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99-year-old broadcaster lovingly referred to as patriarch of Paonia

"Felix is like the Godfather. That's the only way I could describe him. The Godfather of the valley."

In stories about small towns, you'll often read that everyone knows everyone.

It's a cliché, but it is grounded in some truth.

In Paonia, Colorado -- population 1,451 -- you can safely say that almost everyone knows everyone. Just ask Amy Delucca. She co-owns two business downtown.

"Sooner or later we all rub elbows or shoulders and it creates that feeling of you know someone," she said.

And even if the cliche that EVERYONE knows EVERYONE isn't true, there is one person that everyone does know. Or, at least, they know his voice.

"I moved here in 1978 and I've been around, you know, now we're at 2017, do the arithmetic," Felix Belmont said.

He's been a DJ at Paonia's public radio station KVNF since it sent out its first signal nearly four decades ago.

"I don't do rock a lot or hip hop or something like that," he said. "In fact I don't even know about it."

What he does know about is big band music. He hosts a show every other Sunday called Stop Time. He became enamored with the genre after seeing Glenn Miller perform at his senior prom.

"Since then I've kind of relished it," he said.

Paonia relishes him. You can't walk down its three block Main Street without running into someone who loves the guy.

"Felix is all about community," John Coombe, the local ice cream parlor owner, said.

"Felix is so special, he's like a national treasure," Tensi Plummer said at a cafe downtown.

"I moved here 20 years ago from Santa Fe and met Felix almost immediately," Kate Zachman said eating lunch with the aforementioned Tensi. "We've been friends ever since."

Talk to people who've known him even longer than that, and you'll find out just how much he means to his town.

"Felix is like the Godfather," Barbara Heck said. "That's the only way I could describe him. The Godfather of the valley."

Barb even has her own word to describe the many people Felix has had a lasting impact on. "Friends of Felix" or "FOF's" she calls them.

"Everyone loves Felix in this town or in the Valley, he's like the grandfather for everyone," she said.

Tell Felix any of this and he'll give you a dismissive wave of his hand. He's a humble guy, despite all he's accomplished.

He retired early from a career in New York City with a Fortune 500 company. He helped raise $1 million to get KVNF off the ground. He helped get NPR to lower rates for smaller stations.

That is something he will take credit for.

"NPR was having a regional board meeting... over in Salt Lake and we went over and made a big pitch. There was no way we could even think of joining NPR, because of the dues and we just couldn't afford it," he said.

He told the board he knew they'd like to have KVNF and other small stations as members, but the only way they could join was to grow and get more membership of their own.

"You have got to cut your dues or make a special category," Felix said he told the board. "And it worked, and they bought it, but boy we really had to talk to them."

The called the special category the "Paonia Type Station."

"That I'm willing to brag about," Felix said.

There is another accomplishment Felix could take credit for if he wanted to. The Guinness World Record website lists the oldest professional DJ at 94 years and a handful of days old. Felix is 99. But, since he's a volunteer, he doesn't qualify for the "professional" record.

That's OK with him. There's a local record he wants to break more anyway.

"My goal is to hit 100 before I crap out," he said. "We had a 100-year-old member of rotary and I want to meet his record, maybe beat his record by a few days or something."

While Felix means the world to Paonia, he says his town means just as much to him.

"I found a home for God's sake," he laughed. "Paonia is my home and these are my friends. These are the people I love."

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