MEET A MEMBER
Interview with David Gonzalez by Ben Erdmann
Guerra, who is a very famous Dominican artist, widely regarded as one of the artists who popularized a current form of Dominican music—bachata—and gave it broad appeal that allowed it to spread across the island, where it used to be a niche and frowned-upon genre.
Art by Ale Díaz-Pizarro, working off a photo provided by David Gonzalez & Ben Erdmann.
S
o, can you introduce yourself and talk a bit about your involvement at WKCR? I’m David Gonzalez, a senior at Columbia. I’ve been involved with KCR for a year and change now, so, since last fall. And since I became a programmer, I’ve been relatively involved in the Latin department. I’ve hosted Urbano Latinx, which is our Tuesday morning show of urban Latino music. I’ve hosted Mambo Machine a handful of times and a Sunday Profile. Who was the Sunday Profile on? I did it over the summer. It was on Juan Luis
8 OnAir · February 2024
Over the last year-and-change, how has your relationship to the station evolved? It’s definitely changed a ton; I really didn’t know what to expect when I came in. I originally joined with my friend Noel Gomez, since he was interested in the radio and I was vaguely interested in the prospect of being on air but didn’t know what it was really about. As I got more involved with the station, I came to understand better what goes on around the station, how everything’s operated, and how to program stuff on air. Over time I’ve gotten to know a lot more people at KCR; I’ve gotten to be a part of this wonderful community which I think has really been a highlight of my time here at Columbia. I’ve also got to know a little more about the history of the station and get feedback from listeners, which has been very rewarding. It’s also nice to be able to express myself and learn a little more about different genres of music and have people appreciate that I’m putting in this time and effort. I’ve really grown to appreciate it all. You mentioned Urbano Latinx and Mambo Machine; have those shows always been in your repertoire? Have the shows you’re interested in changed? I originally took Urbano because it’s one of the slots that was open when I got licensed—you know, Tuesday [early] morning, I thought I’d
