R.I.P.: Paco Navarro, Former 92-KTU NYC Radio Personality

Manuel 'Paco' Navarro

Manuel “Paco” Navarro, a former radio personality for Disco 92 WKTU-FM in NYC has died. He was 82.

“It is with a heavy heart that we inform all of Paco’s passing this morning at 11:23 a.m. at the Hospice, We are respectfully asking Friends and Family of Paco to consider making a donation to his fund me page in lieu of flowers for his memorial service,” a statement posted to his GoFund Me page said.

Navarro had been battling stage four pancreatic cancer, as well as dementia and Alzheimers in recent years, but was best known for his tenure on New York radio during the golden age of disco.

A native of Puerto Rico, Navarro got his start in Spanish language radio and by the mid-1970s had secured a role at New York’s WJIT, where his radio voice and outgoing personality had garnered a major audience for him in the market.

When WJIT’s sister station WKTU transitioned to full disco, Navarro began hosting the 6-10 PM timeslot, and he became one of the most listened to DJs in New York.

Longtime NYC media watcher David Hinckley writes, Paco claims he suggested WKTU switch to disco, a format no station had ever tried. Disco songs had cracked the top-40 and R&B stations, including WBLS in New York, but no station had pulled the trigger for all-disco.

WKTU did. Almost overnight, that less-than-one-percent of the radio audience became an astonishing 11.3%.

Paco recalled that his own show, 6–10 p.m., drew 20% of the audience, or one in every five city listeners. That’s even more astonishing, and it was one of the seismic quakes that finally ended WABC’s long domination of New York radio.

As a deejay, Paco had a velvet voice and a winking style.

However, as disco quickly faded from the scene in the early 1980s, Navarro, who was closely associated with disco, found it difficult to adapt with the times. He left WKTU in 1984 when the station changed format and returned to Spanish language station WJIT as programming director, but in 1986, left that job as well in the face of declining ratings.

After he left WJIT, he unsuccessfully attempted to launch other businesses, including marketing and seafood. In 1987, he pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to distribute heroin. The guilty plea reduced a potential 20-year sentence to 4-10 years.