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b"KOP pays tribute to Paco Navarro, the legendary New York DJ who brought the sound of disco and dance music to a large loyal diverse listenership. He passed away earlier this month at age 82. The New York Times wrote the following about Navarro's passing Manuel Francisco \\u201cPaco\\u201d Navarro , a disc jockey who\\xa0became\\xa0the sultry voice of disco in New York City in the late 1970s, helping WKTU-FM become the highest-rated radio station in the city, died on Aug. 8 at a hospice facility in Saddle River, N.J. He was\\xa082. Mr. Navarro spent much of his career playing Latin music on Spanish-language radio stations in Los Angeles, New York and his native Puerto\\xa0Rico\\xa0both before and after his time at WKTU. He used the name Paquito\\xa0Navarro\\xa0(his given name at birth was Manuel) when he was the host of a salsa show on WKTU\\u2019s AM sister station, WJIT, before moving to WKTU in 1978. WKTU had played relatively mellow rock music, reaching a minuscule share of the New York market, before Mr. Navarro arrived. At the time, many stations programmed mainly Top 40 hits (as many still do). The rock \\u2019n\\u2019 roll station WABC-AM had long dominated the New York airwaves with star D.J.s like Harry Harrison,\\xa0Dan Ingram\\xa0and Bruce Morrow, known to audiences as\\xa0Cousin Brucie. Many stations played disco records, but few if any had experimented with an all-disco format. \\xa0 WKTU switched to disco months after John Travolta created a sensation as a disco denizen in the hit film \\u201cSaturday Night Fever\\u201d (1977), just as the music\\u2019s popularity peaked. Mr. Navarro tailored his on-air persona to help sell the new\\xa0format. \\u201cUnlike his former WJIT delivery \\u2014 higher pitched and with words\\xa0tripping\\xa0out at an awesome clip \\u2014 his WKTU voice is a deep, lyrical, Latin-accented bass that combines playfulness with unabashed sensuality,\\u201d the New Jersey newspaper\\xa0The Record\\xa0said in 1978. Within months WKTU had become the\\xa0highest-rated station in the New York market, deposing WABC. \\u201cAll of a sudden we were the establishment and the kids who were around then were looking for something that said, \\u2018I don\\u2019t want to listen to my father\\u2019s music,\\u2019\\u201d\\xa0Mr. Ingram\\xa0was quoted as saying in an\\xa0article\\xa0about WABC\\u2019s history in The New York Times in 2002. KOP welcomes veteran record producer, event promoter and radio programmer Eddie Mercado to speak about Paco's passing and the revolutionary mark he made on the radio from New York City to the world. A GoFundMe page has been made respectfully asking Friends and Family of Paco to consider making a donation in lieu of flowers for his memorial service. Headlines this week include: Al Reveals How 'Old Town Road' Became the Biggest Song Ever\\xa0 Talent Agencies Cancel Emmy Parties Amid WGA-ATA Standoff Behind Universal's Call to Scrap 'The Hunt': Death Threats, Negative Test Screening Feedback The Vanishing $200 Million Blockbuster\\xa0 Will Netflix Have to Change Its Strategy Soon? CBS-Viacom Deal Reunites TV Studio and Paramount Legacy; Here\\u2019s What Might Come Next\\xa0 Fox Feels the Pressure From Disney as Film Flops Mount Report: There May Only Be A Decade To Save FM Radio Report: iHeartMedia Is Ready For Next Chapter"