'Travel Tips for Aztlan' rides cutting-edge of Latin radio

These are a few things that you won't hear on "Travel Tips for Aztlan," the Saturday-night show of cutting-edge Latin American and Latino music hosted by Mark Torres and Mariluz Gonzalez on KPFK-FM (90.7): Goofy shtick. Canned repartee. Generic Spanish-language pop of the sort that clogs the commercial airwaves and, after the umpteenth rotation, can make enlightened rock en espanol fans reach for the mescal bottle.

"Unfortunately, Latin radio is 10 years behind. Stop playing Juanes already," said Torres, who started "Travel Tips" 14 years ago and has made it the L.A. region's longest-running Latin alternative-rock program.

These are a few things that you will hear on "Travel Tips" -- weeks, if not months, before they're likely to surface elsewhere on Southern California radio: Los Odio's rave-up cover of the old Cheap Trick hit "I Want You to Want Me," from the soundtrack to "Rudo y Cursi," the just-released feature film starring Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. New tunes from the Academy Award-winning Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, and the ingratiatingly cute, bilingual Mexico City band Hello Seahorse!

That's in addition to live interviews with a Spanish female hip-hopper and an up-and-coming San Bernardino graphic designer, Christian Vidaurrazaga, whose witty creations cross-stitch classic Mexican iconography (eagles, skeletons) with irreverent attitude.

Plus smart but low-key commentary and a palpable sense of community.

Of course, metropolitan Los Angeles, home to America's largest Spanish-speaking population, has no dearth of commercial Latin-music radio stations. What it lacks in number are broadcast outlets that sample the teeming galaxy of Latin sounds, from Tijuana electronica and East L.A. Chicano rock to Argentine ska and the Basque punk-reggae of Manu Chao. Only one other local station, KCRW-FM (89.9), plays any such mix on a regular basis.

"Torres & Gonzalez" might not have the brand-name ring of KROQ's Kevin and Bean, or command the mass following of L.A.'s top Latin radio talk-show hosts such as El Cucuy. But Torres, 47, the L.A.-born grandson of Chihuahua and Durango immigrants, and Gonzalez, 39, a Guadalajara native who joined the program as co-host last summer, bring a rare combination of different but complementary musical sensibilities and cultural backgrounds to their work.