Norfolk’s La Selecta radio gets new owners
Longtime DJs, now owners, look to renew dedication to Latino community
NORFOLK — For 15 years, Jhirber Galva and Ricardo Alegria have served as the voices for Hampton Roads’ only full-time Hispanic radio station, La Selecta WVXX 103.3 FM/1050 AM.
Alegria has hosted the morning show since the station began broadcasting in 2005. Galva, known as DJ Mangu, became the station’s afternoon personality the following year. Ever since, the two have poured their heart and soul into the station’s success.
They always hoped it’d one day lead to bigger opportunities, and last month, their years of dedication paid off in a big way when Davidson Media Group made the DJs an offer they couldn’t refuse.
“We’re at work one day and everything is going fine. All of a sudden, I get a phone call from the boss, Andy Hindlin, and he says he’s ready to go, ready to just chill out,” Galva said in an interview. “Then he asks what would I think if me and Ricardo took over the station.”
Galva was in disbelief. Was this a joke, he thought?
“Then he asks me, do you think you can do it?” Galva said, elated.
“I’m ready,” Alegria said, beating Galva to the punch.
The duo agreed and after settling final details, Dos Media — their management group — took over operations.
Live programming suspended for about six weeks while the station changed hands and physically moved to a new location in Military Circle. For about half of that time, the equipment that transmitted pre-programmed music and advertisements was sitting in the sound engineer’s garage.
Nearly everything from the walls to the equipment was brand new. They each kept one piece of gear from their former studio in Virginia Beach: their headphones.
“That’s it, the smallest thing,” Alegria said.
Building out the new studio was a community project, Galva said.
“We had so much support from our families and friends. They were out there tapping nails, moving furniture, and putting stuff together,” he said, though he described the process as the
“longest three weeks of his life.”
“We didn’t sleep or sit down much. It was painful,” he said, but so very worth it.
On top of creating a new studio, Galva and Alegria had to learn how to run their new business, which included revising what the station’s programming would look like going forward.
La Selecta’s format already juggled a variety of music, news and informational programming, and it took calls from listeners. Going forward, it will focus more on opportunities to help the Latino community, Galva said.
Listeners often call seeking help with any number of things, like where to find a good mechanic and where to get assistance with
immigration processes.
“I feel like the Hispanic
Google,” Galva said with a laugh that quickly gave way to a more concerned tone. “If someone calls during my afternoon show and says, ‘Mangu, my kid is sick and this place won’t take my insurance, where do I go?’ I have to know who I can connect them to,” he said.
It can be overwhelming to be a quick reference point for so many people, Galva said, but far less so than it is for those in his community who need help.
Over the last year, they’ve gotten more calls about COVID-19 testing and how to get the vaccine than anything else. Fortunately, the Virginia Department of Health communicates with the station frequently so Galva and Alegria can relay information to their listeners.
“We really are trying to bridge the gap between Hispanics and medical care,” Galva said.
“How can we fix that? That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Galva said Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer and the Norfolk Police Department have also been incredibly helpful in communicating valuable information.
They’ve been sharing much of that information on their social media platforms, which they have been using much more than they used to.
Even radio has become very visual these days, Alegria said, but it’s really just another way to build bridges and connect with their community beyond playing today’s hits and yesterday’s favorites for their wide-ranging demographic.
“These are things we can’t forget about, and we’ll continue to be the one station that people can listen to. Even if they don’t need the information, they’ll pass it on to the people that do and someone in the community will benefit from that,” Galva said.
While the last few months have been chaotic in a good way and their responsibilities have doubled, the focus on positively impacting their community keeps them going.
“We absolutely did not know what we were getting into,” Galva said, “but it’s been a dream come true.”
Follow La Selecta on Facebook (facebook.com/Laselectaradio), Instagram (@laselectaradio) and Twitter (@Selecta1050).
