History Page

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~FRANKIE FIRME & THE 2nd TIME AROUND SHOW ~ Keeping it fine, since 1999 !

    I've been a lover of Music forever! My Mom & Dad  were East L.A. "Pachuko           Jitterbuggers" from the 1940's and 50's, and family parties happened all the time       where the family, friends, and neighbors got together to play music and dance.              Everybody knew everybody, and it was all good! People stuck together, and we              appreciated the World we made for ourselves. I can't remember when somebody wasn't playing and  listening to music ...even during  hard times!                                              
     I grew  up in the East L.A.~San Gabriel Valley area in the 1960's and 70's,during    the birth and heyday of the "West Coast East Side Sound" &  Lowriding CHICANO      Music, Lowriding, the Civil rights era, the Chicano Movimiento &  Moratorium, the High  School walkouts, the Viet Nam war, and the explosion of American Rock & Roll into many different and new genres...just too much history & cultural change to absorb at one time, so we made it easier by taking it in with the music that represented our souls at the        time...and now, 40 years later, with a better educated  older generation of Gente taking better care of themselves and living fuller, more active lifestyles, the music remains      alive, and is inspiring live shows & concerts, books, movies, comedy, plays, poetry,          art,...and of course, more beautiful Chicano music. Our generation, our people, and the    music that represents us is not lost, and in the tribal tradition, it should be shared.      
   I started out on the American Radio Network's cable radio station KCLA   FM, 99.3 in 1999, after winning a Doo~Wop DJ contest, and the owner of the ARN invited me to join  his station network . They added internet/satellite station KCLAFM.com in           2000. During the taping of one of the earlier shows, one of the station managers          complimented me on my choice  of music & songs during a show he was monitoring.          ( "Firme  Hits of the  Past with  Frankie Firme"). When finding out that most of the    music was from an era  when he himself was young and had focused only on hard rock &  "surfer music",  he     stated "Wow!  I missed that stuff the first time around... Glad you're keeping it alive, Frankie!                                                                                                                                                                                                           
   Thus, were "The 2nd Time Around" and the "bringin' it back, and keepin' it alive"     themes born, and my show was heard coast to coast, & around the World, with over 2 million listeners weekly. People just couldn't get enough of a good thing, it seems, and other internet radio station started popping up after mine.   
   In early 2004, I was invited by the legendary "Godfather of Tejano Soul" Crazy Chuy Hernandez of Texas's CHICANO EXPRESS RADIO NETWORK to begin taping shows for his station, and in late 2005, I was invited by East L.A. Chicanio Music pioneer "Froggy" Camarena to also submit shows to his short lived Q~VO Radio Shows.
   In late 2006, in response to a large World wide listening audience's suggestions and problems encountered by overloaded webstreams, I left KCLA FM after 7 years, and Q~VO Radio after 6 months, to move to bigger web server capacitie that were  available exclusively only on East L.A. Revue Radio (California) and Chicano Express Radio (Texas), where the clear, digital sound is now even available for downloading, and Internet "drop offs" are almost a thing from the past.
   It is with that in mind that I do what I do, with so many talented artists and fans     supporting me around the World, I don't think I'll ever stop!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
          
  THANK YOU ALL! And may the music play forever!!                                               

   

 

HEAR THE FINEST CHICANO MUSIC ON:

www.eastLArevue.com  ~  ~ everyday ~click on the radio page!

www.ChicanoExpress.com ~ ~ every other day ~

 

 ...by the way, that's the legendary Chris " Lil' Santana"  Reserva of the SATISFACTION Band in the above photo, plying his trade at a gig circa 2004-2005. This homie can "chop an axe"!!

The History Behind My Site

Once my radio show "the 2nd Time Around" became popular on the Internet around 2000,  and commercial radio stations  ignored the Chicano &  Black  audience with their take on Oldies, I thought of a webpage where other Oldies lovers could drop by and check out all the 411 I could find on music,  books,  groups, dances, concerts and other websites without the corny "happy days" commercial spin. I also began promoting Lowrider car shows & dances, and my audience just grew & grew. From 1999 to 2006, I eveloped an audience made up of listeners from all over the United States, as well as Europe, Japan, Canada and U.S. military personnel from different parts of the World.

In late 2006, Steven Chavez & Hector Gonzalez of RAMPART Records threw their hats into the Internet radio ring,  the East L.A. Revue Radio Network was born, and I left KCLA FM for a larger webstreamer that could accomodate such a large listening audience. 

Forming a solid bond with Texas's Chicano Express Radio Network, AZTLAN now had it's own Chicano Music Radio venue where hitherto almost ignored Chicano tastes in music  are the main course, and over 90% of the featured artists are Latino. 

 Adding yet another Latin Music heavy to our homestyle music buffet in early 2007 , well known Internet DJ Erik "CHICO" Manqueros, with his trademark "Latin style of jazz", joined the East L.A. Revue Radio network to round out our offering of "all you can hear".

 

The Family of CHICANO MUSIC

As my involvement with music grew, I became priviliged to meet some of the talent of my music world, and have been invited to promote, host, or emcee live shows ( and make friends ) with such greats as Steven Chavez's East L.A. Revue All Star Band, The Coasters,  The Satisfaction Band, The Olympics, The Blues Straight Up Band, The Temptations, Tierra, Chico, Nuestro, Rosie & The Originals, Steve Salas, Brenton Wood, Soto, Gilbert Esquivel, The  Premiers,Cory Silva, Sangria, Malo, Pepe Marquez, Cannibal & The Headhunters, Rocky Padilla, Al Wilson, Joe Bataan, The Latin Oldies Festival, The Chicano Oldies- Rock n Roll & Blues Show,  The Oxnard Annual  Salsa Festival, Thee Mr. Duran Show, and Aaron Ballesteros & APB,  among others.

"Bringing it back, and keeping it alive " has become the theme of my show & commitment to the music of Aztlan, writing all about it in www.LatinoLA.com  , and broadcasting it all over the World on Internet radio stations www.eastLArevue.com & www.ChicanoExpress.com  ~ whoever said "you can never get enough of a good thing" must have been in love with a BROWN woman and Chicano music!

www.LatinoLA.com

The first, and fastest growing West Coast Web magazine dedicated solely to the Arts, Culture, Education, Entertainment, and Business interests of the Brown side of the greater metropolitan area of Los Angeles, the West Coast, Aztlan, and the World.

Established in 1999, Editor Abelardo de la Pena Jr.  is given much credit for pionering a previously unheard of undertaking of promoting the lifestyles of the Brown & Proud to the World, outside of American Corporate control & censure, and has inspired many other Latino flavored Internet publications.

This website, East L.A. Revue & Chicano Express Radio, along with the many artists of Aztlan, owe  Mr. Abelardo de la Pena  a sincere debt of gratitude!     

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN US!