What does 'La Hora Nacional' actually contain?

[BMR]

I know that all stations in Mexico must broadcast the 'mexican national hour' on Sunday nights, but what actually is this programme, and what does it contain?

And are the English stations from Tjuana aimed at SD still required to air it?

 

[radio-darn]

And are the English stations from Tjuana aimed at SD still required to air it?

When I was at Z-90 at one point they used to pick it up on a portable radio from a Mexican AM station, turn up the audio to distort it, then put a mike in front of the radio: the idea was to make the audio sound as crappy as possible so that anyone tuning in would think Z-90 had gone off the air for some reason and they were instead picking up some distant Mexican station. :

 

[ncountysurf]

91X, Z90.3, and Magic 92.5 (the english stations from Tijuana you reference) still air the Mexican National Hour as required on Sunday nights. They're not synced up, so I presume they receive it as a recorded program.

 

[davideduardo]

I know that all stations in Mexico must broadcast the 'mexican national hour' on Sunday nights, but what actually is this programme, and what does it contain?

And are the English stations from Tjuana aimed at SD still required to air it?

The program is supposed to be about "what the government is doing for you and what citizens should do to be good participants in society."

Every station must carry it.

 

[johndavis]

I know that all stations in Mexico must broadcast the 'mexican national hour' on Sunday nights, but what actually is this programme, and what does it contain?

And are the English stations from Tjuana aimed at SD still required to air it?

Here's a link to a history of the program from the Mexican government. If you don't know Spanish, Google Chrome translates it well enough to where you can figure it out, although it's not a great translation.

http://lahoranacional.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=2

 

[BMR]

I know that all stations in Mexico must broadcast the 'mexican national hour' on Sunday nights, but what actually is this programme, and what does it contain?

And are the English stations from Tjuana aimed at SD still required to air it?

The program is supposed to be about "what the government is doing for you and what citizens should do to be good participants in society."

Every station must carry it.

I wonder how many Mexicans actually listen to it. I've no idea how it is in Mexico, but in the UK Sunday night is traditionally the graveyard slot on the radio.

 

[davideduardo]

I wonder how many Mexicans actually listen to it. I've no idea how it is in Mexico, but in the UK Sunday night is traditionally the graveyard slot on the radio.

No difference in listening levels in any country on Sunday evening. That's why the CIRT, Mexico's NAB, negotiated that time long ago.

 

[Gregg]

I always suspected what Radio-Darn has confirmed, that English-language stations purposely distort La Hora Nacional so American listeners will not associate it with their local radio station. I've noticed stations aimed at U.S. listeners, both in English and Spanish, join it late, end it early and don't list it on their website schedules.

Those times I've listened to it, it certainly is a dramatic show. There are flourishes of orchestrated music and what sounds like dramatic re-enactments of scenes from Mexican history. It is a throwback to 1940s radio dramas and documentaries.

When I used to listen to both XETRA-AM (Top 40) and FM (Modern Rock), both stations found benefits and negatives about being licensed to Mexico, in addition to having to air La Hora. While their U.S. counterparts had to stop the music in morning drive for news and traffic reports, neither station did. The U.S. stations had to do some news and traffic to show the FCC they were serving the public, even after the FCC stopped mandating a certain percentage of the broadcast day be devoted to news and information. The Mighty 690 simply played music with the DJ chatting, doing some contest and playing commercials. Same for 91X. Today I don't know if 91X, Z90, 92.5 or the Spanish-language stations aimed at U.S. listeners do any news in the morning, feeling they should do it to be competitive. But it's purely a programming decision. It's not required as it is on American-licensed stations.

So for Mexican-licensed stations, you don't have to do news or traffic if you don't want to. But you do have to play La Hora Nacional on Sunday nights. And give the legal I.D. in Spanish, is it every 90 minutes? And throw in some Mexican Tourism PSAs as a goodwill gesture.


Gregg
[email protected]

 

[Lopaka]

They also air short PSA's that are clearly intended for Mexican listeners, but done in English, saying what the government is doing for the country. The Mexican national health plan sounds quite good.

 

[radio-darn]

The Mexican national health plan sounds quite good.

Yes, if you are a victim of the now-common beheadings, you can get it reattached for the equivalent of a $3 co-pay.

 

[davideduardo]

So for Mexican-licensed stations, you don't have to do news or traffic if you don't want to. But you do have to play La Hora Nacional on Sunday nights. And give the legal I.D. in Spanish, is it every 90 minutes? And throw in some Mexican Tourism PSAs as a goodwill gesture.

The license requirement is several minutes of PSA's every hour.

 

[Q Tip]

I do love hearing mexican voting commercials talking about voter id cards

 

[Lopaka]

Mexico's efforts to improve the lives of its citizens do not deserve to be mocked.

 

[radiojomo]

Mexico's efforts to improve the lives of its citizens do not deserve to be mocked.

True! After all, it is a Mexican licensed station. You use their signals, you follow their rules.

I actually think it's kinda cool to hear Mexican PSAs and IDs on 91X.

 

[radiocph]

Brazil does something similar with its mandatory "A Voz Do Brasil" (The Voice of Brazil) carried on every station

 

[davideduardo]

Brazil does something similar with its mandatory "A Voz Do Brasil" (The Voice of Brazil) carried on every station

True. It's fairly universal in Latin America that the government have some kind of obligatory and regular program. And it's also fairly usual that stations be required to "network" for presidential addresses.

When I owned stations in Ecuador, any time there was a political situation, such as a riot, or the students took over the universities or the military threatened a coup or the likes, we'd have to carry often lengthy government broadcasts. If the situation was something like a coup, we'd have soldiers in the studios so that nothing "inflammatory" was broadcast.

 

[buzzdemming]

HaHaHa. Seriously, those PSAs are overplayed and dull. Causes me to tune away.

 

[the golden boy]

Do they still do the "Visit Mexico" ads?

 

[fredcantu]

You should hear La Hora Nacional in Mexico City. Imagine 60 radio stations and EVERY station is carrying the same show!

 

[cd637299]

You should hear La Hora Nacional in Mexico City. Imagine 60 radio stations and EVERY station is carrying the same show!

Hey Fred---whenever HD Radio comes to fruition in Mexico, maybe they could have "La Hora" translated to English on an HD2....or not...

Yeah in Mexico City I suppose that would be a mess!

cd