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XEWW (Mighty 690) Rosarito Cross Border Controversy

sdwulfdawg

sdwulfdawg

It has been some time since there has been any concrete news about XEWW 690's signal which beams into Southern California from Rosarito. The last i heard is that there was a move to have the transmitter shut off because it was broadcasting a pro-China propaganda format into the United States from Mexico originating from Irwindale, CA and then transmitted to Rosarito via shortwave radio.

Senator Ted Cruz was loudly waving torches and pitchforks over this for a time, but I haven't heard anything further lately.

Bueller?
 
sdwulfdawg said:
It has been some time since there has been any concrete news about XEWW 690's signal which beams into Southern California from Rosarito. The last i heard is that there was a move to have the transmitter shut off because it was broadcasting a pro-China propaganda format into the United States from Mexico originating from Irwindale, CA and then transmitted to Rosarito via shortwave radio.
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The US can not "shut off" a foreign radio station. And the programming was being sent from the LA area to the transmitter site via the internet.
sdwulfdawg said:
Senator Ted Cruz was loudly waving torches and pitchforks over this for a time, but I haven't heard anything further lately.
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He is immediate in grabbing anything that even remotely furthers his ideology or can be adapted to do that.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The US can not "shut off" a foreign radio station. And the programming was being sent from the LA area to the transmitter site via the internet.

He is immediate in grabbing anything that even remotely furthers his ideology or can be adapted to do that.
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Taking a shot at Cruz doesn't answer the question. Is the station broadcasting Chinese propaganda? If the original source transmission is coming from the United States, is there anything the government can do about it? Given the pro-China stance on most issues taken by the current administration, do they even want to?
 
DavidEduardo said:
The US can not "shut off" a foreign radio station. And the programming was being sent from the LA area to the transmitter site via the internet.
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This reminds me of a similar, but reverse situation, where U.S. stations in Washington state were leasing time to Canadian operators who targeted South Asian (Indian) language programming at the Canadian market in British Columbia.

In a fairly dramatic example of the difference between U.S. and Canadian regulators, the CRTC shut those broadcasts down -- not by shutting down the transmitters in the U.S. over which they had no jurisdiction, but by ordering the Canadian producers to stop, even though they weren't running any radio stations in Canada.

EDIT: From the link in post #6 below, it looks like the FCC did the same thing in this case. I didn't think that was possible under the First Amendment. Interesting.

CRTC acts to ensure radio stations follow the rules - Canada.ca

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today ordered Radio India to not carry on a broadcasting undertaking in Canada, in whole or in part, without a licence.
www.canada.ca www.canada.ca
 
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ChannelFlipper said:
Taking a shot at Cruz doesn't answer the question.
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That is hardly a shot at Cruz. He is rather skillful in taking possession of current topics by somehow making his own agenda part of "everything".
ChannelFlipper said:
Is the station broadcasting Chinese propaganda? If the original source transmission is coming from the United States, is there anything the government can do about it? Given the pro-China stance on most issues taken by the current administration, do they even want to?
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I am not a lawyer, but I can't see that recording political content in the US for use outside a US jurisdiction is illegal. In the past, the US regulated sending programming across the border "by radio" but the specific legislation was written to prevent Doc Brinkley and other hucksters from sending by radio live programming across to Mexican "border blasters" where the content was patently illegal and deceptive in the US.

What can be regulated is the use of any radio frequency service to deliver programming to a location outside the US. However, there are many ways to circumvent this, one being recording the material and carrying the recordings across the border.
 
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TheBigA said:
No. The FCC shut them down in 2020.
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What they shut down was the system used to send programming from the LA are to the XEWW transmitter in Baja California. They have no control over XEWW itself.
TheBigA said:
The station was seeking a buyer in 2021.
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At a vastly exaggerated price, given the current noise levels on AM no longer allow 690 to be competitive in Los Angeles. This is the station that just over 60 years ago was the US' first all news operation when Gordon McLendon changed the calls to XETRA and it became "Extra News over Los Angeles".
 
