Content area
Full text
Label: MUSIC
La Honda Tejana - the Tejano wave - flows freely in southern Colorado, from the Pueblo West studio of KNKN (FM 107.1).
The 18-month-old station spins the hits of one of the hottest musical styles in the United States today.
KNKN is the only 24-hour FM Tejano radio station in Colorado, and the Tex-Mex style thrives in Pueblo County, where the population is 43 percent Hispanic. Its 50,000-watt range also draws listeners from Colorado Springs, especially Hispanics and the military community, and from as south far as New Mexico.
"That beat is coming up big-time," says program director Alfredo Gonzalez. "In a few more years, it'll be the happening musical style. You can hear every single style in it."
Tejano is a relatively new term that didn't exist in name two decades ago. It is a mix of German polka, American country, rock, jazz and traditional Mexican music, and its defining feature is that the accordion dominates the melody.
"It's really popular among second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans because it bridges old...