Aircheck: XEROK (Radio Cañon)--Ciudad Juarez, CH, Mexico November 1981

[spiritof67]

In the evening hours in the not too distant past, the frequency of 800 kHz was a clear channel frequency for radio stations outside the USA. In the late 1970's three stations were dominant in the midwest: 50 kW CKLW Windsor, ON, 500 kW PJB Bonaire, Netherlands Antillies, and 150 kW XEROK Ciudad Juarez, CH. By simply rotating a radio in a specific direction, it was possible for me to receive each of these signals clearly.

By 1979, XEROK (known as X-Rock 80) had dropped their Top-40 format, which I had enjoyed for years. For a time the station ran paid religion, and in 1980 they had a country format, known as 'Country 80.' But by 1981 their English language programming ended, and the station was re-branded as "Radio Cañon."

Here is a recording I made of Radio Cañon from November 1981. At the time I had hoped to record an uninterrupted aircheck, but due to fading, that did not happen. But I do think this is an enjoyable aircheck in spite of that. I cannot vouch for the date of the first half hour, but the second half hour was recorded on 20 November 1981. The show is either sponsored/brokered by either a record label or a mail order record store (either Discos Hoy or Discos de Hoy). The address had both a San Antonio address for US customers and a Nuevo Laredo, TM address for Mexican customers.

The 150 kW signal from Juarez is long gone and I miss it. These days 800 kHz around here is a jumble of stations with CKLW coming in occasionally.

These files are encoded at 192/44.1 and can be found at this link:
http://www.4shared.com/folder/MKqDj9-W/XEROK.html

 

[davideduardo]

In the evening hours in the not too distant past, the frequency of 800 kHz was a clear channel frequency for radio stations outside the USA. In the late 1970's three stations were dominant in the midwest: 50 kW CKLW Windsor, ON, 500 kW PJB Bonaire, Netherlands Antillies, and 150 kW XEROK Ciudad Juarez, CH.

It was a little more complicated than that.

800 had other Canadians, such as CHAB in Moose Jaw. There were additional stations on 800 with power in the 10 to 20 kw range in at least Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia and Ecuador.

The channel, in fact, was rather congested. Clear it was not.