MEDITM WATMexico - Every day in a Mexican border studio just outside the FCC Is reach, a disc jockey flips a switch and launches the radio signal heard around the continent. It's 00st like the years have not passed since listeners could hear the legendary sign-on most powerful commercial uperation in the entire world today - Station XEaE' in Ciudad ~cGa,Mexico - is on the air - coast to coast, border to border, whoever you are, wherever you may be. This is Paul Kallinger, your good neighbor along the way." In -those days, truckers across the country could pick up Kallinger's country and western drawl every night at 1570 on their AM dial. Hot rodding teear-agars could catch Wolfman Jack's rock'n roU. howl. kt the voicee went silent in the late 1960s and became part of radio history. The border blaster era was ending, and XEiF was the most notable victim. Now, the famed station, long relegated to lower power and solely religious pmgramming, is coming back to life again at its full 250,000 Watt strength and with a mainstream appeal. The station is playing an electric mixture of pop and oldies tunes, country and western music by veteran all-night trucker disc jockey Bill Mack, as well as the evangelical preachings, on a signal that can be heard up to 6,000 miles 0.w~.The revfval was spurred this year by' a 31-year-old electronics expert who managed to repair XEEF"s mammoth RCA transmitter and by speculatian that enough advertising could be attracted to support the venture. XERF' s renewal sent a charge through national radio circles. It quicWy caught the interest of Mack, the nationally famous disc jockey who left Fort Worth's WBAP after a disagreement with management. "I've always wanted to work for XERF sape I used to listen to it when I was in high school in the Psnf;Yldlen said Mack. '?t was a proven outlet years ago. I think we need the facility and I'd like to make it the most fmous country and western station in the country." Should that grand vision come true, it would add a fitting chapter to a phenasnenon that marked the mmories of a generation of radio-craw teenagers in the 1950s and 1960s. During the heyday, the station made household names of radio preachers like the Rev J.C. Bishop of Dallas and the Rev. Lester Roloff of Corpus Chrlsti and generated millions of dollars in nationwide mail order sales of everything from - 2- live baby chicks to record albums. tTolks, would you like to have fryingsize chickens in just a few weeks and pay only 3 cents a piece for 'emn Kdlanger would boom in his bass baritone into the microphone. "And rmber - any chick lost in the first 10 days will be replaced free of charge. Orders for the "Sunshine Chicks" and other assorted paraphernalia came across the continent, drawn by the station's far-flung signal. The tales of XERF1s staggering power, five tines greater than the strongest US station, are a popular part of radio industry lore. '? remember when we first set up the big transmittern said Kallinger recently. "A fanner who lived nearby said all he had to do to get electric light was to stick a wire into the ground and it would light up the bulbs in his house. " The station's signal routinely reached Russia where Soviet spies reportedly tuned in to polish their American bglish, said Arturo Gonzales, current XERF air-time manager, quoting a book about the Russian KGB security agency. The behemoth transmitter broke down in the late 1960s about the time the station's advertisers happened to be defecting en masse to W. Since then, XERF has remained on the air with its backup 50.000 Watt transmitter, broadcasting only night-time evangelistic programming. The rising advertising dominance of television also claimed the six other Ehglish language blasters XERF's success has spawned. Those stations, aligned in a string along the 2,000 mile Mexican border, gradually switched to Spanish-language programs to stay alive. Gonzales said XERF1s rebirth began last summer when Wolfman Jack, an XERF disc jockey from 1962 to 1964, ran into acquaintance Mike Vendetti at a benefit and mentioned the long-idled transmitter. Vendetti, an electronics whiz and a radio buff "since I was old enough to turn a dialn, jumped at the challenge to fire up the unit agsin. "Everyone in the business knew XERF had been operating on a back up 50.000 Watt transmitlter because noboa was able to make the big one work," Vendetti said. "The RCA people had lost the manual years ago, but I was able to get it up Co full power without even a schematic drawing. I did it all from the top of my headn. That feat led to a grander scheme. opened up possibilities for me of operating the world's most powerful stationR, Vendetti said. Vendetti leased the vacant day- time 6am-9pm airtime from Gonzales, and last summer put on '2ove 16" a blend of soft rock, oldies, middle-of-the-road country and Big Band. Mack began his on-theroad truckers show this month in the 2 to 6am time slot. Both tape their programs in advance for play later at the Ciudad Acuna station, but Vendetti said a microwave relay will be setup to the border transmitter in the next few months to allow Mack to broadcast his program live from a Fort Worth studio and enable Love 16 to emanate live from Del Rio. Wolfman Jack said he plans to do a specid broadcast for the station, but dll not return to a regular show. In between the new programming, the pulpit-pounding evangelists will continue to tend their intercontine~talflocks 'We're still going to have the preacher, but we've done away with the faiths healing programs because the Maxican government said they had to gow, Gonzales said. That particular concession ends one colorful ljnk XERF had with its storied ancestor, XER, the original border blaster created by eccentric Kansas ndoctorn John R. Rrinkley.&fnkley built up the station in Ciudad ~cuiiaafter the then - Federal Radio Commission suspended his Milford, Kan., station's license because of his extensive advertising for his clinic, which specialized in rejuvenating elderly men by implanting glands in the patientts scrotums. &inkley moved his clinic to Del Fiio where his station's potrerful signal, outside the FCC's jurisdiction and 50.000 Watt limit, drew thousands of cus txmers and mail that in one peak week hit 27,000 pieces, said Gonzales, 72, a studmt of the station's history. The goat- gland doctor's o eration eventually roved an embarrassment to the Mexican Govern- ment, which conf 4scated the station & 3939. Ihe statim renained silent until 19b7, when a group of Mexican -hvestor~;renamed it XERF and put it back on the air. Twelve years later they ensurea its dcminance of North American airwaves by installing the giant 250.000 Watt transmitter, more than twice the power of the previous equipment. The station's enormous coverage area made it a natural for the public enquiry(mai1 order) business. Vhe advertisers paid the station 80 much per inquiry", said disc jockey Kallinger, who now runs a Del Rio furniture store. 'My gosh, I'd get mail from all over. We'd sell live baby chicks, simulated diamond rings, 'Baby Blue -3- Eyesf dolls, rosek.7hes.. you meit, and we had sponsors in Chicago, Los Angles, Kansas City and St Louis. fl Kallinger said listeners told hin! the station came in nclear as a bell in Canadan. One night, he said, %hen I asked people to call me, I got 80 phone calls frcm 43 differat statesn. Wolfman Jack, those real name is Bob %ith, attested to IU!J@"S selling power during his stint there, "The station was a real money maker. I evm sold lifesize pictures of myself that glowed in the dark, but what happened to that big banana happens to any good thing. The preachers and mail order went to TV becswe people could see the merchandise on televisionn, he said. Before It became dormant, enriched radio lore with two now-fanous and much anbellished episodes. In Januarg 1962, during a dispute between station anployees and the Mexican owners, the employees barricaded themselves in the station and a shoot-out ensued. Gonzales said one person died in that gunfight, and two were killed in a similar battle in February 1964. 'Wo one was ever tried because no one knew who shot whow, Gonzales add. 'Vmdetti no longer has to worry about gunplay, but working acmes the border still presents its difficulties, such as a recent mimderstandhg wUh led a Mexican engineer to mistakenly turn off the transmitter during a ehou in a flap involving a government inspection. Tt's aggravating but I have to tolerate those kind of things Vendetti said. If11put up with it if it's the price I have to pay for aperating the biggest radio etation in the worldw. via NRC. AIR PIRATES AID PROPAGANDISTS - transcribed from Sunday Telegraph of 17.be 83. Pirate radio stations, which have doubled in number in the paat year to about 15, are being used by sane minority groups to broadcast political propaganda. "Crowbarw, the roughly printed news-sheet of anarchist squatters based in Railton Road, Rrixton, publishes a programme guide for the Thr Radion pirate station which broad- casts a bulletin of "squatter's newsn on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. A recent edition of "Crowbarn achprints anti-police material said: 'We musnft rely on our State controlled media for our communication. We all know they spread lies. We've got to start our 0x1 communication network wing such things as pirate radio and TV, spray cans, leaflets and anything else we can think ofn. The news sheet gives details of the FM frequency for "Our Radion and publishes a guide of other programmes including %aywavesn and "Rebel Radiom. More than 30 pirate radio stations are understood to be operating in London, many only at week- ends or late at night. Radio interference inspectors raided 8 pranisee in Londcn over mid-March to mid-April. Last year 46 raids were made, ht there uere only 10 prosecutions. The Hone Office adnits that the number of pirate radio stations is increasing in spite of the rise in fines. During the week ending 16.4.83 the fbes went up from fwo to s1m. Setting up a station can coat less than Sg for a basic low range transmitter, tape recorder and aerial which can be constructed from a metal coat hanger. Equighuent iS bought frwn specialist amateur radio erhops and adapted. Favourite broadcasting points are tops of tower blocks, disused offices or even living rooms. Invariably locations are changed to dodge the 300 radio interference officere employed by ffritish Tolecan to track down pirate bmadcasters for the Home Office. The Home Office says that ~00-coanp18intsa week are being received from the ~ublic about radio interference, includin~interference fm irate radio stations, A NOTE FKM NICK HALL - PATCH,W.VICTORIA, RC., CANADA. Relevant A-Indices - SCOTTISH are 23.9.82 - 21 (21.9-52, 22.9-lo!?), 21.1.83 - 6, 30.1.83 - l4 and 24-3-83 - 8. There has been very.little Trans-Atlantic action here this past seasan, but what little there was has been interesting. We set up a telephone network on the Canada- U.S.We8.t coaafhst August to get early warning of TA reception tbaugh to a number of DXers. No doubt as a result, it was a very poor TA season1 Ilut a Dfler in the Seattle area did note a TA c&ar on 1566 kHz on Septmber 23, 1982 (QMT) ; I heard it also. DXers in Oregon heard same weak TA audio on la36 and 1557 an thia date, due to information from the TA telqhone network. 1566 has becm noted since on Jan 21, 1983 (carriero on 1575 and 1593 also) and on March ath, 1983. Fade-out time seas to point to Ttuiisia, hr t it was never more than an err~iicallyfading carrier. What makes this interesting is that all receptions were during unsettled conditions (there's been virtually no quiet conditions this past season). The nearest to