“It took 10 years to do this, and I’m still learning stuff every day.”īuckley’s research has made him arguably the authority on mariachi in Tucson, a genre of music that piqued his interest when he first started covering Tucson’s classical music scene for the Citizen in 1987. “I had no idea it was going to take this long,” he said. Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily StarĪbout a half dozen of the people he interviewed early on have since died one interview subject died two weeks before Buckley was set to speak with them.

A few paid staffers including Hudson and the station’s Executive Director Elva De La Torre also clock in airtime alongside a handful of volunteers whose nighttime and weekend shows focus on everything from blues and indigenous voices to underground electronic music and classic Southern soul and funk going back to the 1950s.Daniel Buckley, director of “The Mariachi Miracle” has worked on the documentary film for 10 years, which chronicles the history and significance of Tucson’s role in the rise of mariachi music. weekdays and Hannah Levin’s “The Homestretch” from 3-6 p.m. The station has two paid drive-time personalities, Jim Blackwood’s “Your Morning Brew” from 7-10 a.m. to 6 p.m., listeners can hear every imaginable genre of popular music from classic rock to Latin and soul, gospel, indie rock, mariachi, Native American and folk/Americana.

“What’s really interesting about KXCI is that we still have the basic philosophy that the station started out with, which is that we have the music mix Mondays through Fridays in the daytime and specialty shows at night and on weekends,” said Duncan Hudson, who will mark his 25th year as KXCI’s music director in January.įrom 5 a.m. Another 10,000 listeners from around the country and world listen to KXCI through its online live stream, Shauger said. Shauger said 35,000 people regularly tune into KXCI on the radio at 91.3 FM, where it has been since moving from its original spot at 91.7 FM in the early 1990s.

Proceeds from those concerts benefit KXCI, which supports its $1.2 million annual budget through underwriting from local businesses, grants and listener donations, which bring in roughly half of the station’s revenues, said Amanda Shauger, KXCI’s operations and donor relations director.

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