MARFA — It’s been seven years since Carlos Morales made his first trip to Marfa, and his recollection of his reaction to the town was a feeling there was a “tremendous sense of community,” particularly when the staff at Marfa Public Radio welcomed him with open arms to join them in tie-dying T-shirts.
Morales, an El Paso native who had worked in public radio in Austin, Waco and Marfa after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, had been impressed with the news content and other programming coming out of Marfa Public Radio. So, when a position opened for a local NPR Morning Edition host, he jumped at the chance — even if it meant waking up every morning at 4 a.m. He also reported news at the time, and over the course of a few years at the station, he assumed the role of news director. (Travis Bubenik, who has worked a variety of positions at the station as host and reporter, is now taking that role.)
The Big Bend Sentinel sat down with Morales to ask him about the highs and lows of working for a station that is responsible for news coverage for the gigantic Big Bend and Permian Basin areas.
Q: So, why did you come to Marfa?
A: We all ask ourselves that question, right? By virtue of being in Waco at that public radio station, I had a window into the kind of work that was coming out of other radio stations, and I saw the stuff that was coming out from Marfa Public Radio. And I said, “Man, sounds like a great place to be.” Because their work often made it to national coverage. And it just seemed like there was a consistent, quality output. And in Waco, you’re really just part of a team of one and a half people. And I was looking for a little bit more in terms of editorial support.
Q: Had you been to Marfa before?
A: No, I had never been out here before.
Q: What was your impression when you rolled into town?
A: Well, so, it’s funny. I grew up in El Paso, but my parents weren’t much of the adventurous type. They didn’t really go out, but my dad had a connection to the Big Bend through his first job, and so he knew a little bit — mainly about Presidio, Alpine and Fort Davis, and so he was kind of my travel Sherpa, so to speak. But as far as impressions? I think as a guy in his mid 20s, the thing I was struggling with was, how do you make friends? Now that we don’t have a school or structure to meet around. And how do you socialize, right? And I pulled into Marfa and in the first 10 minutes someone shouted at me out across the street and said, “Hey, we’re making tie-dye shirts. You want to come do this?” There are people at the radio station. So, I think the first impression was the strong sense of community being immediately pulled into it. I think then having the job at the radio station allowed me to fully tease out and see all the corners of that community.
Q: Once I got started being the managing editor of The Sentinel it was exponential in knowing more and more people.
A: Totally, it’s a job that gets you out there. My first job was neat. It’s “Morning Edition,” so early days and then also reporting. And then I was coming in to also facilitate news direction, but it was difficult to do that while reporting and more, so, it didn’t really happen. Formally and officially, news director as my main and sole responsibility became the job in 2021. You’d have to fact check me on that. It’s all a blur, you know?
Q: One thing I was curious about was looking back at when you got to the station and looking at it today, are there considerable differences?
A: I think we added, and I say “we” because it’s a team effort, but I think we really shored up and more firmly defined the newsroom at Marfa Public Radio. I think we brought in more structure. We brought in more standards as well as accolades. If we’re looking for one thing to tell us that we’re headed in the right direction, I think we can look to awards. In the last seven years, the station as a whole has received, or won, earned, whatever we want to say, six national Edward R Murrow Awards, which is, I think, a pretty great indicator that, at least on the content side of things, we are going in the right direction — giving the structure to to allow your reporters to do more kinds of specific kinds of features, or to experiment in sound.
Q: Of course, you’ve got a gigantic area in the Big Bend and the Permian Basin to try and cover.
A: Yeah, that’s always been a tough nut to crack, and I think it will always be.
Q: So, what guided you when you were looking at stories that you’re going to focus your resources on?
A: We can’t cover everything, no, not with three people and a coverage area the size of South Carolina, not gonna happen. But what can happen is that we can be very careful and mindful and really kind of methodical about what we can cover, right? It allows us to focus on content of consequence. I relied on [my reporters.] I trust their judgment. Really it was just wanting to empower the reporters to say, “Okay, you know the place, you know the stories, you know the news, you know the players, you know the context better than I ever will.”
Q: If you had to think of one story that really stuck out in your head, whether it was some monumental work or something just something crazy, what would it be?
A: The one that was top of mind and was by no means an easy, fun story, was the El Paso shooting. I was part of the reporting crew that went to El Paso back in 2019 to cover the mass shooting. El Paso is far outside of our coverage range, but all the radio reporters that were in the El Paso area at that time just so happened to all be out of the town that weekend. I got a call Saturday around 10 a.m. saying, “Hey, this is happening, and you guys are the nearest team.” So, me and a producer/reporter at the time hopped in a vehicle and went to El Paso, and what I ended up doing was a feature that was kind of like it was a profile of El Paso as a city, but obviously through the context of the shooting. That was really difficult. It’s my hometown. That was a hard, hard piece to put together, but it’s one that I do look back on with a certain sense of pride.
Q: Do you recall any big mistakes?
A: Oh, man, every day. You know how it is being in the chair, right? I can’t recall or think of a specific screwup. I know that they happen for sure, without a doubt. But the name of the game was you take the hit on the chin and you move on. You have to make a call, and sometimes it’s going to be the wrong one. And in news, that’s a heavy responsibility, but if you can learn from it, that kind of mitigates it a little bit.
Q: What prompted you to leave and what’s next for you?
A: I’ve got small contract work lined up, like production type work, but nothing serious or full time or official. As you know, the news grind is inherently busy, chaotic. There’s always something happening. And I think I just realized, after a short vacation earlier in the year, that my batteries were run out. I just realized I needed to [leave] for myself, but this is something not just for my benefit but also for the station’s benefit. Knowing that we had a more-than-capable person in Travis to take things on made me feel even better about my decision. It’s like, cool, there is a ladder there. There is kind of some built-in succession plan, and I know he’s going to do a great job.
Q: Are you going to stay in Marfa?
A: Yeah, that’s the plan for now.
Q: What else would you say about Marfa or the Big Bend in general that may endear you to stick around?
A: The community is definitely that major through line. I don’t want to be overly cliche, but it’s beautiful country. I’m not much of an outdoorsman, but when I do get out there for a hike or just even a walk, and whether it’s, you know, the middle of the day or under those beautiful dark skies, it is really peaceful. And I think I’ve really grown accustomed to it so much that when I visit my sister in Austin or my sister in Philadelphia, or even my parents and my other family in El Paso, I get big city anxiety. I get a little wigged out. I’m like, “There’s too many cars here. Why are all these people here?” There’s a regular Tuesday soccer game that happens here and that’s fun and something that’s grounding for me. I love popping by the Shorthorn game to get Hot Cheetos and cheese and watch some six-man football. It’s just small town delights, you know.
I understand I’m leaving, but as much of the spotlight as possible should be on the team that’s staying and taking it on. They’re gonna do great things.