RadioBanter - WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

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WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

elaich wrote:
"Brenda Ann" wrote in
:

Only one I've heard around there
was 1090 XEPRS (Back then it was the 1090 Soul Express with Wolfman
Jack)

Remember "Crusin' Oldies" with Huggy Boy? Wish I could find an aircheck of
that!

1090 is now "Double X" with Sporting News Radio.

The border powerhouse quickly reappeared in the 1940s as XERF, 1570 kHz,
and still all in English. The station was supposedly down to "only" 250
kW, omnidirectional, on one of those Mexican clear channels it had
helped create. There were, however, regular rumors that sometimes, in
the dead of night, when the electric bill was paid up, the engineers
couldn't resist cranking the thing un poquito mas, permanently fading
the paint on every south wall clear to Alberta. The "RF" stood for
"Radio Fifteen," but all the world's nerds knew what it really stood for.

For all its wattage, XERF was kind of a nowhere station. It tried the
same time-brokered format of Texas radio preachers, yee-hah bands,
chatty DJs, and quack cures, but without Brinkley to pull it off. It
lost money. The owner was forever in and out of legal trouble.

Fortunately, Ciudad Acuña still drew larger-than-life figures to its
larger-than-life radio. The next one to happen along was Bob Smith, a
skinny white kid from a tough section of Brooklyn, who had drifted from
one southern US station to the next, learning his DJ gig the tough way.
He had one major career problem - he insisted on playing the real, urban
blues, the cynically named "race records" by the original black artists.
White boys just didn't do that in the late 50s and early 60s - they
played the vapid cover versions aimed at nice Caucasian folks. In
Virginia, it is said, the Klan burned a cross on his lawn.

That's right - this skinny white kid with the black voice who could
reach Canada without a transmitter was Wolfman Jack, the legendary radio
figure who stoked a generation on the blues, and pretty much invented
the sixties. Yes, he's the guy George Lucas put in the movie. Better
Lucas should have told the real story though. The Wolfman did not hang
out in some hayburner sucking Popsicles. The Wolfman did not play
anything as sissy as the Del-Vikings. The one thing he did do was "blast
that thing clear around the world," as the dorky actor said.

Now, the Wolfman washed up at XERF during a strike. He wound up more or
less running the place. XERF's media karma was at work. Magic was alive.
The owner had defaulted, repeatedly, on payroll and taxes, and the
Federales were getting ready to sieze the station again. Somehow,
though, Wolfman and others raised the money to keep the border blaster
on the air. They played music people wanted to hear, all the time
selling all manner of dubious products on-mike.

Wolfman lived in Del Rio and commuted over the border, his Cadillac
filled with recordings and $100 bills. With no consultants, no rating
books, no focus groups, no audience research, no tests, no wired-up
teenagers holding red and green buttons, none of that crap, he
re-invented night time radio. He plugged it into That Big Amp In The
Sky, and cranked it to eleven - or at least 110% modulation - on his
signature howls. If you were halfway hip in the sixties, you knew where
to listen. That's all.

There was one problem. Nobody was quite sure who owned the station.
Nasty letters were written, death threats were exchanged, and XERF
started fitting out a private corps of security guards. The station
stocked up on some gear not normally seen at a broadcast site, such as
automatic weapons and plenty of ammo. The once beautiful transmitter
building, already minus most of its original detailing, became even more
like a fort.

Wolfman Jack liked to tell a story about what happened next. Now,
everyone agrees that there was a real, border shootout, just like in the
movies, the DJ diving for cover, bullets flying every which way.
Wolfman, of course, always said he was there, having heard pistol shots
on the air, and broken the speed record down from Del Rio in his Caddy.
Others say he probably wasn't there, but that the gun battle definitely
happened, followed by lots of cops poking around, lots of investigations
and legal complications. No matter how you want to tell the story, it
was not the Wolfman's best year.

Wolfman moved on, as all radio gypsies must, to another border blaster
in a marsh by the Tijuana River, with a dead shot up to Los Angeles, and
yet another emisadora muy grande. This was XERB, Rosarito Beach, BC.
XERB's signal could hold its own with such L.A. giants as KFI and KNX,
and certainly had no trouble whatever shooting up the Central Valley as
depicted by George Lucas. It was perfect setup for the Wolfman. Now the
mystery man with the huge voice and the good music could own California
at night, and inspire everyone. The rest is history, and more than one
great movie.

http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/st...of%20xerf.html

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

These broadcasters are insane to do things like HD/IBOC to restrict and
limit their already-dwindling audiences. They should be working to INCREASE
their coverage area and listenership; not reduce it. All you have to do is
go to the FCC website and see the number of radio stations that are filing
to "go dark." Interestingly, those numbers reveal more FM stations are
shutting down for good than AMs.

It will be interesting to see the TV broadcasters at the wailing wall after
February 17 when they realize their coverage area has been reduced and they
have lost viewer ratings which will translate to advertising dollars. As an
industry no one had the balls to stand up and protest the ridiculous DTV
switchover. They, too, are heading for disaster in a time when they've got
so much more competition than just other TV channels.

