Sandra Treviño, 48, has run Latin-music site Enchúfate since founding it in 2005. She also contributes to Vocalo and two Lumpen Radio programs and DJs as part of Latinx arts collective Future Rootz.
When we saw the lack of coverage for the rock en español community—nobody was reporting about it, we weren’t getting written up—the band’s singer and myself decided to do something about it. He studied cinematography at Columbia College and he’s like, “I know how to do video. If you’re interested in interviewing bands, why don’t we cover the community?” We started a TV show on channel 25 called Errores no Eliminados, which means “Errors not Eliminated.” We started covering local shows—going to every single show out there, interviewing all the bands. That’s where my love for covering artists that weren’t being covered comes from. Now that’s what I do all the time as a music journalist.
I got into radio through them. I started working with Radio One Chicago on WLUW—I was with them for a few years. And then Lumpen Radio happened. Me and my DJ partner, Stephanie Manriquez, we decided we wanted to push women-fronted music, mostly from Latin America and South America. We were asked to DJ at a show, and then when Lumpen Radio popped up, we submitted our show idea; we called ourselves the Ponderers, because we were always pondering about music.
