R.I.P.: WSKQ's Polito Vega, El Rey de la Radio

Polito Vega (1938-2023)

Polito Vega, the larger-than-life radio personality and longtime programming director of New York City’s WSKQ Mega 97.9 FM — the top-rated Spanish-language station in the country — who for decades reigned as the most powerful man in that corner of radio, has died, the station confirmed on Thursday. He was 84, reports Billboard.

Vega spent more than 50 years on the air in NYC, earning the moniker “El Rey de la radio” (The King of Radio). He was known as much for his deep booming bass, which anchored numerous popular shows through the years, as for his trademark starched white outfits and baseball cap.

Vega’s importance to Latin music cannot be overstated. He was the most influential tastemaker in the country’s top market dating back to when tropical music first became popular in the city in the 1960s and 1970s and stretching all the way to the 21st century.

In 2009, Vega celebrated 50 years on the air with two shows at Madison Square Garden featuring performances by a group of A-list talents – Enrique Iglesias, Laura Pausini and Luis Fonsi, among many others. The shows were meant to signal his imminent retirement.

Three years later, in 2012, he celebrated 53 years on the air with “El Megatón Mundial de Polito Vega” (The Polito Vega World Megathon), a show at Citi Field in Queens featuring performances by Gloria Estefan, Don Omar, Alejandro Sanz, Juanes, Ricardo Arjona, Daddy Yankee, Paulina Rubio and Tito “El Bambino,” among others.

“I’ve only done radio in New York; I belong to the city,” he told Billboard at the time. “I go out on the street and people go crazy saying ‘Polito, Polito, Polito.’ I still have the same enthusiasm I had at the beginning; the same positive attitude in front of a microphone.”