KUNM Celebrates Six Decades With a Community Concert
Are you ready to gather and celebrate sixty years of music, news and community connection? We hope so, because KUNM is throwing a 60th anniversary party, and you're invited!
Join us at the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater for a night celebrating six decades of KUNM's listener-supported radio in greater New Mexico. We'll have live music, food from Umami Moto and The Munchie Truck, and a way to leave our screens behind and gather together.
Thanks to our presenting sponsor, the Infinite Gesture Fund, for helping make this celebration possible.
Thanks to our community business partners: Zendo Coffee, Hot Yoga Downtown, Marble Brewery, Il Viccino, Humble Coffee, M'Tucci's, The Shop, and New Mexico United for their generous donations!
Event Schedule
- 4:00 p.m. - Doors, DJ set Three Deuce Luce
- 4:17 p.m. - Richard Towne, General Manager of KUNM for 31 years
- 4:20 p.m. - Mayor Tim Keller - KUNM Public Radio Day Proclamation
- 4:24 p.m. - Home of Happy Feet Presentation, Karl Stalnaker & Harry Norton
- 4:30 p.m. - Mike Wolfe, former GM and Chief Engineer
- 4:33 - DJ set by Three Deuce Luce
- 4:45 p.m. - Cadillac Bob & The Rhinestones
- 5:55: - Jeff Pope, KUNM General Manager
- 6:00: - Christopher Lyons, University of New Mexico Assistant Vice Provost
- 6:05 p.m. - Raíces Colectivo & Salsa Sabrosa Presentation
- 6:30 p.m. - Red Light Cameras
- 7:15 p.m. - DJ set by Three Deuce Luce
- 7:25 p.m. - Megan Kamerick, KUNM News Director
- 7:30 p.m. - The Blues Show Presentation, Putnay Thomas
- 7:40 p.m. - Singing Wire presentation & drum performance
- 8 p.m. - Paul Pino and The Tone Daddies feat. Sherri Gonzales
- 8:45 p.m. - DJ set by Roselight closes out the night
Join All Things Considered host Mark Haslett in our mini-recording studio/listening booth on the balcony! You can record on-air content and share your unique KUNM story. While you're there, meet and take pictures with our DJs and news staff, and check out our music memorabilia & giveaway.
Meet The DJ Table Schedule
- 4 p.m - Damien Flores, Spoken Word Hour
- 4:30 p.m - Norina Morales, Thursday Afternoon Freeform, The Trip
- 4:30 p.m Ben Roe - Studio 505
- 5 p.m - David Paytiamo, Singing Wire
- 5:30 p.m - DJ Loh, Sonic Spectrum Sessions Some Saturdays at noon
- 6 p.m - Michael Hess, Global Music (first Monday host)
- 6:30 p.m - DJ Blueprint, Street Beat
- 7 p.m - Daniel Montaño, Morning Edition, All things Considered
- 7 p.m - Mark Haslett, All Things Considered
- 7 p.m - Leah Tevis, Afternoon Freeform
- 7:45 p.m - Putnay, The Blues Show
Special thanks to Laura Wolke for providing the suggested donation items, and to our sponsor, DWL Architects & Planners, Inc. of New Mexico. Thanks to Carolyn Stapleton for bringing her KUNM art car!
KUNM lost federal funding, but we’re undaunted and going strong! This is more than an anniversary gala—it's a chance to invest in the future of local, independent media for New Mexico. Your purchase helps to keep KUNM healthy and strong.
Seating is limited to the first 400 guests, so if you arrive later, bring a chair or picnic blanket.
KUNM 60th Anniversary Art Contest Winner:
Avery Silfer
Artist Bio: I have lived in NM my whole life and grew up listening to KUNM. It has always been a door to the parts of New Mexico I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to know. People I can trust to keep me in the loop! Roadrunners have appeared on streets ahead of me during every stage of my life, and I did my best to honor this special bird!
Instagram: @averysilferart
Substack: Avery Rita Silfer
Merch with Avery's design available at the event!
KUNM's roots stretch back to 1960, when it began as KNMD, a student-led AM station broadcast through the power lines of campus buildings. The station received an FCC license for an FM frequency and began broadcasting from atop the UNM Student Union Building on Oct. 19, 1966 and in 1978 it joined the early cohort of NPR member stations.
The station has been a magnet for local talent, hosting local musicians alongside national acts and giving local journalists and journalism students a place to work and volunteer. Native America Calling, The Children's Hour and Peace Talks Radio all started at KUNM. Today, a staff of 25 professionals and more than 100 volunteers produce news, public affairs and live entertainment for about 1 million people across central and northern New Mexico.
Richard Towne, now retired, served as KUNM's general manager from 1994 to 2025. "Over the past 60 years, UNM - along with thousands of donors, students and community volunteers from all walks of life have successfully sustained KUNM's free service to the public. I see a very bright future for KUNM as it enters its seventh decade of public media service."
"KUNM and public radio is much more than a broadcast facility or a format. It's a part of the connective tissue for communities across New Mexico and the country," said Jeffrey Pope, general manager of KUNM. "The student and volunteer programmers at KUNM, then and now, provide a direct link to the community and what was important in New Mexico."
About KUNM
KUNM's mission is to inform, entertain and engage New Mexicans with trusted journalism, exceptional music and vibrant cultural content. A service of the University of New Mexico based in Albuquerque, KUNM is an affiliate of NPR, Native Voice One, American Public Media and Pacifica. It reaches listeners throughout Albuquerque, Santa Fe and the Northern Rio Grande Valley, including full-power signals in Socorro, Española and the Taos area.
Thanks
KUNM thanks the 60th Anniversary Planning Committee: Historians - Kent Paterson & Alexander Jacobson, Emcee - Andre Lacerda, Merchandise and lights manager - Brando, Stage Manager & Sound booth designer- Makahla Harapat, Giveaways - Joshua LaClair,
Graphic Design - Lang Kirchheimer, Reception and Catering Coordinator - Leah Tevis, Sound Engineer- Tony Mora, and Catering Coordinator - Mike Vranka.
Thanks also to: Linda Jones, Chanda Shaw, Erin Steele, Mark Haslett, Megan Kamerick, Mia Casa, & Renata Bonney.
