Blind deejay inspires listeners with conversation and music

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Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:56:08 -0400

Greenville News, SC, USA
Saturday, October 27, 2007

By Angelia Davis

Jose Angel Chairez delivers tunes on WGVL
Published: Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 2:00 am

BEREA -- When Jose Angel Chairez's fans meet him in person, they forget to be
angry at him for not playing their requested song.

Chairez, a 28-year-old radio deejay from Mexico, is blind.

"Obviously he can't look for it, so when they meet him in person, they're like
'Oh, that's why you never played my song,' " said his wife, Diana, 24.

It's not due to lack of effort, though. For part of Chairez's joy is
encouraging people through music and conversation as one of the newest deejays
on WGVL Radio Mix 1440 AM, a Spanish news, music, and talk radio station based
in Berea.
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Chairez worked as a television talk-show host for a small Spanish station in
Dalton, Ga., before moving to Greenville this summer with his wife and young
son.

They relocated here for Mrs. Chairez's job at WGVL and for the opportunity to
try something new.

Chairez's new opportunity came when his wife invited him to come to the station
and say a few words during her show.

"Felipe (Olave), our boss, heard us and he was like, 'you two sound great
together. We're going to give both of you a show,'" she said.

Chairez, who speaks little English, likens his work at the radio station to a
hobby. His profession, he said, is a musician, singer, and producer.

Chairez was born blind and "with an intuition toward music," he said through
his wife's interpretation.

He said his mother told him he was trying to sing songs long before he could
even speak.

Rather than closing doors to his aspirations, being blind has helped open them,
Chairez said.

"It has helped grab the attention of other people. Later on they fall in love
with what I can do rather than just because I'm blind," he said.

Chairez worked his way up to having a morning show at a Chattanooga radio
station "because he was very popular," Mrs. Chairez said.

And, "thanks to God," he said, he's always had people around him who've helped
him and in certain ways taken care of him, including his parents, brothers,
friends, and now his wife, son, and folks at WGVL.

Chairez said he tries to act as normal as possible. Sometimes people forget he
can't see.

He said a boss at a previous radio station paged him on the phone once to ask
him to go out and get burgers.

"Because you can count on him so much, she totally just blanked out and forgot
that he can't drive because he can't see," Mrs. Chairez said. "He's had a lot
of things like that to make him laugh."

As a deejay, Chairez gets to project his positive nature and energy through his
interaction with callers, his interviews with recording artists, and simply by
the music he selects.

One of his rewards is the feedback from listeners. He'll sometimes get comments
like, "We love to hear you because when we're having a bad day, you inspire us
to keep going," on the air and on the street.

"He likes to hear that people are not just getting entertainment. They're
listening to what he says and getting his message," Mrs. Chairez said. "That's
cool for him."

Chairez's hopes to someday relay his message -- "keep going and reach for your
dreams" -- in English as well as Spanish.

For now, though, he encourages even those who don't "understand a word I'm
saying" to tune in to his radio show and "learn a little bit of our culture."

Angelia Davis
BUSINESS WRITER
adavis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Blind deejay inspires listeners with conversation and music

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