Meantime over on Facebook, in the SoCal Radio People group, someone is saying that today, 690 is playing a montage of the first couple of minutes of several recent hit records---some which include the "f" and "s" words. Of course, they don't have to worry about an FCC violation....
 
Monitoring over the air from OC and they are stunting with English language pop songs (or pieces of them (didn’t hear “S” or “F” but I only tuned in a short time. No Chinese heard
 
I'm also amazed that the FCC or any federal agency can tell someone in a studio in Southern California that they can't send programming to a station in a foreign country. I'm sure if XEWW had the money to pay for broadcasting attorneys, they could fight such an order. I seem to remember when a couple of American owners were leasing time to Radio Sputnik and The Voice of Russia, the FCC gave them a hard time. But those were FCC-regulated stations. XEWW is a Mexican station that happens to have a signal that extends into California.

And how do we identify propaganda? Especially if it's in Mandarin? Does the FCC employ people who speak Mandarin and can say, this broadcast is propaganda? It's too pro-China? It's telling us that China is a better country than it really is?

You can't shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. But how can someone say, you are being too pro-China?
 
Gregg. said:
I'm also amazed that the FCC or any federal agency can tell someone in a studio in Southern California that they can't send programming to a station in a foreign country. I'm sure if XEWW had the money to pay for broadcasting attorneys, they could fight such an order. I seem to remember when a couple of American owners were leasing time to Radio Sputnik and The Voice of Russia, the FCC gave them a hard time. But those were FCC-regulated stations. XEWW is a Mexican station that happens to have a signal that extends into California.

And how do we identify propaganda? Especially if it's in Mandarin? Does the FCC employ people who speak Mandarin and can say, this broadcast is propaganda? It's too pro-China? It's telling us that China is a better country than it really is?

You can't shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. But how can someone say, you are being too pro-China?
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There was a major conflict years ago when the former XETV ch. 6 was an ABC Television Network affiliate, but owned by a Mexican broadcaster that eventually became Televisa (before then, Bay Television).

Western Telecasters, then-owners of KCST (now NBC O&O KNSD), challenged XETV's affiliation renewal with ABC - claiming that it's no longer appropriate for a Mexican-licensed station to carry an American network when there's now a station available in America (then-recently launched KCST) to carry their programming, as well as claims that XETV didn't have enough local programming that served the San Diego side. The FCC sided with KCST in May 1972 and ABC programs gradually moved to that station throughout June 1973, leaving XETV as an independent station for the next 13 years. There are international agreements between Mexico and the United States on sharing the radio/TV spectrum.

Television stations in San Diego cannot directly transmit signals from their live microwave/satellite news trucks from Tijuana (that's in Mexico, Gregg).

The broadcaster that was broadcasting from Irwindale was being financed by the Chinese Communist Party. Get realistic, Sunshine.....the CCP is not Captain Kangaroo....wake up from your naivete and smell the Folgers...
 
Gregg. said:
I'm also amazed that the FCC or any federal agency can tell someone in a studio in Southern California that they can't send programming to a station in a foreign country.
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The prohibition is against using microwave or some other radio frequency facility originating in the US to send programming to a foreign country where it will be broadcast back to the US. The rule dates back to the times of Doc Brinkley and the gland transplants...
Gregg. said:
I'm sure if XEWW had the money to pay for broadcasting attorneys, they could fight such an order. I seem to remember when a couple of American owners were leasing time to Radio Sputnik and The Voice of Russia, the FCC gave them a hard time. But those were FCC-regulated stations. XEWW is a Mexican station that happens to have a signal that extends into California.
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And which is getting its audio from an RF source originating in the US.
Gregg. said:
And how do we identify propaganda? Especially if it's in Mandarin? Does the FCC employ people who speak Mandarin and can say, this broadcast is propaganda? It's too pro-China? It's telling us that China is a better country than it really is?
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In Washington, DC, it is easy to find translators for nearly every language on the planet.
Gregg. said:
You can't shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. But how can someone say, you are being too pro-China?
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It's not about content. It is about sending audio to Mexico on a US licensed frequency to be rebroadcast back to the US. That has been regulated since the 1930's.
 
