Anyone recall an AM station in Del Rio that went under?

[b-turner]

I became familiar with the Del Rio market around 1978. Back then there was 1230 KDLK and their FM at 94.3. Then there was KWMC at, I think 1490. I don't believe the AM dial had a third station after 1978 but I could be wrong.

By the time I lived in Del Rio in 1987, I learned there had been a third AM station in Del Rio. I was told the call letters and I recall it was KDR?. It seems it was in the 800s or 900s on the AM dial. It didn't last very long. It quickly went bankrupt, I was told. Several told me employees sometimes had their paychecks bounce. I was told they went nuts trading advertising for products and services (one person even said 'but the electric company wants cash). The station had been where a small bar was located along the highway going north out of town, where the Del Rio loop begins now. I suspect KDLK and KLKE used their old tower site at the time I was there because it was quite close to that bar, not too farm from where Kings Way intersects the highway.

Does anyone recall the station and have any info on it? When was it on? Do you recall the format, owner, etc.?

 

[davideduardo]

Does anyone recall the station and have any info on it? When was it on? Do you recall the format, owner, etc.?

Probably the easiest way is to look in the state/city section of the Broadcasting Yearbook at the link below.

 

[b-turner]

Thanks David. Broadcasting Yearbook show KWDR 810, a 1,000 watt Daytimer starting September 13, 1968 but that it was off air with target date unknown through the 1970 edition. In 1971 the listing show it to be on air through the 1973 edition and long gone by 1974. The station was owned by Green Valley Broadcasting showing a mailing address in McCamey, Texas.

McCamey once had a station that signed on in 1954, KAMY 1450 at 250 watts. It was long gone but talked about when I was in Big Lake at the defunct KWGH in 1980. Seems it operated a good while, showing up in the annual Yearbook from 1955 through 1969.

 

[LibertyNT]

Of course one can't forget about XERF chilling right across the border with its now flooded 250kW transmitter.

KWGH Cards: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=45281

 

[b-turner]

When I was in Del Rio, Paul Kallinger was one of my clients. He ran a small furniture store. His son was the AM drive jock at the station I worked for.

On one visit I asked Paul if he felt today's DJ had the same level of talent as those that were on the air when he was a DJ. His answer was gracious. He talked about being a DJ in prior decades. Many times the small town station was at least partly network fed. The station DJ worked frequently every hour the station was on the air, usually with a cot in the back of the station. Network feeds being what they were, a storm might knock out the line feed and it was you and a microphone until programming resumed. He said you learned 'by fire' to be creative and exhibit your talent to the best of your ability. Today's DJ, in his opinion, were no less talented but rather lacked the 'opportunity' to shine. Placed in the same position, he felt today's DJs could pull it off just as his generation of DJs did. I felt that was quite kind.

I knew Mike Venditti who got XERF back up to 250 kw. He was down at the station I worked to get our directional AM back in line. He told me flocks of birds flying over the towers would fall to the ground. He said the RF was enough to knock them out, and once on the ground, they come to and eventually fly off. I can imagine what the tower site might have been like in a thunderstorm.

I also had a client in Del Rio that managed XERF at one point. It seems her Dad owned XERF at the time. The government was trying to get him to sell the station to the Mexican Government. At one point armed soldiers tried to take the station leading the owner to hire a group of armed men to defend the tower site. I can't verify this personally but that's what my client, the former GM and owner's daughter said. She added that in the end, her Dad agreed to sell because it was becoming too costly. He would up heading the Mexican Consulate office in Del Rio (possibly created for him as part of the deal?). The client was no slouch. She was great at running a business, creative, smart and had the ability to make some fine lemonade from lemons. In other words, with her being the GM, it wasn't just because it was his daughter but that she knew how to do it right and successfully.

Pulling up the KWGH records was a treat. Thanks. I recall that after the station sold to Marvin, Mrs. Hickman would sometimes show up as if she was there to run the station. Marvin told me the old Hickman staff figured out that if they got paid on Monday, they could approach her on Tuesday and ask if they were getting paid today and she'd do payroll again with no memory of doing it the day before. I knew one of the cops locally and he told me they really didn't have the heart to come down on the poor lady. It seems her driving got so bad she'd hit about a car a week (ie: bumping a car while parking, etc.). While I was at KWGH, I never met her or heard anything about how she was doing. I'm guessing her family got her in to a care facility by then. I got to KWGH about a year after Marvin bought the station. To be honest, he should not have hired me because I was way too inexperienced for the job.

