Wolfman Jack Big Broadcasts question

[johnbasalla]

I never heard, nor am clear on what was going on in relation to super-big station(s) in the 1960s.  From what I understand Wolfman Jack, and others, would broadcast from Mexico ( Mexico city? ) with a monsterous amount of power, and at night much of the continental U.S. could hear it.  I've heard of the power being as high at 250,000 watts, but whether that was true or not, I don't know.  Some have said the stations were pumping so much power that it was actually dangerous.  Any truth to that?  When/why did it all start and when/why did it end.  I would think that the U.S. wasn't thrilled with this/these     station(s).  If this would be better to move to the engineering board, I think that would be good.

[Silkie]

All I know is that I hid my little transistor radio under my pillow and listened.  He was on XERB and had a flame throwing signal. 

[oldiesfan6479]

In the mid-1960s on XERF 1570 Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila
(across from Del Rio, TX) with 250,000 watts.

Later in the 1960s, da Wolf originated from XERB 1090
Rosarito, Baja California with 50,000 watts, DA.

Side note: not da Wolf, but a high-powered Top 40 format
came out of XEROK 800 Ciudad Juarez (El Paso) in the
mid-1970s putting out 150,000 watts at night.  I can
hear the X-ROCK 80 shotgun jingle now...

[BRNout]

In the mid-1960s on XERF 1570 Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila
(across from Del Rio, TX) with 250,000 watts.

Later in the 1960s, da Wolf originated from XERB 1090
Rosarito, Baja California with 50,000 watts, DA.

Didn't these 2 stations simulcast for a while?

[landtuna]

I never heard, nor am clear on what was going on in relation to super-big station(s) in the 1960s.  From what I understand Wolfman Jack, and others, would broadcast from Mexico ( Mexico city? ) with a monsterous amount of power, and at night much of the continental U.S. could hear it.  I've heard of the power being as high at 250,000 watts, but whether that was true or not, I don't know.  Some have said the stations were pumping so much power that it was actually dangerous.  Any truth to that?  When/why did it all start and when/why did it end.  I would think that the U.S. wasn't thrilled with this/these     station(s).  If this would be better to move to the engineering board, I think that would be good.

The idea was for the Mexican stations, which are not governed by U.S. power regulations, to blast a BIG signal as far as possible.  U.S. AM stations at that time were limited to 50K watts but no such limitation existed on the other side of the border.

Wolfman's transmitter sites were within a few miles of the US-Mexican border (not anywhere near Mexico City) as the programming was primarily intended for the U.S. market.

As for the power being dangerous, you'd have to ask an engineer with medical background but I doubt people were actually living/working right next to the antenna farm.  We have TV stations here in Phoenix pumping out 100,000 watts which are within a mile or so of homes.  Aside from the occasional report of someone hearing the 5 o'clock news coming from their fillings  I'm not aware of any "dangerous" side effects.

[johnbasalla]

Thanks, all.  Now we're getting somewhere.  The next big question is...what happened to the 250,000 watt stations.  Are they still on-air but with much less power at night?  If I can't get an answer here, I may ask elsewhere, ok?

[landtuna]

AFAIK those BIG signal stations across the border were all AM.  Maybe FM killed them too.

I do remember hearing a few English language religious stations identified with Mexican calls.  Maybe the original music stations flipped.

[radiowayne]

radiowayne notes that even though he forgets the name of the author, there is a really good book called "Border Radio" that gives a history of the various border blasters, personalities, and owners.

Wayne g. aka radiowayne

[oldiesfan6479]

Details on the aforementioned book:

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/fowbor.html

[anotherguy]

In the 80's there was an attempt to bring back XERF at 250,000 watts with a CCM format, but it was eventually turned into a Dollar a Holler station. It didn't last long though.