Wolfman Jack and the Border Blasters

74-911 · 11:58 AM

Late at night back in the 60's, did any of you other "older" guys tune into 1570 AM on your radio's dial and listen to 250000 clear channel watts of Wolfman Jack playing true R&B and other music you didn't hear on top 40 stations or hawking baby chickens or ? .... or perhaps listen to the bible thumpers or other charlatans (you could buy an autographed picture of Jesus Christ)?

Picked up the tail end of a discussion of the above on NPR yesterday and did it bring back some almost forgotten memories of those days.

Starting in the 30's, radio station XER then XERA and finally XERF broadcasting out of Ciudad Acuna Mexico opened up a whole nother world of radio broadcasting: "A quack doctor. A million watts. Goat testicles. Hitler. Wolfman Jack. Now, this is radio"! as the story goes.

At one time in the 30's, XER was broadcasting at one million watts and over the years those stations broadcast at anywhere from 100000 watts to one million watts but usually in the 250000 range all clear channel and could be heard all over North America and in much of Western Europe including Russia.

All of this started by a quack doctor (John Romulus Brinkley ) who was run out of Kansas for hawking cures to your virility and other problems (including implanting pieces of goat gonads in testicles !!). One of those to strange to be true stories but is all true.. this articles just hits the high points:

The Story of XERF Never Published

MRM · 11-25-2018, 12:59 PM

I am too young by a few years to have experienced it firsthand but I heard the ledgend. One of my favorite songs is the homage to the border blasters - Mexican Radio. I understand that the stations had so much power they would electrocute birds out of the air if they flew near the towers. I could not help but be in awe when I heard that. That was a different time.

KFC911 · 11-25-2018, 01:10 PM

The Blasters - Border Radio

Great band...great song, about all I knew though...thanks!

herr_oberst · 11-25-2018, 01:11 PM

herr_oberst · 11-25-2018, 01:12 PM

Do you remember
Back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
That's where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
In every county there,
I'm talkin' 'bout that outlaw X
Is cuttin' through the air.
Anywhere, y'all,
Everywhere, y'all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
We can all thank Doctor B
Who stepped across the line.
With lots of watts he took control,
The first one of its kind.
So listen to your radio
Most each and every night
'cause if you don't I'm sure you won't
Get to feeling right.

74-911 · 11-25-2018, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Do you remember
Back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
That's where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
In every county there,
I'm talkin' 'bout that outlaw X
Is cuttin' through the air.
Anywhere, y'all,
Everywhere, y'all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
We can all thank Doctor B
Who stepped across the line.
With lots of watts he took control,
The first one of its kind.
So listen to your radio
Most each and every night
'cause if you don't I'm sure you won't
Get to feeling right.

In the NPR interview I was listening to they interviewed Billy Gibbons extensively about Radio X and how it influenced him...

KFC911 · 11-25-2018, 01:33 PM

I forgot all about ZZ....of course!

74-911 · 11-25-2018, 01:36 PM

and..... back in those days in much of Texas a trip to Ciudad Acuna was almost a ritual for boys of a certain age and it wasn't to see Wolfman Jack...

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by 74-911

and..... back in those days in much of Texas a trip to Ciudad Acuna was almost a ritual for boys of a certain age and it wasn't to see Wolfman Jack...

MRM · 11-25-2018, 02:05 PM

I believe it was called The Road to Perdition.

Zeke · 02:17 PM

I listened to WJ at night. The station didn't transmit during the day like it did at night. I know there is a reason, but no need to go into that. A night the signal would skip along any terrain that was relatively flat, hence the signal traveled way into the Mid American countryside and cities. So WJ was on at night. Actually, XERB was available in SoCal 24/7.

Just to tickle the subject, radio stations are required to reduce their wattage at sundown to prevent 'skywave'. XERB never did. They called it the "Mighty 1090." Still do.

Funny story about the Wolfman: he always took requests live on his show. One night he was bantering with a listener and asked, "Hey man, whacha doin?"

The dude says, "I'm sittin here without my pants on."

WJ says, "Man, I ain't talkin to you until you put your pants on." And then his famous, loud, "Bye!!"

astrochex · 11-25-2018, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Do you remember
Back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
That's where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
In every county there,
I'm talkin' 'bout that outlaw X
Is cuttin' through the air.
Anywhere, y'all,
Everywhere, y'all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
We can all thank Doctor B
Who stepped across the line.
With lots of watts he took control,
The first one of its kind.
So listen to your radio
Most each and every night
'cause if you don't I'm sure you won't
Get to feeling right.

Loves this song. I use a variation of the title as a handle on other forums.

I’m a little too young to remember the X, but I do remember Wolfman Jack. I do miss real DJs on the radio.

Sooner or later · 11-25-2018, 02:19 PM

Never did listen to the station. Did have a high school buddy that did a great Wolfman Jack impersonation. His last name was Pack. We called him Wolfman Pack.

Scott Douglas · Scott Douglas's Garage

Back in the summer of '92.
Driving back home to LA from KC Mo.
Middle of the night.
Middle of nowhere Utah.
Top down, cruise control on and the Mustang is running fine.
Full moon, clear road, and the Mighty 1090 on the radio.
Life could only have been better if I'd had a job to go to the next day.

Evans, Marv · 11-25-2018, 04:06 PM

Decades ago when I worked in the mountains during the summers, WJ was the on one I could depend on at night listening to my transistor radio.

Mike Andrew · 11-26-2018, 04:15 AM

No XERF here in IL but used to tune in KAAY (1090) out of Little Rock on a regular basis. Trippy DJ on Beaker Street and some great tunes. Jamie Brockett, " Legend of The USS Titanic" still pops into my mind now and then.

Just looked at it on google and it's a Christian station now. Penance????

asphaltgambler · 11-26-2018, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 74-911

.... or perhaps listen to the bible thumpers or other charlatans (you could buy an autographed picture of Jesus Christ)?

The Story of XERF Never Published

I swear I spit coffee out my nostrils over this! - can't wait to use this at my next church gathering!

Living in the hills of Va, never heard the station, but many references to that station and its power when the sun went down.