Before our love affair with Chata began, Saturdays were a void of passionless hours, whiled away in hungover and dejected despair. And then she spoke to us from the bottom of her soul and turned our hearts on to salsa. Blending a fiery mix of both local and international salsa talent, cut with a mild dose of Afro-Latin and straight jazz, Chata Gutierrez is the eminent goddess of San Francisco radio talent. Her sultry between-set whispers coax couch-bound Saturday prisoners toward afternoon hip-shimmying frenzies. If her sensuous voice weren't interrupted by the best salsa on the airwaves, you'd wish she'd just talk for four hours straight. Instead, she serves up some of the most delicious rhythms to be heard outside a club. She also works in weekly previews of salsa acts coming to town, offering tastes of visiting bands as she announces upcoming dates and regular salsa parties. Unlike the bulk of egocentric radio DJs, Chata credits everything she plays, giving props where they're due: to the artists who obviously give her -- and us -- so much pleasure.