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AM 690 off the air

S

Signal Geek

Tijuana's AM 690 has been off the air for at least a week. Does anyone know why?

This is not just another random AM signal. It's a 77kw-daytime, 50kw-nighttime blowtorch that travels up the coast like a local. In the 80s, I could even pick it up driving through the southern Central Valley. At different times over the decades, it's been all-news, Beautiful Music, then Top 40, then oldies, then Sports -- and most recently, Spanish Talk.

I hope this just a temporary outage, and not another storied signal going dark.
 
SignalsradioLLC said:
XETRA was the call when I listened in our cars in Yuma years ago.
Click to expand...
In recent years, they've been XEWW (Spanish talk). I believe a different RD thread said it was a simulcast of a Mexico City station. But yes, for many years before that 690 was XETRA-AM. I think the last format under those call letters was branded as "Extra Sports", broadcasting in English.
 
Signal Geek said:
In recent years, they've been XEWW (Spanish talk). I believe a different RD thread said it was a simulcast of a Mexico City station. But yes, for many years before that 690 was XETRA-AM.
Click to expand...

XEAC from 1934-1957, XEAK 1957 until 1961, XETRA from 1961-2007, then XEWW.

Signal Geek said:
I think the last format under those call letters was branded as "Extra Sports", broadcasting in English.
Click to expand...

It actually spent about a year with a Standards format starting in 2005 (swapping formats with KLAC). It went to Spanish-language programming in February of 2026, and changed the call letters the following year.
 
Two possible reasons:

Technical...or, the Spanish-language political talk as "La Voz del Pueblo" ("The Voice of the People"), leased by Primer Sistema de Noticias, has ended with no replacement programming.
 
XEWW is more powerful in the daytime than any other North American West Coast station, 77,000 watts.

And I believe it got elevated to Class A status in recent years. A few other North American stations got boosted to Class A too. I'm not sure who decides these things. I just checked FCCdata.org and it lists XEWW as Class B. But I'm pretty sure I read this from a reliable source.
 
Some may recall the controversy in 2020 over accusations of airing Chinese government propaganda, and the resulting new regulations introduced in Congress by Ted Cruz. This also resulted in XEWW being off the air for some time and then stunting.

www.insideradio.com

SoCal Chinese Programmer Hits More Interference In Effort To Program Mexican AM.

The operator of a southern California low-power FM is asking the FCC to keep the wall up for the cross-border station “U-Radio 690” XEWW that its operator seeks to return
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com
 
Gregg. said:
XEWW is more powerful in the daytime than any other North American West Coast station, 77,000 watts.

And I believe it got elevated to Class A status in recent years. A few other North American stations got boosted to Class A too. I'm not sure who decides these things. I just checked FCCdata.org and it lists XEWW as Class B. But I'm pretty sure I read this from a reliable source.
Click to expand...
I believe 690 is still both a Mexican and Canadian clear channel allocation, as is/was 1090.
 
A 5 letter call was pretty special to me. I lived in Yuma for 33 years, and a Mexican station on 1520 right across the line was XELBL then.

In 1975 I was offered a job over the line, doing engineering for the 5 AM's in San Luis area run by the chain known as OIR. That grew into a lot of air travel all over the country with 77 stations back then. Engineers were rare there , apparently. They had 2 guys taking care of those many stations. I had lunch with them and the head manager, one of them said "I'm glad you are here, it means I can see my kids once in awhile...

That was fun till the 80's, then the Peso slid straight into the toilet, along with my job there.
 
KilowattKat said:
In Mexico does the CRT (Mexico's FCC) require notification if a station goes silent for any reason? If so, is that information available online to the public? Maybe @davideduardo might know...
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The regulatory situation is extremely complicated; the new agency makes no sense at all. We remain in a state of legal uncertainty.
Therefore, as of 2026, there is no real oversight.
 


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