Matthew Finch was born and raised on 86th Street in New York City with his siblings, Arthur and Camilla Finch.

“He was the baby of the family,” Camilla said. “You know, he was the wild child, the real envelope pusher.”

As “city kids,” she said they mostly played in the building with the doorman watching over them. But Matthew’s creativity propelled him outside, exploring the city’s record stores and museums.

“Whenever he was interested in something, he always did a really deep dive,” Camilla said. “He would do that with art, he would do that with music, he would do that with playwriting. You know, birds. Whatever it happened to be. But we were sort of brought up that that was kind of your duty, to be invested in the world around you and the people around you.”

That included being civically and politically engaged. His partner of 32 years, Cinthia Singleton, said a formative experience was going with his mother, who was originally from England and grew up in Ecuador, to vote after she gained U.S. citizenship.

“He knew it was a big deal. And I think he associated that importance and excitement of her first time with the process,” she said.

Matthew and Cinthia met producing radio dramas at WBAI, a public radio station in New York City. Matthew is remembered as a stylish guy by many, with his hip glasses and bright-colored button-ups. But that’s not the first impression he made on her.

“He was zipping around with a clipboard and I was like, ‘I wonder if that’s the guy I’m supposed to meet with?’” Cinthia recalled. “He was wearing a hockey shirt and camo pants and high-top sneakers. And I was like, ‘He either has balls or he hasn’t done laundry. Who would dress like that?’ So, it was a little of both, I found out.”

Matthew also loved animals, and he and Cinthia have had many pets over the years, including dogs, cats, and a parrot named Zelda.

“The two of them had a special bond,” she said. “And I would say, ‘Well that’s your first wife, I hope there’s room in your heart for a second.’ Because she was one tough broad and loved him passionately.”

Their family moved to New Mexico in 2003 when Matthew accepted a job as the music director at KUNM. For over 20 years, he oversaw the station’s expansive music library, which he told Generation Justice’s Barbara Ramirez in 2022 includes around 80,000 CDs and vinyl records.

“There’s stuff that’s in those stacks that is rare and valuable and if we can just get people to go through them, you know, there’s amazing stuff in here,” he told her. “Really amazing stuff.”

And Matthew seemed to know all of it. His knowledge of deep cuts was a great fit for a station like KUNM that airs such a broad array of genres. Program Director Tristan Clum said Matthew would encourage DJs to “adventure out of their comfort zone” in those stacks.

“We have many, many, many hosts here who have benefitted from his lack of boundaries on a comfort zone. And the way he’s able to convey that and nurture that with others,” Clum said.

One of those DJs, Emmanuel Keels, said his music director became almost like family over the years.

“Matthew truly was a knowledgeable professor of music,” Keels said. “No matter what your flavor, no matter what your taste, you could always go to Matthew and say ‘I need some music.’ He went to this part of the library, he pulled out two CDs, he went to this part and pulled out two more CDs. He gave me five different CDs from five different genres in the matter of minutes.”

The CDs weren’t isolated to the library either. They spilled over into Matthew’s iconically messy office.

“Oh my God, there are CDs everywhere,” Keels said. “I mean, he’s got two desks, maybe three desks in his office, I think. And on every desk there’s a stack of CDs and then he has a bookcase with just shelves of CDs.”

Matthew’s sister Camilla has a theory about why Matthew kept his office stacked to the gills like that.

“He respected all those people on those CDs, and those musicians. And so, he wanted them in front of him. So he could see them, and then think about them, and maybe see where they fit in the world,” she said. “Or maybe they were just kind of there for company. You know, those were CDs, but I think they were musicians too.”

Matthew had deep relationships with musicians, including local acts he featured on his weekly show, “Ear to the Ground.”

“He became the conduit you always hope a music director is between the music community and the radio station,” said KUNM Program Director Tristan Clum.

Eileen O’Shaughnessy was one of those musicians.

“I just can’t imagine what the music scene will look like from here on out because he held such an important role in terms of holding the big picture of the New Mexico music scene. Albuquerque on the one hand, but really New Mexico,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Matthew described Ear to the Ground as “a showcase of local music from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, from points north of Taos to those places south of Socorro, and all across the cumulus heart of New Mexico.”

O’Shaughnessy described Matthew as a particularly talented interviewer.

“He was my favorite of all time because he just had this depth about him and you could tell he took time with the music,” O’Shaughnessy said. “He was just a really deep listener and that quality, I think, stretched across all of who he was.”

DJ Brandon Kennedy emphasized that Matthew’s passing is not an end to his on-air legacy.

“Part of my hope is that the people here at KUNM are interested in continuing that vibe and keeping local music on the air — and all the other things that Matthew has done,” Kennedy said. “Because that’s how you turn the sadness and the loss and the grief into something else.”

Matthew had recently started a new show, Studio 505, highlighting live performances. In his last live broadcast, he was feeling sick and his voice weakened throughout the show. While no one knew this would be his last, Matthew signed off with a goodbye song for his listeners, “Tattoo” by Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra: