XERA is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, broadcasting on

760 AM The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 760 kHz: WJR in Detroit, Michigan, is the only class A station in North America broadcasting on 760 AM; 760 AM is a U.S. clear-channel frequency. I ...

in San Cristóbal de las Casas,

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. The station's callsign was most famous for its use on a border blaster at Villa Acuña,

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

. XERA also broadcasts on FM at 101.5 MHz. It is not licensed for this frequency; the only FM station on the frequency in Chiapas is XHDB-FM in Tonalá.

The border blaster

From 1935 to 1939, XERA was the call sign of a

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service (broadcasting), external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually ass ...

licensed to Ramón D. Bósquez Vitela in September 1935 to Compañía Mexicana Radiodifusora Fronteriza in Villa Acuña,

. This station was the successor to XER which had been situated at the same location but whose transmitter had been dismantled after the station ceased broadcasting in February 1933. Like XER, it was under the control of John R. Brinkley of the U.S. state of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. XERA ceased transmissions in 1939. After losing control of XER when it was shut down by the Mexican government in 1933, Brinkley dismantled the original XER transmitter but attempted to get a new concession for Villa Acuña. Months later in September 1935 he was granted a new concession via his partnership of Cía Mexicana Radiodifusora Fronteriza, a company which was represented by Bósquez as the owner; this was officially awarded on November 18 of that year. The original station broadcast on 960 kHz. Brinkley used the old buildings of XER but installed a new 500 kilowatt transmitter with help from two Texas radio engineers. The antenna for XER had been omnidirectional, but the new directional antenna of XERA allowed Brinkley to claim that his station had an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

of one megawatt. One of his Texas engineers called XERA "the world's most powerful broadcasting station," which was a slogan that he would use again in the 1960s for two more of his engineering endeavors: the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

military transmitters which communicated with the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

fleet, and again for the offshore

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

station

Swinging Radio England Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "''World's Most Powerful''" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, En ...

. Following the signing of various international treaties with the United States, the Mexican government forced XERA off the air in the closing days of 1939, by which time it had moved to 800 kHz. The station's programming, featuring quack doctor religious cures and Nazi propaganda, and the station's reputation for breaking laws and evading taxes, put the station in the sights of both Mexican and American authorities. On June 16, 1941, the

Official Journal of the Federation The (DOF; translated variously as the ''Official Journal of the Federation'' or else as ''Official Gazette of the Federation''), published daily by the government of Mexico, is the main official government publication in Mexico. It was establ ...

ran a decree expropriating the station, also noting that "the Federal Government has an urgent need to obtain a radio station as powerful as XERA to dedicate it to the service of the Federation ... and that it is currently not possible to obtain it from the United States of America, given the conditions that dominate in Europe". Again the equipment was removed and the location would not become the site of another, unrelated border blaster until years later following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1947. See the history of

XERF XHRF-FM () and XERF-AM () are radio stations in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Originally only on the AM band, XERF is a Mexican Class A clear-channel station transmitting with of power. Now branded as ''La Poderosa'', XHRF-FM and XERF-AM ...

for details.

In San Cristóbal de las Casas

On November 3, 1973, a new XERA-AM took to the air in San Cristóbal de las Casas, owned by the government of the state of Chiapas and the state's first public radio station. From 1985 to 1990, this station was operated by the

Instituto Mexicano de la Radio The Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER; English: "Mexican Radio Institute") is a Mexican public broadcaster. It was founded in 1983 as a companion to the public TV broadcaster Imevisión, since privatized and known as TV Azteca. When Imevisió ...

under a co-operation agreement that saw IMER launch two radio stations in the state. When the government of Chiapas opted to retake control of XERA, IMER built a replacement station, XECHZ-AM Chiapa del Corzo.IMER: History of XHCHZ-FM
/ref> Programming on XERA-AM is broadcast in various languages including

Tzeltal Tzeltal may refer to: * Tzeltal people, an ethnic group of Mexico * Tzeltal language, the Mayan language they speak {{Disambiguation ...

and

Tzotzil The Tzotzil are an Indigenous Maya people of the central highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. As cited by Alfredo López Austin (1997), p. 133, 148 and following. As of 2000, they numbered about 298,000. The municipalities with the largest Tzotzil pop ...

External links

*"Wolfman Jack's old station howling once again," ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the '' Dallas Times'' and the '' Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas ( USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, an ...

'', January 2, 1983. - primarily about XERF-AM but it also includes background information on the border-blasters. *''Border Radio'' by Fowler, Gene and Crawford, Bill. Texas Monthly Press, Austin. 1987 *''Mass Media Moments in the United Kingdom, the USSR and the USA'', by Gilder, Eric. - "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu Press, Romania. 2003 *

References

{{Chiapas Radio Radio stations in Chiapas San Cristóbal de las Casas Public radio in Mexico