XER-AM

XER (1932–1933) are the call letters of a famous border-blaster radio station licensed to Villa Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, upon license application of Dr. John R. Brinkley of the U.S. state of Kansas. It first came on the air in 1932. It was forcibly shut down by the Mexican authorities in 1933 and the Villa Acuña Broadcasting Company was dissolved.

History of XER

XER called itself the Sunshine Station between the Nations and it broadcast 735 kcs., on the AM band from Villa Acuña, Coahuila. The owner of XER was Dr. John R. Brinkley of Kansas who moved to Del Rio, Texas, where he established a management company called Villa Acuña Broadcasting Company. It first signed on August 18, 1932 with a 50 kW transmitter and claimed 75 kW erp via an omindirectional antenna. The engineering was by Will Branch of Fort Worth who had engineered WBAP for Amon Carter, owner of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. For a brief period, XER-AM was licensed for one million watts, but XER was shut down by the Mexican authorities on February 24, 1933^[1] and the Villa Acuña Broadcasting Company of Del Rio, Texas, U.S. which had managed the station was dissolved.

The callsign XER-AM later moved to a station in Linares, Nuevo León, which migrated to FM and is now XHR-FM.

See also

• John R. Brinkley - a biography of the doctor and his relationship to his radio stations.
• XERA - months after XER closed down in 1933, XERA occupied the original facilities of the defunct XER in September 1935.
• XERF-AM - the later station which began broadcasting shortly after XERA-AM was closed down

References

• Wolfman Jack's old station howling once again. - Dallas Times Herald, January 2, 1983. - primarily about XERF but it also includes background information on the border-blasters.
• Border Radio by Fowler, Gene and Crawford, Bill. Texas Monthly Press, Austin. 1987 ISBN 0-87719-066-6
• Mass Media Moments in the United Kingdom, the USSR and the USA, by Gilder, Eric. - "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu Press, Romania. 2003 ISBN 973-651-596-6