To see a video on the spanish-speaking radio show “Fuego,” click here.
Every Sunday night on MAX 94.1 FM, hip-hop heavyweights like Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain are put on hold while the saucy sounds of reggaeton, bachata and Spanish rap take over the air waves.”Fuego” is a bilingual radio program hosted by DJ Dante and Joe Mexican. Between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sundays listeners call in from as far as Mississippi and requests songs in Spanish and English. The show also broadcasts over the Internet, and listeners call in to give shout outs to family members in their home countries in Latin America.Dante said they keep the show bilingual to attract speakers of both languages. For example, they play Spanish versions of popular R&B songs to attract English speakers. Josue Carranza, University alumnus, is a fan of the show. He said the DJs play reggaeton artists he enjoys such as Wisin y Yandel, Don Omar and Aventura.”It’s important that Baton Rouge has a bilingual radio show because there’s a good sized Latino community in this city, but unfortunately not that many programs or activities that cater to it,” Carranza said.The city’s Hispanic population grew by 6 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to estimates released in August by the U.S. Census Bureau. That boosts     Hispanics to nearly 3 percent of the parish population.Dante believes the actual number is higher.”I would say it’s probably closer to 7 or 8 percent,” he said, adding that census numbers of Hispanic populations are often underestimated because of undocumented migrant workers.”The majority of people that call into the show are migrant workers and second generation Latinas,” Dante said. “Your average undocumented worker is not a Nielsen family member and doesn’t show up on the Census.”That’s why the two DJs host the show pro-bono. They aren’t on the station’s payroll and host the program for love of the music. Dante said they prefer not to work for Citadel Broadcasting, which owns MAX 94.1.”We don’t get paid by Citadel so we don’t lose our job when it comes to belt-tightening,” he said. “We get 100 percent creative control over what we play, but we promote at our own cost.”The show started three years ago as the brainchild of DJ Dante. His co-host Joe Mexican is a Spanish rap artist named for his birth country. His success has mainly come from performances in Texas and last year he performed at the annual Texas Latin Rap Awards. Salcedo also works in music production and the Louisiana film industry. Dante said his ultimate goal with “Fuego” was to attract a permanent Latin station in Baton Rouge, a goal which has been achieved.In 2007 the popular New Orleans Latin station, Radio Tropical Caliente 105.5 FM, bought a station in Addis, to broadcast to Baton Rouge.”I like to think I played a part in helping Baton Rouge get a full-time Spanish station,” Dante said.The DJ has been involved in the Hispanic community since his days at the University in the early ‘90s, when he helped promote Latin nights at clubs around town.”Back then we could only hold it every four months or so,” Dante said. Now Baton Rouge supports multiple full-time Latin clubs, including 600 Main downtown, 225 Tropical on Sherwood Forest Boulevard and The Latin Club on Greenwell Springs Road.”Just the fact that you can have multiple Latin clubs open is a testament to how much Baton Rouge has changed,” Dante said.—-Contact Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]