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“I brought a lot of joy, let me tell you,” she said. “I did a
lot of free announcing of benefit dinners and dances, community
events. Without my being there, the word would never have
actually gotten out. It was a big thing for the community for me
to be able to do that, put the Tejano music out and keep
everyone updated on all the fairs and festivals, and other
happenings on the Tejano scene.”
Ms. Avina served as a bilingual announcer, as much to benefit
the non-English speaking Latino community and keep them informed
as to draw closer to her audience on a personal level. Her radio
show had hundreds of loyal listeners who would call in to
dedicate songs to loved ones.
“I felt proud to bring out what I was doing—bring out the Tejano
music,” she said. “I was just able to bring joy to families
every weekend. People couldn’t wait until Sunday for the program
to start—the cookouts, birthday parties. Everybody planned
everything around that time when I was on and it just made me
feel good people let me into their homes.”
Ms. Avina readily admits her departure from the airwaves is
bittersweet. While she’ll miss connecting with listeners, she
wants to devote her Sundays to her own family and watching her
grandchildren grow up.
“People were calling up, saying ‘What are we going to do without
you on Sundays?’” she recalled. “We’d sit down and talk and
listen to you. But I said, ‘Yeah, you know how much I’ve missed?
I was a very hard decision. I still had passion for the music,
but my passion to be there every Sunday just was not there
anymore.”
Ms. Avina was never paid for her radio gig. The show failed to
gain any sponsors along the way, too. She finally decided she
had missed enough family birthdays and holidays—Easter, Mother’s
Day, Father’s Day among them—only able to take off four Sundays
a year with a substitute D.J.
“I grew up with it, I love the music—I just have a passion for
it,” she explained. “I love to dance. The words to the songs— I
love everything about it. Being at the festivals, trying to
keep the music alive in the community and even with the younger
generation, it is amazing how I have a young radio listening
audience. They listen like clockwork every Sunday.”
Ms. Avina has two grown children: Rebecca, 34, and Michael, 36,
as well as two grandchildren, ages 10 and 6. She has been
married to husband Mike for nearly 37 years, marking their
latest wedding anniversary just before her final radio show. Her
radio “retirement” also will allow the couple to travel more.
Camping is a favorite weekend hobby.
Ms. Avina, 54, also has an ailing mother and will have to help
provide care. Many of her fans will miss her, but understand and
appreciate the reasons for her departure.
“She said, ‘You’re going to be missed, but your family has
missed you more,’” Ms. Avina recalled one listener telling her.
A male listener called to tell her thank you and tell her he had
been listening to the show for a decade, but admitted he had to
hang up before starting to cry.
Listeners will still have B-Net Radio and www.tejanofm.com on
the Internet and other Tejano music sources, but nothing with a
local flavor such as Lady Di. The first hour of the radio
program was devoted to recorded song dedications from as far
away as Texas. Listeners have called to thank her, and a
waitress even presented her with a free meal during a recent
trip to a restaurant, because the employees played her radio
show in the kitchen every Sunday afternoon and evening.
“A lot of people would play my show during their family events,
and the party was over when I was off the air,” she said with a
proud grin.
Ms. Avina’s grandparents came from Mexico and worked as migrant
farmworkers. Her father was born in Texas, but grew up and
graduated from high school in Bryan. Her mother was born in
Fostoria. She still works full-time at an Adrian-based business
and lives there as well.
Her most unique moment in the past dozen years occurred last
year, when Tejano artist Rubén Ramos [of Rubén Ramos and the
Mexican Revolution] called her radio show right after
winning a Latin Grammy award.
“We were the first radio station he called as he walked off the
stage,” she said. “We were the very first call. He called live
as he was stepping off the stage. That was awesome. My
station—it’s known all over.”
Tejano music still will remain an active part of her life. Ms.
Avina and her husband enjoy traveling to Texas whenever possible
to attend Tejano music festivals and award shows and rub
shoulders with many of their artists.
“It’s been a wonderful past 12 years,” she said. “There’s not a
D.J. that can say they’ve had an audience like
mine.”
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