Radio star: Lehigh man is ‘prankster’ on Spanish radio station

By Staff | Feb 18, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Sandro Rodriguez in his radio studio at his home in Lehigh Acres. He also works at 97.7 WTLQ in Fort Myers.

“Radio is here to say it’s the number one way of getting the word out and people can listen anywhere, in their homes, in their cars, on the Internet, and on their smartphones,” says Sandro Rodriguez of Lehigh, a regular on one of the area’s top radio station.

“Put your dial at 97.7,” Rodriguez says. “It’s the best; we play tropical music and we’re a Spanish speaking station although English sneaks in now and then,” he said while working at a computer and king-sized monitor at home in his studio.

“People are surprised when they hear that I do a lot of the programming at home in this room. I’ve got all the equipment, computers, big screen monitors and other equipment that allows me to get on the air.

Rodriguez, who is also an emcee at local events loves music, especially what he calls tropical.

“You know we’re a Spanish station, but there are lots of English speaking people in the area who also speak Spanish and enjoy our type of music,” he said as he pushed some keys and maneuvered another box near his monitor screen, all the way seeming to enjoy his work.

Sandro Rodriguex

Rodriguez is a witty guy in his early 40s and even though music is his life, so is electronic and gadgets. His friends says he’s an gadget and electronics guru.

He’s also known to radio listeners as the “prankster man” on the station and you never know when you may get a call as he tries too punk some of his listeners.

“I get calls from listeners who want me to pull a prank of some of their friends or members of their families on the phone,” he laughed.

“They tell me a little about the person to get “punked” and their phone number and I do my thing: I call them and tease them without them knowing who I am.

“Lots of times, the people I talk to try to put me off, but I keep them on the line and I may mention certain things and tease them about things that not many friends would know,” he laughed.

MEL TOADVINE Voice signals on a monitor that local deejay Sandro Rodriguez is working on at his radio studio at his home in Lehigh Acres. Here the signals are from the pranking of listeners. Once he is through with the programing, he sends it electronically to the Fort Myers radio station.

“It’s all in good taste, but I pester them for sure,” said Rodriguez, who not only speaks Spanish, but can speak English just as fluently.

“I called a woman the other day who couldn’t speak Spanish. A relative put me up to it,” he smiled. She said she couldn’t Speak Spanish and I should hang up she hung up and a few minutes later I called her back and started teasing her and she stayed on the line longer and said her daughter could speak Spanish, to call back later and she hung up again.

“Then I called her back and kept it up and she stayed on the phone longer, and finally I told her she was being pranked in English and she started laughing,” Rodriguez said.

He told her that he was one of the station’s pranksters and who had put him up to it and then asked for her permission to play it on the air. He has rarely turned down as his listeners have come to enjoy it.

“We play those pranks on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and other nights some of them are so good that we call them ‘our classics’ and they get played again,” Rodriguez laughed. “It’s all in good taste and fun, but I do sometimes edit things out the other person might say. I’m very careful about that.”

Rodriguez once even pretended to shoot himself while on the phone, saying he had the sound effects and everything. A friend had asked him to do a prank on a friend.

“I guess I am okay doing it since we have been doing it for quite a while now and they can be heard twice a day: at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m., like I said on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and they are pre-recorded,” he said.

Rodriguez said a lot of English speaking listeners email him asking him to prank a friend. He claimed that polls have shown that around 65 percent of his listeners are Spanish. And the remainder English listeners and some listen who can’t speak Spanish just for the music the deejays play.

The station is based in Fort Myers and is owned by the Fort Myers Broadcasting system, the same company that owns WINK-TV and another TV station and five or six radio stations.

WINK was one of the first radio and TV station pioneers in area, he said.

The 97.7 WTLQ station is on 24/7 and through what he calls “the magic of radio,” all things are possible with programming today.

Rodriguez also takes his music and his emcee talent to work in the Viva club on Winkler

Rd. in Fort Myers. He is there every Friday and Saturday working with his friend and fellow deejay Gero. He doesn’t use his first name, says he doesn’t like it and I can’t remember what it is.”

Rodriguez, although a fun guy, has his serious side about him, too. He also works part-time as an emcee for club and organization and special events.

While he paid for that part of his talent, he never accepts money from any organization that helps children. It’s a personal thing with Rodriguez who has a 21-year-old bed-ridden son who has a rare form of Multiple Sclerosis. In the past he has taken care of him with the help of nurses. His son cannot speak although he can communicate with his father by the use of the way he moves his tongue in his mouth.

“He’s a smart guy. Today I have nurses around the clock to take care of him. He requires so much special treatment and I have to make a living. But I spend as much time as I can with him,” he said, choking up.

“That is why I will never take any money for working for any organization that helps children,” he said.

Rodriguez mentioned his boss, Hector Velazkquez, the program director at the station, saying he was his mentor to all the deejays. Rodriguez said there are five DJs at the stations.

“he’s a great guy and really knows what he’s doing in the radio business.”

Rodriguez still believes radio is as popular as ever and he believes people will never give up their radio.

“They may give up other media to get their entertainment and news, but there will always be radio. It’s proved over the years because there is magic if radio and always will be,” he said.

: Sandro Rodriguex

: MEL TOADVINE Voice signals on a monitor that local deejay Sandro Rodriguez is working on at his radio studio at his home in Lehigh Acres. Here the signals are from the pranking of listeners. Once he is through with the programing, he sends it electronically to the Fort Myers radio station.