Jim Cantu – DJ Appreciation Spotlight
December 5, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Jim Cantú
A smile as genuine as his music, Jim Cantú is a Chicano writer and radio producer who has penned poems, prose and personal essays. Jim Cantú hosts Sabor Saturdays from 4-7pm on KBCS.
Writer
His work appears in:
- “Writing The Land: Wanderings II” (2024),
- “Writing the Land – Windblown II” (2022),
- “In Xóchitl in Cuícatl : Floricanto : Cien años de poesía chicanx/latinx (1920-2020)”,
- “Raven Chronicles” (2017),
- the Seattle Poetic Grid (2017), and elsewhere.
Additionally, he is a graduate of the Artist Trust Literary Edge program and a 2023 Jack Straw Writer Program Fellow.
DJ/Producer
Jim’s community activities include producing Latin@ music and public affairs programs for community radio and volunteering with Latin@ Artist Collective – La Sala Northwest. Notably, working with local author Dr. Georgia McCade they moderated and produced the radio program “Hearts and Soul” that aired over 100 interviews with local artists for radio station KVRU.
How long have you been hosting your show? – While Sabor has been on the air for close to 30 years, I have been helping out with hosting Sabor for a little over a dozen years. I started DJ volunteering in the early 70s with a music program on KRAB-FM called “Musica de la Raza.”
What song or album do you most identify with, which inspired your energy to be a DJ? – “Malo”
Your most recent concert: My two most recent concerts were the Orquesta Northwest concert for Dia De Los Muertos in October and earlier this year, Kiki Valera y Su Son Cubano.
Pen, typewriter, computer, device: -please elaborate why- I have had the good fortune to have some of my writings published in several literary collections. I use both pen and computer to capture and craft ideas.
Favorite 21st Century read (book, poem, essay, writing): “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” by Yuval Noah Harari; “Borderlands / La Frontera – The New Mestiza” – Gloria Anzaldua