 

[Sammi Brie]

I also had a client in Del Rio that managed XERF at one point. It seems her Dad owned XERF at the time. The government was trying to get him to sell the station to the Mexican Government. At one point armed soldiers tried to take the station leading the owner to hire a group of armed men to defend the tower site. I can't verify this personally but that's what my client, the former GM and owner's daughter said. She added that in the end, her Dad agreed to sell because it was becoming too costly. He would up heading the Mexican Consulate office in Del Rio (possibly created for him as part of the deal?). The client was no slouch. She was great at running a business, creative, smart and had the ability to make some fine lemonade from lemons. In other words, with her being the GM, it wasn't just because it was his daughter but that she knew how to do it right and successfully.

The Mexican government was really hungry for XERF for obvious reasons (just look at that signal). From 1983, when the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER) was created, the government saw XERF as a strategically important acquisition. It seems like they really strong-armed the concessionaire.

 

[davideduardo]

The Mexican government was really hungry for XERF for obvious reasons (just look at that signal). From 1983, when the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER) was created, the government saw XERF as a strategically important acquisition. It seems like they really strong-armed the concessionaire.

But eventually, just like the early IMER stations in Mexico City, they got the station in a tax non-payment forfeiture action.

 

[gr8oldies]

If you ever read Wolfman Jack's autobiography "Have Mercy, published just before his death, the Wolfman recounts soldiers/bandits/somebody trying to take the station by force. In his version, Wolfman/Bob Smith is the hero, alerted by the frantic cries of his board op calling for help over those 250,000 watts. Embellished as it may be, the story goes that Wolfman dropped money on the local folks and assembled a ragtag army to defend the station, resulting in a couple of dead gunman and a visit from the federales.

When I was in Del Rio, Paul Kallinger was one of my clients. He ran a small furniture store. His son was the AM drive jock at the station I worked for.

On one visit I asked Paul if he felt today's DJ had the same level of talent as those that were on the air when he was a DJ. His answer was gracious. He talked about being a DJ in prior decades. Many times the small town station was at least partly network fed. The station DJ worked frequently every hour the station was on the air, usually with a cot in the back of the station. Network feeds being what they were, a storm might knock out the line feed and it was you and a microphone until programming resumed. He said you learned 'by fire' to be creative and exhibit your talent to the best of your ability. Today's DJ, in his opinion, were no less talented but rather lacked the 'opportunity' to shine. Placed in the same position, he felt today's DJs could pull it off just as his generation of DJs did. I felt that was quite kind.

I knew Mike Venditti who got XERF back up to 250 kw. He was down at the station I worked to get our directional AM back in line. He told me flocks of birds flying over the towers would fall to the ground. He said the RF was enough to knock them out, and once on the ground, they come to and eventually fly off. I can imagine what the tower site might have been like in a thunderstorm.

I also had a client in Del Rio that managed XERF at one point. It seems her Dad owned XERF at the time. The government was trying to get him to sell the station to the Mexican Government. At one point armed soldiers tried to take the station leading the owner to hire a group of armed men to defend the tower site. I can't verify this personally but that's what my client, the former GM and owner's daughter said. She added that in the end, her Dad agreed to sell because it was becoming too costly. He would up heading the Mexican Consulate office in Del Rio (possibly created for him as part of the deal?). The client was no slouch. She was great at running a business, creative, smart and had the ability to make some fine lemonade from lemons. In other words, with her being the GM, it wasn't just because it was his daughter but that she knew how to do it right and successfully.

Pulling up the KWGH records was a treat. Thanks. I recall that after the station sold to Marvin, Mrs. Hickman would sometimes show up as if she was there to run the station. Marvin told me the old Hickman staff figured out that if they got paid on Monday, they could approach her on Tuesday and ask if they were getting paid today and she'd do payroll again with no memory of doing it the day before. I knew one of the cops locally and he told me they really didn't have the heart to come down on the poor lady. It seems her driving got so bad she'd hit about a car a week (ie: bumping a car while parking, etc.). While I was at KWGH, I never met her or heard anything about how she was doing. I'm guessing her family got her in to a care facility by then. I got to KWGH about a year after Marvin bought the station. To be honest, he should not have hired me because I was way too inexperienced for the job.