SAN ANTONIO — Jonny Ramirez loves Tejano, and it’s fair to say it even runs through his veins. The musica (music) was a beacon of light for him growing up in the Rio Grande Valley and he’s bringing it back to the San Antonio FM airwaves at Tejano station 95.7.
“[I was] born and raised on the music of Little Joe, Joe Bravo, Augustin Ramirez, Little Joe & the Latinaires, The Latin Breed with Jimmy Edward on the mic,” Ramirez recounted.
Artists like Little Joe presented Ramirez with representation, for they looked like him and talked like him. It also helped that their music was timeless.
Ramirez has met his idols, even interviewed them and established friendships. He’s preserved and pushed the culture in the Tejano Capitol of the world, San Antonio, for 22 years.
However, the Alamo City hasn’t had an FM radio station that is strictly dedicated to Tejano in years.
It’s like if New York City didn’t have Hip-Hop on its airwaves or if Nashville stopped playing country music on the radio.
“For a lot of kids that were born here, that were raised here, Tejano music is their umbilical cord to San Antonio, to their parents, to their grandma, to their grandpa,” Ramirez explained.
That’s the case for Kellie Alcozer and her mother Brenda Pacheco. They grew up in two different eras of Tejano music, but there’s one common theme — family. And for Alcozer, all it takes is one Bobby Pulido or Shelly Lares song to trigger those familial memories.
“I hear a bottle being opened, I hear the fajitas sizzling on the grill, like a backyard birthday party, that’s what I hear,” Alcozer said.
It’s what she heard on the radio going to-and-from school, especially Ramirez, when he hosted “Jonny Ramirez in the Morning Show” on KXTN 107.5. Alcozer had no choice but to listen.
“It was my car, my radio. We were going to listen to what I wanted to listen to,” Pacheco exclaimed. “So, she [Alcozer] was almost forced and then she began to appreciate it without me knowing.”
That’s what typically happens to kids from San Antonio when they become adults. They continue those traditions. The same songs get played at parties, quinceañera’s and weddings.
Pacheco was asked how she would explain Tejano to those who aren’t familiar with the culture, and her answer was simple.
“And I wouldn’t even try. I would take them to the local cantina (bar.) You have to be there. You have to experience it to feel it. I can’t just describe it to you,” Pacheco says.
Both Pacheco and Alcozer are excited that they can tune into Tejano 95.7, and listen to Ramirez pushing the Tejano culture forward with the classics and promoting the up-and-coming talent.
Recently, Ramirez showed up in his black leather jacket and his converses, grabbing a microphone to show Spectrum News 1 he can still entertain.
“Blue skies, temperature’s 74 degrees, it’s going to be a beautiful day in the Alamo city. All we need now is some Tejano music,” Ramirez announced.