After it is all said and done, will the TV and radio broadcasters LEARN
anything from their folly? Probably not. I was in the industry for many
years and know how the pack-mentality works there. Once the alpha male comes
up with an idea, no matter how stupid, the remainder of the pack feeds off
it and sustains itself by feeding off the hype.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

On Jan 3, 10:28 am, "SX-25" wrote:
These broadcasters are insane to do things like HD/IBOC to restrict and
limit their already-dwindling audiences. They should be working to INCREASE
their coverage area and listenership; not reduce it. All you have to do is
go to the FCC website and see the number of radio stations that are filing
to "go dark." Interestingly, those numbers reveal more FM stations are
shutting down for good than AMs.

It will be interesting to see the TV broadcasters at the wailing wall after
February 17 when they realize their coverage area has been reduced and they
have lost viewer ratings which will translate to advertising dollars. As an
industry no one had the balls to stand up and protest the ridiculous DTV
switchover. They, too, are heading for disaster in a time when they've got
so much more competition than just other TV channels.

After it is all said and done, will the TV and radio broadcasters LEARN
anything from their folly? Probably not. I was in the industry for many
years and know how the pack-mentality works there. Once the alpha male comes
up with an idea, no matter how stupid, the remainder of the pack feeds off
it and sustains itself by feeding off the hype.

Well said SX-25. You sound like a good guy.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

David Eduardo wrote:

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

Sounds like something straight from you, 'Eduardo'!

It's right from White's Radio Logs from the period, plus from Sergio
Ballesteros, who has lived in Puerto Rico since about 1974 where he has
been
a record industry executive.

Try to pay attention, boy! I was referring to your "...unadulterated
drivel and
lies and exaggeration" comment.

Ah, a subject you know a lot about, having created most of that content on
this ng yourself with your rants about all the groups you hate, like
Canadians, Hispanics, etc.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

"Bob Dobbs" wrote in message
news:495fca4f.2276328@chupacabra...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Bob Dobbs" wrote in message
news:495fba37.1614609@chupacabra...
Dave wrote:

Wolfman moved on, as all radio gypsies must, to another border blaster
in a marsh by the Tijuana River, with a dead shot up to Los Angeles, and
yet another emisadora muy grande. This was XERB, Rosarito Beach, BC.
XERB's signal could hold its own with such L.A. giants as KFI and KNX,
and certainly had no trouble whatever shooting up the Central Valley as
depicted by George Lucas. It was perfect setup for the Wolfman. Now the
mystery man with the huge voice and the good music could own California
at night, and inspire everyone. The rest is history, and more than one
great movie.

He did a stint at XERA 91X (91.1) serving SoCal from Tijuana for awhile
back in the 80's, which was a fairly progressive station quite popular
in the San Diego smsa.

That's XETRA.

At the time they IDed in Spanish as XERA-FM sin la letra "T"

No, they didn't.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

David Eduardo wrote:

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

David Eduardo wrote:

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

Sounds like something straight from you, 'Eduardo'!

It's right from White's Radio Logs from the period, plus from Sergio
Ballesteros, who has lived in Puerto Rico since about 1974 where he has
been
a record industry executive.

Try to pay attention, boy! I was referring to your "...unadulterated
drivel and
lies and exaggeration" comment.

Ah, a subject you know a lot about, having created most of that content on
this ng yourself with your rants about all the groups you hate, like
Canadians, Hispanics, etc.

Oh come on. I only hate dumbass Canucks and faux Hispanics, such as yourself,
boy!

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

"Bob Dobbs" wrote in message
news:495fca4f.2276328@chupacabra...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Bob Dobbs" wrote in message
news:495fba37.1614609@chupacabra...
Dave wrote:

Wolfman moved on, as all radio gypsies must, to another border blaster
in a marsh by the Tijuana River, with a dead shot up to Los Angeles,
and
yet another emisadora muy grande. This was XERB, Rosarito Beach, BC.
XERB's signal could hold its own with such L.A. giants as KFI and KNX,
and certainly had no trouble whatever shooting up the Central Valley as
depicted by George Lucas. It was perfect setup for the Wolfman. Now the
mystery man with the huge voice and the good music could own California
at night, and inspire everyone. The rest is history, and more than one
great movie.

He did a stint at XERA 91X (91.1) serving SoCal from Tijuana for awhile
back in the 80's, which was a fairly progressive station quite popular
in the San Diego smsa.

That's XETRA.

At the time they IDed in Spanish as XERA-FM sin la letra "T"

No, they didn't.

I seem to remember their AM plant identifying in the early 70's as XTRA
(un-id?) The first AM stereo broadcast in some strange precursor of the
Kahn system (independant sidebands, you could listen in stereo using two
radios tuned to either side of the carrier)

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!

David Eduardo wrote:

The town was called Villa Acuña through the 60's. It was not
incorporated until well into the 70's.

They identified in English as "X E R F Ciudad Acuna Coahilla Mexico"
during the Wolfman Jack/Brother Al period, which I remember as being the
early mid '60s.