Sonny Rio

Sonny Rio began his radio career in San Antonio in 1975 at KSAQ, where a very young John Rosales (not yet known as Sonny Rio) worked the overnight air shift.

One day, the legendary Wolfman Jack, whose syndicated show Q-100 aired on weekends, was in town and showed up at the station. Sonny remembers how, even though The Wolfman had never seen the board, he took over the airwaves for an hour … so smooth, so cool, with a big diamond ring on his finger. If this was being a DJ, then Sonny was hooked.

A year later, he moved to El Paso where he stayed for three years and took on his radio name of Sonny Rio. He returned to San Antonio in 1979 and joined KTSA-KTFM, where for 4 years he worked evenings and was rated “Number One DJ” in San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi simultaneously. During this time, Sonny was the first DJ in the country to broadcast in AM Stereo.

From 1983 to 1985, Sonny did middays on KITY. In 1985, he signed on the first Independent TV Station in San Antonio, KRRT-TV. He then moved to KSJL-KSAQ where he teamed with Hector Reyes, and the Morning Team of “Rio and Reyes” was born. The duo had no ratings to begin with, but soon became one of the top 5 contenders in the market.

In 1986, Rio and Reyes moved to KSMG, Magic 105 where they were Number One with adults in the first ratings book that came out. They would remain with Magic until 1993 when the duo moved to the Rio Grande Valley. In 2000 they returned to the Alamo City and were on the air at KCJZ until 2002.

Today Sonny Rio and his long-time radio partner can be heard on the Internet at RioandReyes.com.