media bytes for monday, april 14, 2008

Welcome to SDRadio for Monday, April 14, 2008

All tower photos © 2008, SDRadio (Chris Carmichael).

Last Thursday, photo-journalist and writer Scott Fybush along with myself and two other radio tower enthusiast journeyed to Baja to discover some great radio and TV history for the region.

The first stop was the legendary XETV, and XEWT complex on top of Mount San Antonio. That is the multi-antenna topped mountain just south of the San Ysidro crossing. after a short 20 minute drive through the streets of Tijuana, Gary Stigall, the Director of Engineering for Bay City Television showed us the pristine transmitter and master control for the FOX TV outlet.

Near the crest of the hill, the XETV gate greets visitors. The gates open up to the compound, that also houses Canal 12, the main Televisa station in Baja. The mountain top has a complex of sound stages, studios, production facilities, and various buildings of transmitters. Complete with a full-time news department, Canal 12 is the number one Spanish-language station in the area. Part of the television programming is also shipped across Mexico and Latin America. Canal 12 productions have been seen the world over and continue to be noted for their standards of excellence.

XETV’s over the air signal on Channel 6 is on the left, and the digital signal is on the right. Interesting note is that on the U.S. side of the border, full-power analog stations will sign off and be fully digital in February 2009. XETV will, for the time, be broadcasting in analog and digital over the air. Locally on cable and on satellite, XETV’s programming is taken direct from the Ronson Road studios in Kearney Mesa.

The signal from the San Diego studios are sent to Mexico via a fiber link. The broadcast group has backup plans in case of an outage. In the XETV portion of the complex, one of the original Dumont television cameras is a time-mark from the early broadcast days. The station signed on in 1953. For a time, live programming, targeted for the San Diego English audience was produced live in Tijuana. (Click on the camera photo for a larger size.)

On the north side of the hill, and facing the border and points north, is XETRA-FM. The photo shows the tower on the right. Note the “Y” black line, near the tree level. That is a one-bay aux antenna for the alternative station. The FMer’s 100,000 watt signal throws a powerful punch north. The far left tower is XHAS-TV Telemundo 33. The background to the horizon is San Diego county. Engineers from Televisa have said that on clear days — such as those experienced over the weekend — the San Bernardino snow-capped mountains stand out.

Next on the stop was the famous 690 towers just south of Rosarita. The seven tower complex is just east of the libre and toll road, north of the famous ‘lobster village.’

Noted: The call letters announced on the ID had 690’s call letters as XEWW, as the “W” Radio station serving Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. The 77-thousand watt station is one of the most powerful stations in North America. LA based engineer David Eduardo confirms the call letters are XEWW, and dropped the legendary XETRA-AM.

North of the sea resort town of Rosarita is the famous 1090 three antenna farm of XEPRS-AM. The 50,000 watt station is the current home of XX Sports Radio. There is much radio history in the fields around the broadcast towers. The station’s entrance is marked by a very aged sign.

This is the same area where Wolfman Jack howled his top-40 radio show from as XERB. The border blaster station was part of the allure of American Graffiti. Known as The Soul Express, Wolfman Jack’s radio station earned the popular host $50,000 a month. (Click on the photo for a larger version.)

Today, the station continues to be part of the region’s history as it is the home of the Padres baseball, and sports programming from John Lynch’s Broadcast Company of the Americas.

Noted: The one stick antenna next to the Pacific Ocean just north of Puerto Nuevo is AM 1030 XESDD, La Tremenda. The station is a Regional Mexican radio station that serves the Ensenada.

North of Rosarita and the 1090 towers is a the home of 950 XEKAM, Radio Formula AM. (Pictured above) The station serves the Baja and Southern California area with 20,000 watts during the day.

Near the north end of the toll road (just south of the toll plaza) is the home of AM 540 XESURF. Operated by Saul Levine’s Mount Wilson Broadcasting, the station offers news and talk programming featuring Michael Jackson, the legendary talk show host, John Ziegler’s commentary, Lars Larson, and Alan Colmes. Weekend programming includes two hours of Big Ed Schultz.

More photos from the trip, later in the broadcast month.

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KSON presents County Fest North at the Oceanside Pier Ampitheater. The seaside concert stars Keith Anderson and Chris Young, with special guest, Carter’s Chord. Tickets for Country Fest North are only $5 and are on sale. See the KSON web site for more details.

All ages are welcome to Country Fest North. Children three and younger are admitted free. The concert will go on rain, snow, or shine.

She’s heard on 101.5 KGB and now Bobbie Hill can be heard coast-to-coast. She is doing animal news updates featured on Animal Radio which has just been picked up by XM Satellite radio. You can hear the Blonde On Duty on XM Ch. 158 Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. Also featured on the front page of Animal Radio’s website is a link to Bobbie’s artwork, she is an accomplished wild life artist as well as a radio personality. Check out AnimalRadio.com.

KPRi’s morning host Madison is prepped and ready for his morning show. The long-time morning guy at 102.1 FM knows his subjects before talking to them on air. Hear the best interviews at the archive site at the triple A web site.

Delana Bennett has a million reasons why she loves San Diego. She was picked to be on the national broadcast of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Her two day total earned her a cool $1,000!!

This is the last week of SignOn Radio from the Union-Tribune. As cost cutting will take the on-line station — off — until the final microphone goes silent on Friday, it’s full programming ahead. Tomorrow, it’s a rare chance to hear Marilyn Hyder filling in for Ken Copper at 11 a.m. Marilyn, known for her expert news views at KOGO has been on the beach since the entire chain when on a cost-cutting diet. (or slashing)

She’ll team up with her friend Clark Anthony. They worked together previously at KFMB.

Industry notes: HDRadio has been a disappointment. Only about a quarter of radio listeners know what the new technology is, and the radio penetration is less than one percent. In San Diego, the situation is further clouded with terrain problems further away from the transmitter base. In theory, HDRadio should be available to 80-percent of the analog area. Actually, in San Diego county, the terrain coverage makes it worse because of the hills and valleys roads transverse and where radios area.

This week as NAB’s annual show in Las Vegas begins, the talk is giving FM stations in HD more power to push the hybrid digital signal out. That complicates adjacent channels or short-spaced stations common in Southern California.

As the HDRadio alliance promotes the new transmission standard, the public isn’t buying because the radios are pricey, the reception iffy, and the promotion cloudy. Stay Digitally Tuned.

Thank you for making SDRadio part of your broadcast day. See YOU on the radio today and here later in the broadcast week. Stay Tuned, things are gonna change!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 at 4:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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