WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Monty Hall" wrote in message
...


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.

The only coverage that counts is in their home markets.

DX listeners don't count in the business model.


They don't count because these days some bean counter doesn't care. At one
time, they were quite important, and a large number of high power stations
programmed specifically for them. KWJJ and KGA used to have nighttime
programming aimed specifically at coast to coast truckers and sold time to
businesses that catered to them, such as truck stops, oil companies, etc.
WSM still figures in distant listeners for the Grand Ole' Opry. Nearly
every station had someone on their staff that would answer signal reports.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

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)

That was how Arbitron, which couldn't (and still can't) accommodate calls of
more than 4 letters, listed them in the book... but they always ID'ed as
XETRA when they had to... most of the time it was "Extra" which is a name
that goes back to Gordon McLendon's early efforts at all news... "Extra News
over Los Angeles." That was the first all news station serving a US market,
around 1960, although the format was invented in Cuba around 1948.

When the news format failed, in part due to the border restrictions on
sending US programming to a foreign transmitter (thanks to Doc Brinkley)
they did Top 40 and Beautiful Music for the next two decades.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
wrote:
WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight! This is very good news!
They've a huge sgnal here and their HD hash was tremendous. Hope
this
is the wave of the future!

Very odd KNX seems to hav reduced, but not completely dropper
their IBOC. I can clearly receive the Mexican on 1080, but KNX is
still warbling.

Which Mexican are you receiving on 1080? Only one I've heard around
there was 1090 XEPRS (Back then it was the 1090 Soul Express with
Wolfman Jack) Wasn't going to hear much on 1080 other than the 50KW
flamethrower local (then KWJJ).

1080 is usually Cd. Morelos, a "suburb" of San Luis Rio Colorado. XEDY,
Radio Gallo, 5 kw CP.



Yuma.

Near Yuma, but SLRC is a bigger city than Yuma.

I suspect the English religious program is for Yuma.

Possible, but I wonder if it was not another station, like KSCO. Mexican
stations have to go through an extensive permit process to broadcast in
another language, and it would not make sense to do it in a market that size
for one program. Further, there are considerable restrictions on religious
programming in Mexico, as well, and I don't think a religious show would be
allowed in English...

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Monty Hall" wrote in message
...


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.

The only coverage that counts is in their home markets.

DX listeners don't count in the business model.

They never have since the early 50's.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
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.

Cd. Acuña came in the 70's... it was Villa Acuña in the 60's.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"Monty Hall" wrote in message
...


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.

The only coverage that counts is in their home markets.

DX listeners don't count in the business model.


They don't count because these days some bean counter doesn't care. At
one time, they were quite important, and a large number of high power
stations programmed specifically for them. [/quote]

True. If you look at the ads in Broadcasting Magazine in the 40's, many
talked about mail count from many, many states.

After TV "arrived," meaning the two to three years after the freeze was
lifted, radio at night was barely listened to. So skywave reception (or DXX
reception) became of little use as there were few listeners and fewer
advertisers.

With the advent of Top 40 and rock and roll, a few stations like KOMA and
WKBW and such, in smaller markets but with big night signals, got the teen
audience across large areas. As FM took those listeners and more stations
came on the air, that, too, disappeared.

By the early 70's, there was no use for night skywave in most of America.
After docket 80-90 and with the coming of the Internet, there is totally no
use today.

KWJJ and KGA used to have nighttime
programming aimed specifically at coast to coast truckers and sold time to
businesses that catered to them, such as truck stops, oil companies, etc.

By the late 70's, none of these shows made money.... although stations
continued to carry them since they got good programming on a barter basis.
Most overnight shows didn't take the barter spots in overnight, either. Even
today, to get Coast To Coast you have to run daytime barter spots. Nobody
wants overnight ad time.... even in the big markets.

WSM still figures in distant listeners for the Grand Ole' Opry.

WSM, today, is the the lowest billing of the former 1A and 1B clears. It is
not even in the top 15 locally, with an AM preaching and teaching religious
station outbilling it, even.

Nearly
every station had someone on their staff that would answer signal reports.

That has not been true since the late 60's... even in the early 60's, about
a third of DX reports had to be followed up with a second or third request
to get a verification.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

David Eduardo wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
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.

Cd. Acuña came in the 70's... it was Villa Acuña in the 60's.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a total XERF junkie when I
was a kid in Scottsdale.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Dave" wrote in message
...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
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.

Cd. Acuña came in the 70's... it was Villa Acuña in the 60's.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a total XERF junkie when I was
a kid in Scottsdale.

And the manager recalls it was always Villa Acuña, Coahuila, México for his
tenure, which ended around 1972.

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

David Eduardo wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
David Eduardo wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
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.

Cd. Acuña came in the 70's... it was Villa Acuña in the 60's.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a total XERF junkie when I
was a kid in Scottsdale.

And the manager recalls it was always Villa Acuña, Coahuila, México for
his tenure, which ended around 1972.

The manager is mistaken. The ID quoted here is the one I remember.

"Paul Kallinger

The booming bass voice of Paul Kallinger was used to sell many of the
products on XERF. At night, his recorded spots between the different
sponsored shows served as a jingle break. Paul Kallinger remained on the
Texas side of the border and recorded his spots at a studio in Del Rio,
because he did not want to become embroiled with the lawlessness that
swirled around the XERF studio and transmitter on the other side of the
border. In between the different religious programs Paul Kallinger would
tell XERF listeners in various versions, that:

It’s always good to know that we have some fine people out there
listening to the most powerful commercial voice in the world … From
alongside the beautiful Rio Grande, this is XERF, Ciudad Acuña,
Coahuila, Mexico. Our mailing address is Del Rio, Texas. This is Paul
Kallinger.

To satisfy the Mexican authorities, the portion identifying the
station’s call letters and the station’s location in Mexico, would then
be repeated in the Spanish language."

WBZ Boston has shut off their HD tonight!
 

"Dave" wrote in message
m...
David Eduardo wrote:


And the manager recalls it was always Villa Acuña, Coahuila, México for
his tenure, which ended around 1972.

The manager is mistaken. The ID quoted here is the one I remember.


You are amusing. Your recollection, reinforced by a book that is just chock
full of errors, is better than the word of the guy who lived at the station
for about 12 years, negotiated with the town, and handled all the licensing
requirements.

Many DXers from the 60's have the XERF verie letter signed by Sergio
Ballesteros.