ACROSS
1 Rani’s dress 5 Soda
8 Wild guess 12 Avocado dip, for
short
13 Santa — winds 14 Give a hoot 15 Verifiable 16 Decks in the ring 17 “Downton
Abbey” role 18 Deli meat 20 Walmart
competitor 22 Auto fuel 23 Galley item 24 Just adorable 27 Computer
screen features 32 Simile part
33 PC program 34 Roman 1051 35 Soho resident 38 Whispered
“Hey!”
39 Wee bit
40 Shock partner 42 Trumpet’s
cousin
45 Primary color 49 Burden
50 Newt
52 Skater Lipinski 53 San —, Italy 54 Coach Parseghian
55 And others (Lat.) 56 Org.
57 Fall from grace 58 Shoulder muscle,
for short
DOWN
1 Boot camp VIPs 2 Mystique
3 Actor Julia 4 Glacial period 5 Islamabad’s
country
6 Yoko of music 7 Bygone days 8 Ornamental
beetle 9 Geometric
puzzles
10 “Rule, Britannia!”
composer 11 Tempo
19 Cellist Yo-Yo 21 Fine, at NASA 24 Western st. 25 Mil. morale
booster
26 Fits
28 Mimic 29 Sunless bronzer 30 “Treasure Island” monogram 31 Command to
Fido 36 Ted of “Cheers” 37 Praise in verse 38 Hit with
snowballs, say 41 You and I
42 Mrs. Dithers of
“Blondie”
43 Till bills 44 Afternoon affairs 46 Overdue
47 Like some
vaccines
48 Poet Whitman 51 Calendar abbr.
NORFOLK — The last time Old Dominion won the Conference USA tournament, the margin for error was infinitesimal.
The Monarchs won three games in the 2018-19 tournament by one, two and six points — an average of three per victory — to make it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight seasons.
As ODU, the East Division’s No. 2 seed, opens the 2021 version of the event at 10 p.m. today against either West No. 3 seed North Texas or East No. 6 seed Middle Tennessee in Frisco, Texas, coach Jeff Jones hopes to draw from the experience of his last title-winning team.
“It was hard,” Jones said. “It wasn’t easy. Every game came down to right at the end. You’ve got to play every possession. I think that’s the big thing.”
It’s a lesson hammered home in recent games. The Monarchs (15-7) split a pair at Western Kentucky in their final regular-season series last weekend, winning the opener by two points and losing the finale by three.
That came after ODU swept Middle Tennessee at home, with only the second game, a 73-60 victory, comfortably in hand.
This season, the Monarchs are 11-2 in games decided by fewer than 10 points. It’s a far cry from last season, when they struggled in close games on their way to a 13-19 record.
Teams in Frisco will battle more than just each other. To further extend a trying season, players and staff will continue isolating to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he was lifting the state’s COVID mask restrictions and returning capacity at businesses and events to 100%. But attendance at the tournament will be limited, C-USA announced.
Jones, whose program was put on pause when a number of players and staff tested positive for COVID in January, said the Monarchs would remain vigilant.They’ll bus straight from the team hotel to the arena, play their
games and go back. They do not plan to go anywhere masks are not required.
“We’ve gotten this far. We cannot let our guard down,” Jones, a cancer survivor, said he told his players. “Not to get on a soapbox, but I think it’s silly for politicians or whomever to think that because things are going good, that all of a sudden, ‘Hey, we don’t have to worry about stuff.’ Hell yeah, we’re worried.
“We’ll avoid everybody that we can possibly avoid and play the game on Thursday, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to play another game.”
To do that, they’ll have to either get past a familiar opponent or one they haven’t seen.
North Texas (13-9) was on the schedule when the Monarchs had their COVID issues, and those games were not made up.
Florida International, originally a third possible opening opponent for ODU, dropped out of the tournament with COVID issues.
Regardless of which team they play, Jones hopes the Monarchs can continue improving. ODU won six of its last eight regular-season games.
To win three more, he said, will require the tenacity the Monarchs showed two years ago.
“You’re going to make some shots. You’re going to miss some shots,” Jones said. “You’re going to make some mistakes. You’re going to make some great plays. But good or bad, you’ve just got to keep plugging, keep chopping, keep grinding. And the team that’s able to do that the longest oftentimes is the one that can win.”