playing “guapacha” (a mix of chachachá and merengue) and that sort of thing. Other artists from the old guard who inspired me were Tito Rodríguez, Rolando Laserie, Santos Colón, Vicentico Valdés and Raphy Leavitt and La Selecta. I bring Raphy Leavitt Y La Selecta up because they used to rehearse a block away from my place.   

When Raphy was alive, he told me that Daniel came close to singing with La Selecta and I did not know a thing about it. These were artists who have marked my life. I believe that the artists of the past have marked my life the most, although there are some modern ones I faithfully follow such as Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega.   

However, the best artists for me are Cano Estremera and Tito Rojas because they were both great friends I personally met and their singings were very parochial. They were stars, but their fame has never gone to their heads. They always had their feet planted firmly on the ground. 

Is Salsa a thing of the past?

Do you think that these artists and musical genres have gone out of fashion and been replaced by other references?  

I think salsa is a genre that has been perpetuated. I do not think it is going to die or disappear. I hear many colleagues who are always saying that salsa is dead, but I think they are wrong. The concept of salsa is a generational thing, but we forget to connect young people with it. We do not teach them the culture of our music and I give the example of Colombia, which is a country I visited on several occasions with Orquesta La Solución and as a soloist. There salsa is widely heard and people think that urban music is heard more than salsa, but it is not.   

What happens is that Colombians had made sure that new generations keep listening and watching these bastions of music. Many guys who sing urban music have called me to collaborate with me. Farruko uses a clip of Ismael Rivera for his song “El Incomprendido”. Many of these new artists are looking to salsa because they have realized that it is a very enriching genre and it helps them in their work. 

That’s why we have to move on and say thanks to people like you who give us the opportunity to stay relevant and let more people know about us. I also think that we have to be vary careful about our lyrics and what we express. Salsa always distinguished itself for singing about small town stuff happening in our communities and when romantic salsa came, we sang to women with much respect. I think we should be maintained in that area. 

If you listen to the music of the new generations, artists go off on such tangents and disrespect women. I think that women should not be devalued, marked out or treated as sexual objects. We have to teach our young people that we can hear good lyrics and enjoy music at the same time. 

Anything that has always characterized salsa is to touch on social, political, and cultural issues. They also addressed the topic of romance with much respect, but that has recently changed. Do you consider that the quality of the lyrics is not an important matter in the industry?  

I think we have devalued the concept of the genre. I have always said that the artist is like a teacher. If you think of it that way, the artist or singer should be like a teacher who brings the teachings of peace, love, hope and a number of things that you concentrate in your lyrics and music. When you sing positive things, you also generate positive things in people.   

I’m going to be straight with you. I have listened to urban music made by friends of mine and wonder how girls can sing that, knowing that they are being denigrated. It’s as if they cover their ears and listen to that music, but are not interested in what artists are saying. Unfortunately, there are many salsa singers who believe that they should do the same as artists of urban music to get the same results. We have lost values and feelings and I do not understand why we have to sing humiliating things to women.   

We could not only talk about disrespect for women, but also about promoting crime and drugs.  

Yes, it’s like a position of power. It’s about seeing how much power I can express in my songs or videos. In my case, I have focused on stopping my music videos from having anything sexual. A friend of mine who directs videos gave me the idea to make one with a model in a hotel room and I answered that it didn’t work for me. To this day, I am not sure that selling sexuality or violence produces something important in anyone’s life. 

What do you and the artists that are of your opinion think you can do to promote positive things?  

I think we also have to refrain a little bit and leave our biases behind us and our ‘I’ness. That is part of the problem we have. There are many artists who only look after themselves and think they are the best artists of the world, but I think we have to get out of it and I have been doing this. Many of these artists of urban music have called me to make songs and I have said yes, but I have given them my ideas.   

Right now, I am recording the song “La Radio” with Crespo, who sings urban music. We made some modifications to the sing, which talks about this separated couple, but they remember their love when they listen to this song on the radio. That’s a nice thing. We have to educate young people and in so doing, I think that joining them to make collaborations can reform music. We have to help each other. 

Do you believe that you can make culture and shape the society we want through music?  

Of course I do. Music is culture. I have always said that. Music is the basis of how culture and people move. I believe music has been made to express ourselves, but we have to do it properly. In my personal opinion, we cannot use it in an inadequate manner. I have told many colleagues that the fact that a guy who sings urban music makes a denigrating song does not mean that they are going to have the same success. That’s not how things work.   

