In the summer of 1976, a young woman named Maria Garay was about to graduate from Albuquerque’s Rio Grande High School.

KOB 4 had reached out to the high school for help.

“I came and applied on a Friday, and then she called me on a Monday and I started on a Tuesday, and the rest is history,” Garay said.

She was offered a job at KOB in the Traffic Department.

“When they said traffic, I was like, OK, are we doing to be doing, like everybody says, traffic reports? And they said, no, it’s where you traffic the commercials, the copy, and everything that goes with that part,” Garay said.

It wasn’t the career path she had in mind, after putting in hours at the local Blake’s Lotaburger.

“I wanted to work for the telephone company because the opportunities were great,” Garay said.

Instead, she would become part of the legacy of KOB – New Mexico’s first TV station. By the time she started, the Hubbard family had already owned KOB for 20 years, and they still own it today.

“Mr. Hubbard makes a habit of coming up every time he’s in town to come and say hello,” Garay said. “He says, ‘Hey, how are you doing? I’m glad to see you’re still here.'”

Turns out, Garay would have four other family members working at KOB at one time or another, so it really was a family.

“They said we don’t know if we could handle another sister,” Garay laughed.

Garay was inducted into the New Mexico Broadcaster Association Hall of Fame Friday and recognized for her commitment over the last 47 years at KOB. She joins a Hall of Fame filled with well-known names from radio and television, and proudly represents the critical, behind-the-scenes people who make broadcasting work.

“It’s a great honor, don’t get me wrong, but I’m like, so surprised,” Garay said. “You get to thinking, why me? I’m just another person who works the life that they do. But it’s a great honor.”