Tulsa's only Spanish radio station and its popular morning show

Thursday, February 17th 2005, 11:57 am

By: News On 6

There is a very popular morning radio show in Tulsa, and more than 20,000 people tune in to their radio station to hear them every morning. But if you don't speak Spanish, their show is lost in translation.

6 in the Morning reporter Omar Villafranca explains.

Out of KXTD's tiny studio, two radio personalities belt out their all Spanish morning show to Tulsa listeners. "El Bigoton", that's Spanish for "the man with the big mustache" and his side kick Polycarpio, his real identity is a secret, are the stars. They play music, read the news and crack jokes on air. You might be surprised about the diversity of their listeners. Everardo Regis, "El Bigoton": "The majority of the people that listen are Mexican. I heard 86%. We do have people that are Columbian, Honduran, Salvadorian, other people from South America that listen. We're also talking to some Argentineans."

"El Bigoton" works the phone, that's right, one phone. He works that phone for prizes to give away, book acts and most importantly, to talk to listeners.

The audience calls non-stop. Maria Gaytan, KXTD General Manager:" They want to win those tickets, they want to win those tickets, we can't get them off the phone line. The phone always gets tied up."

KXTD-AM 1530, hit the airwaves in 1997. General Manager Maria Gaytan and her husband started the station to promote concerts. It's grown to include several programs. Eight years later, they're still the only Spanish radio station in town. Gaytan: "It's an honor, but it also makes us to be more community. We plug into our community, because we are the only Spanish radio station. We want to give them great programming, great service. We don't want to take that for granted that we're the only one and do whatever."

If you don't speak Spanish, it may sound like "whatever", but 20,000 listeners can't be wrong. To celebrate their 8 years on the air, KXTD is bringing in the Grammy award winning band "Intocables".

If you want more information, check out their web site.