Roth, Durell M.

In the early 1930s, many AM radio stations began broadcasting from Mexico into the United States. These "border-blasters", as they were called, spanned the entire U.S.-Mexico border and used super-power transmitters that were heard across North America and other countries. The first known border-blaster, XED, the Voice of the Two Republics in Reynosa, began broadcasting in 1930.

The next year radio station XER, owned by Dr. John R. Brinkley, began regular broadcasting from Villa Acuña, now Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. Brinkley, a controversial physician, lived in Del Rio, TX, after being banned from the practice of medicine and from the air-waves in Kansas on his station KFKB ( Kansas First, Kansas Best ). In 1934, Mexican authorities closed XER, but the following year Brinkley began broadcasting over his new station XERA, and by 1938 the station had a 500,000-watt homemade transmitter designed and constructed by James O. Weldon. In late 1941, Mexican authorities closed XERA and had dismantled the station by early 1942.

In 1947, a new border-blaster, XERF, began broadcasting from the old XERA building. During its earliest years, XERF was under the control of Ramon D. Bosquez, Don Howard, and Walter Wilson. Attorney Arturo Gonzalez was station manager, and Paul Kallinger, and Wolfman Jack Bob Smith were famous members of the XERF on-air team. Engineer Mike Venditi, in 1981, repaired the station's RCA 250,000-watt transmitter which, until that time, had only operated at about 80,000 watts.

Norman Baker also controlled a border blaster, XENT, in Nuevo Laredo, after being forced off the air in Iowa from his station KTNT ( Know, The, Naked, Truth ).

Durell M. Roth is a border radio historian in Austin, TX.

From the guide to the Border Radio Collection 2009-099; 2009-284; 2010-234. 458315806., 1917-[2010], (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)