Puro Party Radio 

Roberto Torres

In the mid 1970s, the world around me  was exploding musically. But as a teenager cruising up and down Gtown's (Galveston Island, Texas) picturesque Seawall Boulevard, it was the Chicano music scene that struck me like a bolt of lightning. 

From the West Coast, bands like Santana, El Chicano, Malo, etc. combined fiery red hot guitars, Afro-Latin percussion and rhythms with Chicano soul. In high school, I attended my first Santana concert at the Sam Houston Colosseum in Houston and my first El Chicano concert at Galveston’s Quintero Recreation Center. Both times I was blown away. 

During that same period, a very reluctant me,  being no fan of Tejano music, was persuaded by my cousin Andrew Espinosa (R.I.P.) to join him at the famed Moody Civic Center for a gran baile featuring Sunny (Ozuna) & The Sunliners. I was immediately hooked on Tejano music, and   was fortunate afterwards to attend shows by legendary  bands like The Latin Breed, Tortilla Factory, The Royal Jesters, Ramon Ayala,  Little Joe y La Familia,  Ruben Ramos & The Mexican Revolution, just to name a few. I was captivated by the pulsating cumbias, foot-stomping polkas, and beautiful slow jam boleros, all punctuated by brassy horn arrangements and accordion riffs. 

In the early 1980s, while attending law school at the University of Houston, I was exposed to the world of Salsa and Latin Jazz. During this time, I was fortunate to catch shows by artists like Tito Puente, Eddie Palmeri, Flora Purim, Airto, Houston's very own Roberto and Norma Zenteno, etc. 

Growing up in Texas, Country music, Willie, Waylon, and the boys were never far away. While in high school, I was able to watch the late Freddy Fender perform at Quintero's Recreation Center. Freddy was a pioneer in the Tejano Country sub-genre, later led by artists like Rick Trevino, Rosie Flores,  and the late Emilio Navaira.

I have also come to appreciate some of the newer artists like Becky G, Gabriella, Yeisi, Madison Pulido, Tejano Bluesman, Vanita Leo, La 45, Ray-Mix, Grupo Frontera, Snow tha Product, Tren Lokote, etc. These next generation artists are creating exciting new music in different genres and at times pushing the traditional boundaries.

I am a Tejano-Chicano-Blues-Salsa-Latin Jazz-Country-R&B-Hip Hop music fan. When I'm not busy practicing law, you can often find my wife Nora and I at Chicano Rock concerts, Houston's Festival Chicano, the Tejano National Music Convention in Las Vegas, the Tejano Music Fan Fair in San Antonio, etc. For the past 5 years or so, I've volunteered with Galveston L.U.L.A.C. Council 151 as a festival committee co-chair and entertainment coordinator for the very popular and successful annual Cinco de Mayo festival, Dia de Los Muertos festival, and the 75th Anniversary Gala. 

I founded PuroPartyRadio.Com in 2022 with the vision of promoting Mexican and Mexican-American artists regardless of their genre, although other Latin-American and non Latin artists and their music are played as well. People ask me, is PuroPuroRadio.Com a Tejano music radio station? The answer is a resounding yes. I guarantee you'll hear some of the best Tejano music ever on PuroPartyRadio.Com. But we are much more than that. We're also a Tejano Country station, a Chicano Blues station, a Chicano rock station, a Latin Jazz and Salsa station, a Rock en Español station, a Latin Hip-Hop station, and more. You get the picture. I don't like to be pigeon-holed into a box. Never have and never will.

On PuroPartyRadio.Com, you're going to get a musical buffet of different styles of music, new and classic music, familiar artists and the unfamiliar, the hits and the little known songs, in Spanish, English and Spanglish, studio as well as live concert recordings, and at times, I am going to push the musical boundaries too. To be honest, I'm not sure if this experiment is going to work, but I hope you join me on this journey, and we will find out together. 

ps. I want to give my most heartfelt appreciation to DJ extraordinaire and my friend, Benny Padilla, for his invaluable contributions to PuroPartyRadio.Com, like sharing his radio expertise, DJ skills, and vast music collection with me, and for helping me get the station up and running. Benny, whatever path you follow, you'll always be in my heart bro.