Eaton owned, through his Mexican wife, both XERF (250,000 watts from Villa Acuña) and XESM in Mexico City. They were run about as badly as the rest of the stations. The manager of XERF in the 60's, Sergio Ballesteros, later went to manage WBNX in New York. He later became the CBS / Sony Music promoter for Puerto Rico where he became a good friend and he told me all kinds of stories, such as the former owners trying to take over XERF by riding horseback with guns into the front door of the station, shooting all the while.
Eaton had a company that sold office supplies, and everything had to be ordered from corporate, even toilet paper. Often we'd be without that essential for a month or more. I became a friend and sort of ad hoc intern when I brought a big package of TP on a visit.
That got me a "why don't you hang around a bit and learn some things" from the PD of WJMO.
Eaton also had an insurance company that covered the workers. When the GM of the Miami station got cancer, Eaton fired him on some pretext so he would not have to pay for the treatment.
At Cedar and Lee, they would occasionally bring Eaton in a wheel chair, and four of the staffers would carry him up the stairs. We had an office pool that paid off based on which step one of the guys that carried him would trip and spill him down the stairs. He never fell, though.
I got my first part-timer check in 1960 and it was a month late, but signed by Eaton himself.
Eaton lost his DC AM for the same reason: coded scripture references that were lottery codes.