I believe so much in talent. If you are a talented person, people will listen to you. I had that conversation with Gerardo Rivas, who is extremely talented, but his lyrics are positive because he knows not to denigrate anyone. That is our north. Salsa is culture. I have always said that salsa is not just a genre, but a way of life. 

Something that caught my attention in your biography is that you served in the army and participated in certain renowned armed conflicts. How did you combine your military activities with music?  

I was in the army and served 23 years. I retired in 2011 after serving 23 years. I was in Iran and Afghanistan twice. I was a combat infantryman and I was able to mix the two things because music help me to progress. There are things missing in the biography because it focuses more on my military life, but I am also a university professor.   

There are a lot of things about me that people do not know, but I was able to combine the two things because music helped me overcome adversity when I was in those sites of fighting. I was a nighttime patrol and being in a place where you know you could be killed at any moment for 12 hours is not easy, but music comforted me. During my time in the army, I could also sing with various orchestras and do other activities. It was a great blessing for me.   

Incredible conversation with Luis Medina

Good afternoon, everyone. We are here with broadcaster, DJ and event producer Luis Medina. Mr. Medina, how are you today?  

I am well and ready to talk to you right now.

Mr. Medina, you have a very long career as a radio presenter. You got started in this business in 1974. What led you to spend so much time in your career on the radio? 

In 1971 I was studying architecture at San Francisco State University, but in 1974 I changed my major to broadcasting and communications in the Department of Radio and Television. When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by broadcasters on TV with their microphones. My parents gave me a toy microphone, and I always imagined I was broadcasting. At the time I was accepted in the broadcasting program, I already loved salsa because my cousin  Stella played popular music for me since I was about 8 years old. I loved all kinds of music. At home, we always had the radio on, and my parents always listened to tropical music, which was very common at that time.

In 1974 my cousin Eduardo invited me to go to a radio station called KBRG to visit some friends who had a program called Venezuela Suya. In another studio in the station, there was a radio producer named Arturito Santiago, who was the master of ceremonies for the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico when they did dances in San Francisco hotels. When I saw him doing his job, I was intrigued. Two months later, my cousin called to tell me that he’d gotten involved in a community radio station called KPOO San Francisco and asked me if I wanted to help him with the show. I brought a stack of LPs, and we did the show from midnight until 6 am. I went a few times to help, but I could not maintain that pace because I was still in college.

A few months later, he called me to tell me that he had a show from 3pm to 6pm on Sundays. He told me he was talking to other people I knew in order to do the show together. I got a segment of 45 minutes to an hour to do whatever I wanted, so I decided to start programming salsa. I helped produce several programs until I had my own show. In 1979, while I had a four-hour show on Saturdays on KPOO, KBRG’s program director, Al Carlos Hernandez, called me. KBRG was a powerful FM station at that time. That gave me the opportunity to do a commercial show.

I am part Venezuelan and part Mexican, but I grew up in the United States. I spoke Spanish perfectly until I was five years old, but when I started school, I just wanted to speak English in school and at home. When I turned 18, I decided to get my culture back and relearn to speak Spanish again. However, I’m wasn’t completely fluent in Spanish because I have to translate mentally from English. I explained the situation to Al Carlos, and he told me that he did not care. That’s how I became the first radio announcer to do salsa programming in English on a Spanish-speaking station. The program was called Sabor Caliente and it lasted about a year and a half, until they let me go due to philosophical differences. After that, I did specials in KPFA, until Víctor Castro, who produced the program Ahora, invited me to alternate weeks with him. I produced salsa shows on KPFA from 1983 to 1995.

What Medina has to say about all his combined activities

How do you balance your radio activities and event production and your job as a DJ?  

When I was a student at San Francisco State University, I became co-director of the university’s productions to present musical acts. From 1974 to 1976 I presented acts from various genres such as rock, R&B, and jazz, among others. I also presented some salsa and Latin jazz shows, including Pete and Sheila Escovedo, who were part of Roger Glenn’s band, Benny Velarde and others. I became friends with Pete and Sheila before Sheila became Sheila E and I also worked with Pete’s brother, Coke Escovedo in the 70s.

