[IRCA] El Paso trip notes

["John Callarman" <JohnCallarman@xxxxxxx>]

I did a lot of taping on the car radio and in the motels on my trip to El Paso to watch my Oregon State Beavers amazing comeback victory over the Missouri Tigers, and I offer a few preliminary notes on what I've heard and taped.

I spent the first night out in Del Rio and taped hour-long air checks from all the BCB'ers except XERF and all the FM stations ... and there was some information that's new ...

XERCG-650 is definitely on the air, with religious programming, including preacher programs and the Mexican equivalent of contemporary Christian music. It was on the air past midnight CST on Wednesday night, December 27, and on the air before 6 a.m. December 28, as were all the Ciudad Acuña AM stations. XERCG's slogan is "La Nueva Radio." I haven't yet transcribed the full station ID, but the Del Rio phone book indicates the station is owned by the González family who have XEKD-1010, XEDH-1340, XHRG-95.5. Neither XERCG-650 nor XEAE-1600 "Texano Hits," that's been listed in MPM for several years, were on the air when I was in Del Rio in 2002; a cellphone conversation with a sister-in-law in the car last year, asking her to check 650 and 1600, brought no sign of any signals there for her; and 1600 remained a blank this past week for me in Del Rio. It is my suspicion, based upon FCC and SCT data bases that XEAE is the old call for XERCG, and that it may at first have been on 1600 but is now on 650. SCT shows XERCG on 1600 and nothing on 650; MPM shows XEAE on 1600 and nothing on 650, and FCC data base shows XEAE on both frequencies and no listing for XERCG call. But what's actually on the air is definitely XERCG-650.

XEVK-1010 appears to have new slogan, "VK-Uno."

Some may recall that when I made my Sun Bowl trip two years ago, I drove down toward Ojinaga, Chihuahua on New Years Day and found, when I was in the immediate area, all three listed AM stations off the air. But later that day, XEARE-1450 was heard and taped while I was in Alpine, Texas, with the "Radio Peguis" slogan that's listed in MPM, WRTH and Cantú. However, monitoring on Dec. 27 showed new slogan, "Radio Lobo" for XEARE. I also was able to hear clear, solid signals on 1260 and get some good taped IDs on XEOG-1260, which was not on the air on Jan. 1, 2005. It uses the listed "Radio Ranchito" slogan. The third Ojinaga AM'er, XERCH-1350, Radio Exitos, per MPM and other listings, was either silent or not strong enough to reach Alpine, Texas, where XEARE and XEOG were easily heard.

I was unable to get close enough to the Navo/Allende/Zaragoza area to get a reading on XEVUC-1050, to see what they are using now. XEG in Monterrey was too strong in Del Río and beyond toward El Paso to be able to get a read on XEVUC, which was taped in October of 2002 by me. The station O&O by the same outfit that remains in Allende (XEVUC is shown by MPM to be in nearby Nava, with slogan "La Gigante"), XEVD on 1380, was heard in passing, reverting, if my ears are correct, to the old "La Vida" slogan. When I heard them in October 2002, the slogan appeared to be "La VD" (Can you imagine an English-speaker calling itself "The VD?" XEZR remains on 800 and its slogan remains what I heard here in Krum in 2002 and in the Valley in October of that year, "La Traviesa." MPM has it, correctly, on 800 but its current station profile does not list slogan or format.

Thursday and Friday nights I stayed in Las Cruces, but did get a few air checks from Juárez FM and AM stations (not all of them.) Unfortunately, the batteries on the tape recorder I had in the car Thursday had gone down and I did not get a recording of the local ID XEYC on 1030 that I did hear on the car radio at 2 p.m. MST. A couple of minutes later, there was a full XERFR-970 ID from XEYC. On Friday morning, with the car parked near a bunch of tail-gating parties in the free-parking area at the Sun Bowl, I got a lot of local commercials at tune-in, but I'll have to monitor the tape to see if I have a local call there.

I did record an hour-long air check from XEWR-1110, which does U.S. oldies with a knowledgeable DJ with info on the artists. 

XEJCC "La 1520" is still doing the extremely wild programming I heard in December 2004. For more than two hours in the afternoon, all of the music (part of the slogan "Pura Metal") included ear-busting instrumentation with vocals by an electronically-enhanced male voice that sounded somewhat between the howl of a wounded lion or a prolonged, modulated belch. I've never heard this kind of music anywhere else but on XEJCC (the vocals are in English.) I have an hour air check on this character, too. Again, I'll have to check tapes. Unless XEWG-1240 or XECJC-1490 have changed slogans, the Juárez AM dial is virtually unchanged from December 2004. 

After my return today from El Paso, I'll continue to work on the update of the Mexican list from a couple of years ago. Many, many changes ... and now, I've got the 2007 WRTH and will have to check what's different from the 2006 issue. 

John Callarman, Krum, TX
_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx