New Cuban 11/30/14 early morning

[crainbebo]

This brings my total of Cubans on MW to 9.

1620 - Radio Rebelde CMBA; unk location Cuba. Heard at 0045 PT with SS music, sounded like old standards with female singer. // 5.025 and 1180 khz. NEW #660, tent 50KW (but not sure on power), about 2800 miles! Was on top of the jumble for a few minutes, usually KYIZ and KSMH are the ones on this channel.

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

I just found out it is a 5KW transmitter at Guanabacoa, Cuba. Distance is 2670 miles at 5KW!

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

Another newbie! This I have been wanting for many years.

900 - XEW Mexico City, DF; was unid. Heard at 2300 PT 11/29 with ID "W Radio", IDed by a WTFDA member in Ontario. NEW #661, 250KW at 2,237 miles! That's 3 new logs for yesterday. Wow!

-crainbebo

 

[davideduardo]

Another newbie! This I have been wanting for many years.

900 - XEW Mexico City, DF; was unid. Heard at 2300 PT 11/29 with ID "W Radio", IDed by a WTFDA member in Ontario. NEW #661, 250KW at 2,237 miles! That's 3 new logs for yesterday. Wow!

In much of Latin America a station name is considered a legal ID (The term "legal ID" is not generally used, anyway).

When I owned stations in Ecuador, I thought using call letters only would be a good way to set one of my stations apart. So I filed to have HCSP1 identify as "HCSP" and was told that a station must have a name and that call letters were not a valid identification.

So if you don't hear call letters, you have not necessarily failed to identify a Latin American station... the name may indeed be all the ID you will ever get.

Taking this further, when working in Argentina a few years ago, we bought some broadcast software from a US company. They absolutely required the call letters to be on the contract. Nobody in the building knew that call letters, from the engineers to the manager. So we had to call the licensing bureau which took two or three full days to find them.

XEW is widely rumored to be running 100 kw and not the full 250 kw. There is no economic benefit from the higher power, and outside Mexico City there are going to be nearly no AMs left in the region, so they are saving on the electric bill (plus the fact that the area around the transmitter is now fully urbanized and the high radiation was causing problems.

 

[radioman148]

In much of Latin America a station name is considered a legal ID (The term "legal ID" is not generally used, anyway).

When I owned stations in Ecuador, I thought using call letters only would be a good way to set one of my stations apart. So I filed to have HCSP1 identify as "HCSP" and was told that a station must have a name and that call letters were not a valid identification.

So if you don't hear call letters, you have not necessarily failed to identify a Latin American station... the name may indeed be all the ID you will ever get.

Taking this further, when working in Argentina a few years ago, we bought some broadcast software from a US company. They absolutely required the call letters to be on the contract. Nobody in the building knew that call letters, from the engineers to the manager. So we had to call the licensing bureau which took two or three full days to find them.

XEW is widely rumored to be running 100 kw and not the full 250 kw. There is no economic benefit from the higher power, and outside Mexico City there are going to be nearly no AMs left in the region, so they are saving on the electric bill (plus the fact that the area around the transmitter is now fully urbanized and the high radiation was causing problems.

Speaking of high radiation from XEW, when I was in Mexico City several times in the 60s & 70s XEW was bleeding all over the middle of the dial. I was in the middle of the city so I doubt that their transmitting facilities were very close to me. The only time I could hear WLS in DF was after XEW signed off which I think in the 60s was midnight.

 

[davideduardo]

Speaking of high radiation from XEW, when I was in Mexico City several times in the 60s & 70s XEW was bleeding all over the middle of the dial. I was in the middle of the city so I doubt that their transmitting facilities were very close to me. The only time I could hear WLS in DF was after XEW signed off which I think in the 60s was midnight.

I lived in Mexico City in 1963, in a near-in southern suburb called Colonia del Valle. The XEW site was another 10 to 12 miles farther south, and I visited it once. There are pictures at http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-1963-Radio-Photos/Mexico-Radio-Photos.htm

Where I lived, in a single family home, the XEW signal was big but not overwhelming. Because there was only XEQ with 50 kw on 940 and Radio Universidad with, at the time 10 kw on 860, nothing local was hammered, even near the XEW site. Through the 70's they used home built transmitters, three of them on 900 which they alternated every 2 hours. The sound was very clean, as the station was originally built by Emilio Azcárraga to promote the RCA radio line which he distributed in México and he always stressed good sound even after he quit selling receivers!

 

[crainbebo]

Which Mexican AM stations will stay on the air after the rural ones are shut off? I'd like to catch XEG, XEWK, XEQ, XEX etc but I don't know if they are all going off at the same time.

-crainbebo

 

[davideduardo]

Which Mexican AM stations will stay on the air after the rural ones are shut off? I'd like to catch XEG, XEWK, XEQ, XEX etc but I don't know if they are all going off at the same time.

-crainbebo

Nearly all the Mexico City, GDL and Mty stations stay, as there are no available channels on FM for thm. Nearly none of the U.S. border zone stations will go to Fm if they are in populated area. But ones in more rural border towns will go to FM...like XERF. And the stations in rural areas serving indigenous populations will also, mostly, remain. In all, about 175 AMs will continue.

Another big signal that is going away appears to be 540 XEWA. XEQ, XEX, XEWK and XEG are not going away.

Fred Cantu's mexicoradiotv.com shows all the AMs that are moving with the new FM channel

 

[mimo]

The stations in Mexico DF will stay on the air..so will the ones near the border, and in large cities where there is no room left on the dial. Like Guadalajara.
Speaking of XEW, they've been in here in Ottawa every night this weekend, louder than CHML. That station will always have a place in my heart. From what I've heard their ratings, however, aren't that great, despite some good programming. I loved one of their former IDs. X E W Novacientos AM, la Voz De America Latina desde Mexico...la mas querida. That last part translates to The most dear..and it could also mean the most wanted, but in this case it was dear. There still is some music on XEW overnights on weekends, and it's always been enjoyable. How does XEW do with listeners? I had some friends in Mexico who were listeners, but not many. I imagine that XEW would be one station that could make it into the towers in downtown. Do they still have the 5000 watt repeater for Puebla?

 

[davideduardo]

The stations in Mexico DF will stay on the air..so will the ones near the border, and in large cities where there is no room left on the dial.

In many border areas where there is little population on the US side the AMs will move to FM. Ojinaga, Cd. Acuña, etc. And there are a bunch of rural stations in languages like náhuatl that depend on coverage in very rough, mountainous terrain which will stay on FM.

How does XEW do with listeners? I had some friends in Mexico who were listeners, but not many. I imagine that XEW would be one station that could make it into the towers in downtown. Do they still have the 5000 watt repeater for Puebla?[/QUOTE]

XEW, even with an FM simulcast, gets about a 0.3 share and is below #30 in the rankings. There are so many better talk stations in Mexico that they just have not had an impact.

Keep in mind that Mexico City does not really have a high rise downtown. The biggest buildings are in the Chapultepec Park area and are a mix of hotels and office structures, but most buildings are not particularly tall because of the fear of earthquakes and the memory of the 1985 disaster where some high rise apartments, such as in Ciudad Tlatelolco, came down killing thousands. With the very dense population, any station over about 20 kw covers the whole market so 100 kw or 250 kw is just overkill.

The only repeater on 900 I knew of was the one in Veracruz, which I caught once in the early 60's on the air, alone, testing. Puebla is well within the coverage of many Mexico City stations. But the real issue is that with so many stations in even smaller towns, the big signals are no longer needed or listened to.

 

[crainbebo]

Yay!! So glad XERF will be going off. No offense, but they are a nuisance on 1570. This channel could be potentially astonishing with the flea power stations -without XERF's 100KW on the air.
I see XEEBC-730 Ensenada and 790 XESU will be on FM...I think?

-crainbebo

 

[davideduardo]

Yay!! So glad XERF will be going off. No offense, but they are a nuisance on 1570. This channel could be potentially astonishing with the flea power stations -without XERF's 100KW on the air.
I see XEEBC-730 Ensenada and 790 XESU will be on FM...I think?

-crainbebo

All the Ensenada AMs will be gone.

 

[mimo]

Thanks, David, I was mistaken about the repeater being in Puebla when it was in Veracruz. I remember the earthquake, but there are still some tall buildings along Avenida Constituyentes and Paseo de Reforma. They definitely dwarf what we have here in Ottawa which doesn't have much over 20 stories. What would a 0.3 share translate to in terms of the overall population. With a city that large, is it safe to assume that's still a good number of listeners. And in regards to another Mexico City station, how does Opus do? Is there an audience for classical in the capital? I know they've been with the format for a long time now.

