Format timeline XETRA 690

[LKellerIII]

And during much of the Wolfman era, XERB (XEPRS) was Spanish language in the daytime; they had studios and management offices at different times above the El Capitan theater and in the "high rise" at Sunset and Vine, and nearly all clients were in LA and Orange counties.

Wasn't that "high rise" a dumpy little one or two story building? My dad worked at Jay Ward Productions, nearby - and I remember visiting him, and seeing XERB "studios" on the same (south) side of Sunset Blvd. IIRC, their sign was one of those cheap window-box light-up signs with removable letters, that retail businesses used to use.

We all know the Wolfman recorded his shows. I've heard that the tapes were driven down to Rosarita Beach, south of Tijuana, to play at the transmitter site. Is that true? I realize this was pre-satellite, but that seems like a lot of work.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Wasn't that "high rise" a dumpy little one or two story building? My dad worked at Jay Ward Productions, nearby - and I remember visiting him, and seeing XERB "studios" on the same (south) side of Sunset Blvd. IIRC, their sign was one of those cheap window-box light-up signs with removable letters, that retail businesses used to use.

We all know the Wolfman recorded his shows. I've heard that the tapes were driven down to Rosarita Beach, south of Tijuana, to play at the transmitter site. Is that true? I realize this was pre-satellite, but that seems like a lot of work.

Can't get enough of the Wolfman! Clap for him!

I am probably at least 10 years younger than most folks that post here and I was just a small boy in the mid seventies. Wolfman Jack was probably the first radio personality to which I remember paying any attention. Up until that time, I never even noticed the DJs; I listened exclusively for the music. But the Wolfman's personality and shtick were so different from anything else on the radio he demand you pay attention to him, and I did. Oddly enough, probably the second radio DJ that got my attention for similar reasons, plus the mad music and crazy comedy (some of which I didn't even understand at that age) was Dr. Demento.

 

[michael hagerty]

Llew:

It was 8228 Sunset Boulevard (at Roxbury)...three stories and still standing. Was the corporate offices for the National Lampoon until recently. Here's a Google Maps street view:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/8...3fa363129b920!8m2!3d34.0973602!4d-118.3683601

By 1969, they'd moved to 4007 W. 6th Street (north of Wilshire, west of Western). XERB, later XEPRS, remained there after Wolf left the station in '72...then moved to San Diego sometime later.

And, yes...it's true. There were only two ways to broadcast from a station based in Mexico in those days...be there or send the programming over. Wolf, having had a close call with some "bad hombres" at the south-of-the-border site of XERF earlier in his career, refused to go. Yes, they could have had the studios in San Diego and made it a much shorter (and cheaper) bus ride for the tapes, but Wolf wanted to be in Hollywood.

The tapes from the previous night were put on the bus back to Los Angeles and Wolf kept them. Which is where the wealth of material that has kept Wolfman in syndication comes from.

And your dad working for Jay Ward is just about the coolest thing I can think of!

 

[TheBigA]

Oddly enough, probably the second radio DJ that got my attention for similar reasons, plus the mad music and crazy comedy (some of which I didn't even understand at that age) was Dr. Demento.

Funny...the Wolf was a walking, talking novelty himself. But did he ever play the novelty songs the way Demento did? There were a lot of them in the 60s.

 

[davideduardo]

Wasn't that "high rise" a dumpy little one or two story building? My dad worked at Jay Ward Productions, nearby - and I remember visiting him, and seeing XERB "studios" on the same (south) side of Sunset Blvd. IIRC, their sign was one of those cheap window-box light-up signs with removable letters, that retail businesses used to use.

We all know the Wolfman recorded his shows. I've heard that the tapes were driven down to Rosarita Beach, south of Tijuana, to play at the transmitter site. Is that true? I realize this was pre-satellite, but that seems like a lot of work.

