SAN ANTONIO – Upstairs at 510 South Flores, just south of downtown, longtime disc jockey Danny Casanova said his on-air farewells to his loyal listeners.
"What can we say about KEDA, the last day, the last day, wow!" Casanova said.
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At its "bunker" downstairs nearly four years, members of Brothers of Fallen Heroes packed up hundreds of cherished photos and other mementos of military service donated by area veterans.
"It just seems that we have to tear down everything that we just worked for with all our hearts," said BOFH founder Bert Hernandez about the group's mission to help homeless veterans, many in the downtown area.
Both said the two-story building is being sold to HEB, which has its headquarters nearby. Casanova said KEDA, 1540 on the AM dial, known by its listeners as Radio Jalapeno, has been leased to new owners who will build on its reputation as the world's first to play conjunto music.
He said he was reassuring his audience the change will be "for the better, AM and FM, something our listeners have always wanted."
"Back then it was called cantina music," Casanova said, describing songs often heard in bars, that evolved into conjunto and Tejano music. On the air since 1966, there was much to reminisce about as performers and disc jockeys, past and present, gathered at KEDA, its walls lined with promotional posters.
"We made them, like they made us," said Richard Cruz, best known on the air as "Big Rich."
Ricardo Davila whose family owns KEDA was the music director and popular morning disc jockey "Guero Polkas."
"Songs that were not going to happen and we made them happen," Davila said.
He said "Hey, Baby Que Paso" by Augie Meyers and "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," by the late Freddy Fender went on to become major hits. They also said the station's public outreach earned KEDA an even larger following.
"Who else would announce a plate sale to bury somebody?" Davila said.
The founder of Brothers of Fallen Heroes said his group was able to rent its space downstairs on a month-to-month basis thanks to the Davila family. Hernandez said now he's hoping a fellow veteran will offer BOFH an affordable alternative. He said after looking around downtown, "$1,200 was the least that I could find."
"I hope it's somebody with a business that has a big heart," Hernandez said.
Until then, he said BOFH will have a small temporary office near Loop 410 and New Sulphur Springs Road. Hernandez said his veterans will continue their outreach downtown as well as providing their own honor guard for homeless veterans being buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.