620 off air since weekend

[Big 121]

The 620 Jaime Bonilla-Valdez outlet featuring a combo of ESPN Deportes/Local talk, has gone silent.Located on a leveled-off 2500'
peak 8 miles SE of the 905 border crossing,it started (illegally) broadcasting in 2003 on 550 khz, then to 560.
Jaime, Mexican politician& troubled ex-water board Director, used to own several AM/PM Arcos, a mobile car wash service, and other stations in CA and Mexico,seems to have fallen on hard times as his past due lease payments on KURS has silencend 1040.
The second antenna on Cerro Jaramello has since been sold(ex 780/1700).
Good news to the folks of KTAR.

 

[600kogo]

Did the FCC pull his cross border permit?? Obviously he finally got busted for him slimy dealings. Isn't there a rule that you can't own stations on both sides of the border?? that you have to lease one or the other? and that Mexican citizens can't own one without being a US citzen?

 

[davideduardo]

Did the FCC pull his cross border permit?? Obviously he finally got busted for him slimy dealings. Isn't there a rule that you can't own stations on both sides of the border?? that you have to lease one or the other? and that Mexican citizens can't own one without being a US citzen?

There is a certain gray area involving dual citizenship where a person who is a citizen of two countries could, quite legally, be the licensee of stations in both countries.

If Bonilla is a true citizen of both Mexico and the US, he might be able to own stations in each country.

Mexico has different laws regarding "nationality" and "citizenship" than those in the US. In the US, both terms mean essentially the same thing, but in Mexico one is a national by birth and a citizen only after reaching reaching the age of majority.

All of these conditions may present a situation where a dual citizen can, indeed, own stations in two nations.

 

[jefflaurence]

The US wont allow dual citizenship if you ARE a US citizen, but WILL allow someone who is a citizen of another country have dual citizenship? Whuddup with that David?

What was 620's power? Did they have one of those strange single tower directional systems?

 

[Big 121]

@ Noonish today, 620's oscillator started oscillating, the modules started modulating, and 620
powered back up. Audio quality quite... poor at times.Few years ago 620 shared 1030's beach front tower, using
approx 5kw, even tho licensed to Tecate.
Declining to use a location in T.J. w/10kw going mostly south, 620 has been using what I would estimate
to be around 1kw ND from the Jaramello location.

 

[davideduardo]

The US wont allow dual citizenship if you ARE a US citizen, but WILL allow someone who is a citizen of another country have dual citizenship? Whuddup with that David?

The fact is that many countries, including Mexico, do not consider a person to have lost Mexican citizenship if they become a citizen somewhere else. So, in Mexico they are still Mexican citizens and subject to the laws of Mexico just like any other citizen. If they acquired US citizenship, they are considered US citizens only.

So it's conceivable that a person could hold licenses in both nations, then.

 

[davideduardo]

What was 620's power? Did they have one of those strange single tower directional systems?

I don't know if they still use it, but IIRC WWL in New Orleans had a one-tower directional. They used one of the guy wires to nudge the signal north.

Contributor Scott Fybush may have more info on this one.

 

[fybush]

What was 620's power? Did they have one of those strange single tower directional systems?

I don't know if they still use it, but IIRC WWL in New Orleans had a one-tower directional. They used one of the guy wires to nudge the signal north.

Contributor Scott Fybush may have more info on this one.

WWL is a two-tower directional. The one-tower "optional" directional was 1100 in Cleveland in the WKYC/NBC days. They moved from their original 50 kW site in Brecksville to the WKYC-TV tower in Parma, which was a segmented Franklin with an insulator in the middle - and a dropped wire suspended from one of the guys as a second directional element. It didn't work especially well, and 1100 moved back to Brecksville eventually.