When Teddy Fregoso leased XERB from the Bichara f amity and Ing. Wilkins, he had a succession of Hollywood area studio locations. Somewhere around 1974 the moved to the tower at Sunset and Vine, where KIIS was once located. 24 story building and they were on the 18th floor. Around 1982 they went to 8th and Olympic in a free standing building. Sometime after 1985, they moved to the second floor of El Capitan on Hollywood.

The station went all Spanish around 1977 or 1978, per a friend who later became a PD hire of mine at Heftel. Until around ‘77 Wolfman tan in English at 7 PM.

There was a complex set of FCC rules about broadcasting live from the US to foreign transmitters. Later, they allowed specific case waivers and stations coul shoot by microwave to Mexican stations, live. The delayed by 24 hour tapes were the easiest way.

 

[michael hagerty]

David: The move to Sunset had to have been mid-‘75 or later. I visited XEPRS in the 6th Street Studios sometime in the first half of 1975.

 

[LKellerIII]

Llew:

It was 8228 Sunset Boulevard (at Roxbury)...three stories and still standing. Was the corporate offices for the National Lampoon until recently. Here's a Google Maps street view:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/8...3fa363129b920!8m2!3d34.0973602!4d-118.3683601

By 1969, they'd moved to 4007 W. 6th Street (north of Wilshire, west of Western). XERB, later XEPRS, remained there after Wolf left the station in '72...then moved to San Diego sometime later.

And, yes...it's true. There were only two ways to broadcast from a station based in Mexico in those days...be there or send the programming over. Wolf, having had a close call with some "bad hombres" at the south-of-the-border site of XERF earlier in his career, refused to go. Yes, they could have had the studios in San Diego and made it a much shorter (and cheaper) bus ride for the tapes, but Wolf wanted to be in Hollywood.

The tapes from the previous night were put on the bus back to Los Angeles and Wolf kept them. Which is where the wealth of material that has kept Wolfman in syndication comes from.

And your dad working for Jay Ward is just about the coolest thing I can think of!

Thanks, Michael. Jay Ward was his dream job. Animators, like radio DJs - move around a lot depending on where the work is...though they don't have to leave LA, which is a saving grace. He got the job in '63, when Rocky and his Friends was riding high, and stayed until about 1983, IIRC. Ward was an eccentric rich guy - having inherited a lot of real estate in Berkeley and Oakland. He never made much, if anything, from the animated shows, but he didn't care. And Ward paid people well. My dad would come home telling stories of the recording sessions with William Conrad, Hans Conreid, June Foray, et al - and the long 3 martini lunches that would follow. My dad would catch up with work on the weekends, playing the recorded soundtracks over and over, to sync them to the animation. I think that's how I developed a layman's interest in voice-over artists, announcers, etc.

 

[Hot Hits]

They also were in the Max Factor building in Hollywood at some point when Bill Bird did top 40 and was P.D. My friend and I were talking Radio at Sizzler and Bill started speaking to us.

 

[gumba]

Thanks, Michael. Jay Ward was his dream job. Animators, like radio DJs - move around a lot depending on where the work is...though they don't have to leave LA, which is a saving grace. He got the job in '63, when Rocky and his Friends was riding high, and stayed until about 1983, IIRC. Ward was an eccentric rich guy - having inherited a lot of real estate in Berkeley and Oakland. He never made much, if anything, from the animated shows, but he didn't care. And Ward paid people well. My dad would come home telling stories of the recording sessions with William Conrad, Hans Conreid, June Foray, et al - and the long 3 martini lunches that would follow. My dad would catch up with work on the weekends, playing the recorded soundtracks over and over, to sync them to the animation. I think that's how I developed a layman's interest in voice-over artists, announcers, etc.

And I remember fondly listening to the theme of "George of the Jungle" over and over, roughly a year before it was ever on TV. Animation is slow. And don't forget "Captain Crunch"!
How did we get to this from the format of XETRA/690? I live in San Diego, so the cross-border stations are not so academic for me, but I'm not really that plugged in. Still trying to figure out what Dan Sileo, who had the morning slot on XEPRS/1090, did wrong that got him a sudden career change to 97.3 FM "The Machine".