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks, David, I was mistaken about the repeater being in Puebla when it was in Veracruz. I remember the earthquake, but there are still some tall buildings along Avenida Constituyentes and Paseo de Reforma. They definitely dwarf what we have here in Ottawa which doesn't have much over 20 stories. What would a 0.3 share translate to in terms of the overall population. With a city that large, is it safe to assume that's still a good number of listeners. And in regards to another Mexico City station, how does Opus do? Is there an audience for classical in the capital? I know they've been with the format for a long time now.

Opus (XHIMER) has ranged between a 0.26 and a 0.50 over the last 18 months. That is a range of 2,500 persons to 5,000 persons listening at any given moment.

Considering that Sonido Z (107.5) averages around 125,000 listeners and ad rates are proportional to average persons / share / rating, you can see how small an audience this is. The share level for Opus puts it at around 40th in rank.

 

[mimo]

Is it safe to assume then, that according to the mexican am/fm/tv list...any am station listed that shows (and I'll take an example from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz) "1170 XEZS audio link Radio Hit + FM 92.3"
will be a station moving to FM?
Sounds like XEW and Opus are pretty much dead in the water. I noticed a lot of IMER stations are pretty much non coms, they run PSA's and promos for other shows on the station, but don't run any ads for products, is IMER state run or funded?

 

[davideduardo]

Is it safe to assume then, that according to the mexican am/fm/tv list...any am station listed that shows (and I'll take an example from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz) "1170 XEZS audio link Radio Hit + FM 92.3"
will be a station moving to FM?
Sounds like XEW and Opus are pretty much dead in the water. I noticed a lot of IMER stations are pretty much non coms, they run PSA's and promos for other shows on the station, but don't run any ads for products, is IMER state run or funded?

IMER = Instituto MExicano de la Radio. It's a quasi autonomous government entity, although the stations are supposed to sell commercials.

 

[boombox4]

I myself won't be cheering when XERF goes off the air.

It doesn't really block anything -- if the Missouri or other eastern stations are in there, they're still in there. I like hearing the low key presentation and old style norteño music. And -- aside from XEPE, which programs ESPN most of the time -- it's the one Mexican station that's audible with any clarity here where I live (XEWW usually covered by CBU, XEPRS usually slammed by KFNQ).

 

[gr8oldies]

If we just could have Wolfman and pictures of Jesus that glow in the dark one more time before XERF signs off for good

 

[1L6E6VHF]

Funny thing about XERF. Though I've heard Mexico City 660, 730, 900, 940, 1000 and 1530 in Michigan, along with relatively low-power XEMU Piedras Negras, here in Michigan, I have never heard XERF up here, even in the "good old days" when there were no Americans on 1570 at night. I first heard them when vacationing out west, and then they were weaker that XEROK, XEG and 710 Chihuahua.

To hear other DXers talk about XERF, you would have thought they made WLW during the late 1930s sound like a class C in comparison.

David Eduardo: Your 1963 DF radio picture page is priceless, though I noticed that under the first photo you have misidentified XEW as XEB.

 

[cyberdad]

Funny thing about XERF. Though I've heard Mexico City 660, 730, 900, 940, 1000 and 1530 in Michigan, along with relatively low-power XEMU Piedras Negras, here in Michigan, I have never heard XERF up here, even in the "good old days" when there were no Americans on 1570 at night. I first heard them when vacationing out west, and then they were weaker that XEROK, XEG and 710 Chihuahua.

To hear other DXers talk about XERF, you would have thought they made WLW during the late 1930s sound like a class C in comparison.

A little surprising that you never heard XERF in Michigan. During the late '60s, they were reliable nightly here in the Chicago area, although the signal wasn't all that great. Where I was at college 220 miles west-southwest of here in southeast Iowa, the signal was better. Good enough for Wolfman Jack to attract a following, but still not much different from most of the other "clears". WWL, KAAY, and KOMA come to mind as having better nighttime signals.

I haven't heard XERF here in years. Probably since the 1980s. Before 1570 filled up at night, the most common visitor around these parts was St. Thomas, Ontatio (CHLO, if memory serves). By this point, XERF was running nowhere near 250kw. (As I believe David has pointed out).