Remembering an El Paso legend - Steve Crosno

Friends, as some of you know, I spent much of the 1970s growing up in that bordertown near the Rio Grande called El Paso (spanish for "The Pass"). And during that time learning how to count, write, and all of that good stuff, I remember hearing and watching many legends of the El Paso media. If you never heard of people like Ted Bender, Gary Warner, Howell Eurich, Bob Mitchell, Sam Donaldson, Tee Casper, and John Garmon, then you are not an El Pasoan.

Then there's another one; Steve Crosno. He began his career at the age of 16, in the late-1950s working in radio (that's right, before he graduated from high school). He was truly amazing, and very smart too: at the age of two, he learned math; and by the time he entered Elementary School, he conducted his first choir. Talk about growing up in a hurry!

Steve started out in Las Cruces, doing a weekly show for three years; then by 1960 he was heard on KELP AM 920. Very quickly he was becoming a name for himself, and actually headed off to San Diego to work there for more money. One problem: he was not happy there. Back to El Paso he went, Steve returned to KELP in 1961 and spent many years on that Top 40 station, playing all kinds of hits from the Beach Boys, The Beatles, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The Rolling Stones, Tommy James, Jefferson Airplane, and so on.

That same year, he started a Saturday afternoon dance show on KELP-TV Channel 13, called "Crosno's Hop", where it remained on the air until 1970. It was the equivelant to "American Bandstand", yet he did not want to copy Dick Clark's legendary dance show to the T.

In the 1970s, Crosno headed to XEROK-AM 800, which was known as "X-Rock 80". It was a 100,000-watt station based in Ciudad Juarez, and can be heard clearly at night throughout much of the Borderland. Of course, as is the norm with any English-speaking station with a transmitter in Mexico, a minimum of 1 hour of spanish programming is required to air, per the Mexican Government.

From there he went to KSET-FM 94.7/AM-1340, during the old "Disco 95" days. 1340-AM became an oldies station by 1980, and if I remember correctly, he made the announcement on December 8, 1980, that John Lennon was assassinated. In time he went on to 93.9 FM, playing Tejano music.

Sadly, Steve is no longer with us. He passed away on August 5, 2006 at the age of 66, having been in failing health the past few years. He will be remembered as one of the true greats in El Paso radio and television for that matter.

And for all of the great memories that Steve Crosno provided us through the past five decades; including the troubled times this nation went through (Vietnam War, JFK Assassination among others)...Steve Crosno, I salute you. God Speed.