Then I met Roberto Hernandez, who had an organization that helped produced the first major street fairs in the San Francisco Mission district together with a coalition of community agencies. I got involved with the fairs, which presented the famous singer Joe Bataan among others. It was the era of Latin rock, but salsa was also booming. I was part of the renaissance of salsa music that occurred on the radio, but I also had the opportunity to play an influential role in the community in the Mission. In 1977, the Mission Cultural Center opened in a furniture store ran by artists that were organizing it. I became part of the music committee and we presented performances and salsa groups that were growing in fame at that time. I was involved on the activities of the center until the 1980s, when some of us created a production group called CMP (Cultural Music Productions). During the 80s we did a series of dances, in which I worked as master of ceremonies. I already had experience as master of ceremonies because when I was at KBRG, they gave me the opportunity to introduce some great shows with Celia Cruz, La Sonora Matancera, Oscar D’ León, Cal Tjader and La Orquesta Broadway. I was also master of ceremonies for Brazilian carnivals for about five years. With CMP I was involved in dances with Willie Colón, Bobby Valentín, Oscar D’ León, and boxing champion Roberto Durán (who at the time wanted to be a salsa singer).

Eventually I left CMP, and I was contacted by Roberto Hernandez, who offered me the position of entertainment director of his new organization, MECA. I accepted and started to help him program the schedule for events such as the San Francisco Carnival, and the 24 Street Fair. I worked with Roberto until 1994 and we presented Santana, Los Lobos, Eddie Palmieri, Luis Henrique, Willie Colón, Yomo Toro, Mighty Sparrow, The Neville Brothers, Shaggy, and many more. When Roberto Hernandez left the organization, I stayed for four more years and worked with Manny Oquendo and Libre, John Santos, Pete Escovedo and Pancho Quinto. In 1998, the president of the organization Patricia Aguayo and I had some problems, so we stopped working together.

A radio DJ and a party DJ are two completely different things. It took me a little while to adjust to being a live DJ. In the early 1990’s, the producers at the Alta Vista club hired me from time to time. Then, they moved to a ship called Alta Vista del Mar in Pier 3, and occasionally hired me as their DJ.

In 1994 I met a very ambitious young Venezuelan by the name of Adrian Goddard and started working with him at his club, 330 Ritch. It was a winning combination of Adrian’s talent as an event producer and my talent as a DJ and MC. I worked there for about nine very successful months, but then I had an opportunity with KPFA and I was forced to leave the club because the schedule conflicted. My priority was to produce my own salsa show (ironically, this program didn’t last long, but in 1997 they offered me the same slot, which would become the program Con Sabor, which I still produced today, 25 years later, at KPFA, on Saturdays from 9-11pm.)

A little later, Kimballs Carnaval hired me as a Latin House DJ, as this rhythm was very popular at that time. I wanted to please them, but it wasn’t a good fit. Eventually I was hired as a salsa DJ by the club Kimballs West. This opened other opportunities and I became the DJ in residence at the most prominent salsa clubs in San Francisco at the time, the legendary Jelly’s Cafe, where I DJ’d until it closed in 2010 and the popular Café Cócomo, which closed in 2014. I now DJ and MC primarily for special events and private parties.

Something very important in my story is that in 1997 I worked with Bill Martinez and Arturo Riera  and they both gave me the opportunity to be master of ceremonies for a very important series of concerts featuring Cuban musicians who were allowed into the States for the first time. I was the first master of ceremonies for a Los Van Van concert in San Francisco and I also represented my show and KPFA for their concert at Stern Grove in 2019. That was one of many times that I worked with that group.  I also was the MC   for Orquesta Aragon, Cubanismo, NG La Banda and other Cuban acts.

During the pandemic, I was offered a show with an online radio station called World Salsa Radio. I started the show Sabiduría con Tumbao on Wednesdays from 5 to 7 pm. What makes this show different from Con Sabor is that Sabiduría Con Tumbao is a conceptual program that focuses on certain musicians, musical themes and movements within salsa and Afro-Latin music. On the other hand, Con Sabor offers a broader perspective of salsa, Latin Jazz and música cubana from the classics to the latest.

Since the pandemic started, I produce all my radio shows at home. I managed to master the technology and built my own home studio. I am not afraid of technology or modern things. I go with the flow because I’ve learned that I should be at the forefront of technology and music. If I do not know something, I am going to research it right away. I keep an open mind and ears and I appreciate and listen to all kinds of music, something that was key when I was music director at KPFA from 2001 through 2014. In terms of my own programs, I really love salsa from the 70s, but I’m not stuck in any time period.