by Jolene Toves

Guam - When we here at KUAM have the unfortunate responsibility of reporting events of a tragic nature, like you, they're very unsettling to us. These types of stories are particularly tough when the people involved are acquaintances of ours.

But when we're faced with having to tell the island about the passing of one of our own, that's a very difficult thing to do.

As you may know, James Castro, who worked here in the 90s and early 2000s in KUAM Radio, died yesterday in a drowning accident down in Asan. So while we're still coming to terms with the loss of someone who will always be part of our family, here's a look at a man who shared his talent with the Guam family, his unmistakable spirit and smile with ours, and unconditional love for his own.

Before there was i94-FM, there was 94 Jamz, "The People's Station". And the man behind the brand was James. He not only worked on the air with his the 94 Jamz air force, but also spearheaded Jamz TV, and who could ever forget he was one of The Men of 94 Jamz

From the late 90's to early 2000s James was KUAM's radio operations manager and station manager. He eventually left KUAM and was most recently the marketing director of MidPac. MidPac assistant general manager EJ Calvo said, "James was one of the hardest working guys that I have ever been around and he put his heart into his work that's why it never felt like work when you're dealing with him whether running a promotion or working in advertising he brought a lot of passion and energy to everything he did and a smile."

Castro was with a group of people Sunday morning that were preparing to go scuba diving in Asan. However an incident occurred. Although an autopsy is scheduled to be performed tomorrow he leaves behind his wife Rowena and their children. Calvo said, "I think as a friend we would share or have in common how much we love our family and talk about our kids all the time we'd always find time to follow up on how things are going with the kids and he would just light up anytime that he had the opportunity to talk about his family and it's something that we took pride in is no matter how hard we worked we just really would be excited about the kids and what's going on with the family."

A rosary for Castro is scheduled for tonight at 8pm, and tomorrow through Friday at 7:30pm at St. Jude Church in Sinajana.