Listened to XEWW this evening and now late at night. They are running an English-language pop based format, but these are either unknown songs, or recent hits but not sung by the original artists. For example, (confirmed by Shazam) "Beautiful Mistakes" (Maroon 5) sung by Juwon Grey, "Save Your Tears" (The Weeknd) sung by DJ Pop Romantic, and "Leave the Door Open" (Silk Sonic f/Bruno Mars) sung by Kid Travis... they must be playing these to save on licensing... and yes, they are running f-bombs and such if they appear in the music. That can't be good, running a 50kW AM with that. I think even the Mexican government has issues with that. At 2 AM they cut into a song to run an automated legal ID... otherwise, no IDs whatsoever.
 
spiritof67 said:
To clarify, the Chinese I'm hearing is only on the internet stream of the station that used 690 until recen
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powers said:
Listened to XEWW this evening and now late at night. They are running an English-language pop based format, but these are either unknown songs, or recent hits but not sung by the original artists. For example, (confirmed by Shazam) "Beautiful Mistakes" (Maroon 5) sung by Juwon Grey, "Save Your Tears" (The Weeknd) sung by DJ Pop Romantic, and "Leave the Door Open" (Silk Sonic f/Bruno Mars) sung by Kid Travis... they must be playing these to save on licensing... and yes, they are running f-bombs and such if they appear in the music. That can't be good, running a 50kW AM with that. I think even the Mexican government has issues with that. At 2 AM they cut into a song to run an automated legal ID... otherwise, no IDs whatsoever.
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Perhaps the Mexican government cares as much about English language F bombs in 2023 as they did about Dr. John R Brinkley about 80 odd years ago
 
>>>The broadcaster that was broadcasting from Irwindale was being financed by the Chinese Communist Party. Get realistic, Sunshine.....the CCP is not Captain Kangaroo....wake up from your naivete and smell the Folgers..<<<

Hey, I'm not saying I like propaganda or hearing the CCP is financing programming heard in the U.S. But I don't like a lot of lies or propaganda I hear on today's American Talk Radio either. However, we believe that free speech might be messy but we don't want the government regulating it.

I would hope that Mandarin speakers, who left China for California, would figure out XEWW is broadcasting the same propaganda they left behind and would ignore it. (Nǐ hǎo ma?) I can remember when high power Cuban transmitters were sending Radio Moscow in English to the airwaves of Florida and the Southern U.S. It was poorly produced and we ignored it, unless we wanted a laugh.

However, David makes the point that it's not the content. It's the method of transmission. The FCC regulates the transmission of programming that is produced on the U.S. side of the border but is sent to a Mexican station intended to be bounced back to the airwaves in the U.S. I guess if someone in So. Cal. recorded shows onto a flash drive or cassette and mailed it or drove it to the Mexican station, which then played it on the air, that would NOT be regulated. It's the transmission method that's in question.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The prohibition is against using microwave or some other radio frequency facility originating in the US to send programming to a foreign country where it will be broadcast back to the US. The rule dates back to the times of Doc Brinkley and the gland transplants...

And which is getting its audio from an RF source originating in the US.

In Washington, DC, it is easy to find translators for nearly every language on the planet.

It's not about content. It is about sending audio to Mexico on a US licensed frequency to be rebroadcast back to the US. That has been regulated since the 1930's.
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That regulation is why Wolfman Jack recorded shows in real-time in Los Angeles and had them bussed across the border to the XERB transmitter for playback the following day,

So, David, when live studios were established for Mexican stations in San Diego in the 80s , was that ISDN? Is microwave the issue here? And why in the world would the Chinese send a microwave signal from L.A. to Tijuana when they could use whatever computer technology broadcasters use for remote broadcasting today?
 
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