Wolfman Jack

[oldmanradio]

Imagine doing THIS today ...

"Man, you sure talk a lot." -- Bill Drake to a sheepish DJ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXKGTU6iYR8&feature=related

XERB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnJX...9E145A395&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

KRLA

 

[mmnassour]

Imagine doing anything worth a damn on corporate radio in this day and time.

Great clips, thanks!

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind that Wolfman Jack (or his alter ego Bob Smith) owned XERB. In addition, he was the one selling spots.

Any DJ who wants the same freedom need only own the station or at least sell their own show. That's all it takes. There are lots of radio stations on the market right now for a price even a DJ could afford. And I promise you that if you went to the big corporate owner and volunteer to sell spots in your show in exchange for the freedom to do what you want, they'd agree.

 

[davideduardo]

Keep in mind that Wolfman Jack (or his alter ego Bob Smith) owned XERB. In addition, he was the one selling spots.

Not quite. 1090, from the 40's, has been owned by the Bichara family of Monterrey, starting with founder Teófilo Bichara. A small piece was owned by Jorge Wilkins, who was also the engineer. Ing. Wilkins died a couple of years ago.

Mr. Smith brokered time on the station. Even when daytime programming changed to Spanish (brokered by Teddy Fregoso) the evenings continued on in English for a while... but the 70's transition to FM and the ever more noise-prone distant AM signal could no longer get ratings in LA, so the English ended and Mr. Fregoso did an LMA for the whole station with the Bicharas.

 

[TheBigA]

The point is: Bob had responsibility for his airtime. Not some PD. It took an act by the Mexican government to get rid of him.

 

[Silkie]

"Keep in mind that Wolfman Jack (or his alter ego Bob Smith) owned XERB. In addition, he was the one selling spots."

And baby chicks, and whatever else he hawked, in addition to his paid advertising, most of which was really pretty neat and got the product sold. The Joe Tex BC Powder commercial is still one of my favs.

 

[davideduardo]

The point is: Bob had responsibility for his airtime. Not some PD. It took an act by the Mexican government to get rid of him.

Not really. The thing that ended the broadcasts was the inability to pay for the time. The station continued being brokered up til this day; Teddy Fregoso, who brokered daytime starting in the mid-70's and then the whole day starting a few years later tells me that the show ended in a much less dramatic manner... no money.

But yes, Bob's company brokered the time, sold the spots, produced the programming, sent the tapes to Rosarito to be played, and had to make payroll, expenses and the time costs. He needed to understand everything an owner understood... as he was the "owner" of his time slot as long as he paid the rent.

 

[TheBigA]

The thing that ended the broadcasts was the inability to pay for the time.

Which happened when the Mexican government outlawed the broadcast of brokered religion. That's what Bob said in his book.

 

[davideduardo]

The thing that ended the broadcasts was the inability to pay for the time.

Which happened when the Mexican government outlawed the broadcast of brokered religion. That's what Bob said in his book.

Religion of any kind was prohibited on radio going back to the constitutional revisions of the early 1930's in the Lázaro Cárdenas administration (the same one that nationalized natural resources). This was an extension of The Revolution which also saw the prohibition of priests and nuns from wearing religious clothing in public, the prohibition of priests in politics, etc.

If Bob was running religion, he was simply violating the law all along. There had been a lax attitude in general, by the SCOP in Mexico, towards the border stations, as ones like XERF also did paid religion. But when the law was enforced, that stuff ended on all border stations, from XERF and XEG (technically not on the norder) to XELO and XERB.

 

[thunderradio]

I'll stick with Bob's Book. He related the story one evening when he was at KODZ in Dallas in the early 90's.

 

[davideduardo]

I'll stick with Bob's Book. He related the story one evening when he was at KODZ in Dallas in the early 90's.

I'll stick with the owner of the station's version. Do you seriously think Bob would tell a story about breaking the law and getting caught when he could romanticize it? And most of us in the same situation would do the same... so not a criticism of a major talent, just a comment on human nature.