Records that no one else is playing
Desert Blues with Marisol Vega, Cumbia Sonora on Thursdays and an hour of New Mexico country from Dale Ortiz. Our music library holds 41,000 records and every show draws from it by hand.
Fall member drive, October 10 to 18. Help us reach 900 members by Sunday night.Join in two minutes
94.1 FM and online · Tucson, Arizona
The radio station that knows your neighborhood, broadcasting live from 6 a.m. to midnight.
Copperline Radio is run by 140 volunteers and paid for by listeners. You will hear desert blues at breakfast, local news at noon, Spanish-language call-in shows after school and a different DJ's record collection every night.
No commercials, no corporate playlists. Just Tucson, on the air.
The station in numbers
- volunteer hosts, engineers and reporters
- 140
- different live shows every week
- 38
- listeners tuning in each month
- 62k
- years on the air
- 17
A schedule built by the people who live here
No algorithm chooses what plays. Our hosts do, and they argue about it over coffee in the green room.
News that comes from Tucson reporters
The Noon Desk reports on city council, border policy and the monsoon, with a rotating panel of newsroom volunteers from the University of Arizona and the local press club.
Shows in English and Spanish
Fourteen of our programmes are bilingual or fully in Spanish, including La Hora Nueva, a daily call-in hour for neighbors who want to talk about schools, rents and the weather.
Catch up on this week's shows
Every programme stays online for thirty days. Press play to hear a few of the favorites.
On air · Show 412Desert Blues with Marisol Vega: rain songs0:00 / 118:00
- Show 412 · 118 min · Guest: the Barrio Hot TamalesDesert Blues with Marisol Vega: rain songsA two-hour monsoon special with Delta blues, Sonoran folk and a live in-studio set from the Barrio Hot Tamales.
- Show 411 · 31 minThe Noon Desk: water rights and the Santa CruzReporters Alicia Moreno and Jack Whitfield explain who owns the water downtown and what the new agreement changes.
- Show 410 · 58 minLa Hora Nueva: tu barrio, tu vozA bilingual call-in about rising rents in Barrio Hollywood, with the city housing director on the line.
- Show 409 · 112 minNight Shift with Dale OrtizTwo hours of hand-picked country, rockabilly and railroad songs, recorded live from the overnight studio.
What listeners write to the studio
“I put on Desert Blues while I fix breakfast and my kids ask what the song is. It has become the soundtrack to our mornings.”
“The Noon Desk is the only place where I can hear a city council vote explained without anyone shouting.”
“We underwrote La Hora Nueva for a year. Three new clients mentioned it by name, and the hosts were careful to keep the message true.”
Keep Tucson's frequency independent
Members give an average of $12 a month. It pays for the transmitter, the electricity and the coffee that keeps the overnight hosts awake.