Services have been set for Paul Marx, the owner and founder of KBON.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Vincent Funeral Home.
In the old Cajun tradition, visiting will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday and continue all night, until the services on Sunday. A rosary will be prayed at 6 p.m. Anyone who loved Paul or has enjoyed KBON is welcome to attend.
Here’s the post from his Facebook wall:
Here’s our story about Mr. Marx’s passing:
Monday was a somber day at KBON for workers, and many listeners. Owner and founder Paul Marx passed away Sunday evening to a brief illness.
Marx opened KBON 22 years ago. At the time, the 50 year old was a weekend Disc Jockey who played Louisiana music. Only allowed to host the Louisiana show over the weekend, he had bigger dreams.
Todd Ortego, KBON sales representative said, “He always wanted a station that only played Louisiana music.”
That dream was to dedicate a radio station to only Louisiana artist. Their website says, “Our programming is a unique variety of music with a Louisiana flavor, specializing in Cajun, Swamp Pop, Zydeco, Country, especailly Classic Country (When Country was really Country). Of course KBON 101.1 FM is mostly dedicated to Louisiana Musicians and local Music, with about 85% of our airtime devoted to local music artists.”
Herman Fuselier, with St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission said many people told him his idea would never work.
Fuselier said, “He was told by the experts, you can only have one genre, you’re not supposed to mix genres, and you should only play local music Saturday mornings.”
Ortego added, “Oh, everybody said it’s not going to work. Nobody wants to hear that. It’s like Boudin. They want Boudin Saturday morning, not all the time.. No there’s people who want Boudin all the time.”
Even with those doubts, and putting everything at risk, Marx followed his dream.
Fuselier said, “He basically sold everything at age 50 to follow his dream of having his own radio station. The permit was $40,000.00. There was still no tower, still no studio. He put in 20 hour days, slept at the radio station, but a few years later, it became one of the leaders in the radio market.”
It was Marx’s passion that made KBON into an icon for Louisiana music. 101.1 helps keep Acadiana’s musical history alive.
Ortego said, “He already has a major impact on peoples lifestyle, and the pride.”
Funeral arrangements are pending for the KBON owner and founder.
