A Legend: Wolfman Jack

Robert Weston Smith was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938. Smith was a big fan of radio when he was growing up and turned this love of radio into a career.

Smith started out in Virgina as "Daddy Jules" in 1960 before moving to Shreveport, Louisiana where he DJ'd under the name "Big Smith". In Shreveport, he eventually changed his on-air name to what he became more famously known for Wolfman Jack.

In 1962 Wolfman Jack took his act south of the border, working in Rosarito Beach for XERB-AM.

Here he was able to broadcast free of FCC regulations and do whatever he wanted. The station became known as the Mighty 1090 in California and is reported to be able to be heard at night all the way up in New York and parts of Canada. When the Wolfman was broadcasting from this station, it was rumored that where he was broadcasting was 10 minutes from the Tijuana-San Diego border. He eventually moved his show to Hollywood in 1967 and finished out his radio career in the United States.

Wolfman even starred in the movie American Graffiti which was directed by George Lucas (who went on to make the ultimate fanboy movie trilogy, then ruined it). Wolfman's broadcasts in the movie helped tie together the movie and the main character runs into Wolfman at an important scene in the movie.

When the Wolfman would show up in public for band appearances and emceeing events he would consistently different because he was unsure of how the Wolfman should appear. He would experiment with different hairstyles and facial hairstyles.

Wolfman Jack did his last radio broadcast on June 30, 1995 before retiring. He mentioned how he had never missed his wife so much and was excited to finally spend time with her. The next day he walked into his home, hugged his wife and had a heart attack. He died in her arms.

In 1996, Wolfman Jack was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

The Wolfman will be forever remembered as one of the pioneers in radio.

Book Review: Border Radio

Before you go any farther, I know what you are thinking...A book review? I thought this blog was about radio. Well I found a book that is not only about radio but about border radio.

While doing research for my Border Blasters story, I stumbled upon an interesting book that peaked my interest. I did not buy it (because I am a poor college student) but I have done some research into it.

The book is called Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves.

Border Radio was able to focus on the period from 1930-1960 in radio history. In this time it was very common for American radio personalities to cross the border into Mexico and broadcast their show from there. They did this so that they did not have to follow the regulations of American radio. With the signal being blasted so that American listeners could hear the show, they were free to do as they pleased on their show.

Many of these shows pushed the limit on what was appropriate and did things they would have been unable to do under American regulations. These shows have helped push many shock jocks like Howard Stern to become as successful and popular as they have become.

The radio stations were disapproved of by American radio regulators but there was nothing that they could do to stop them. Many radio stations in America suffered because they could not compete with unregulated, unfiltered radio where anything went.

This was until the US and Mexico signed an agreement concerning frequency modulation broadcasting in the 87.5 to 108 MHz band. This agreement said that FM stations' power levels and frequency would be set at a certain limit for both countries. Since there has been a drop in listenership to AM radio, the regulations set for AM stations are largely ignored by both countries, mainly Mexico.

These stations became known by two names. Outlaw X stations and Border Blasters. They were called Outlaw X stations because the Mexican radio stations call signs typically start with an X. While the Outlaw X name has disappeared, the mere mention of the name Border Blasters still sends a shiver up anyone in AM radio's spine.

The book was written by Gene Fowler and Bill Crawford and published by the university of Texas Press in 1988. Fowler is a writer and performer who went deep into the past to figure out the history of border blasters and renegade dj's. Crawford is also a musician who helps write the music for bands with a Hispanic sound.

You can read more about Border Blasters in my story on Border Beat.

Until next time, Namaste.

Terrestrial vs. Satellite

With the economic downturn in full effect, people have started to cut back on unnecessary expenses. Going out to dinner, buying that new dress or not spoiling their kids as much. One of these things that people will likely decide whether to cut out is satellite radio.

While satellite radio does have its benefits, there are some who think it to be an unnecessary luxury. I will compare the benefits and negatives between satellite radio and terrestrial radio (the one you can listen to in your car radio).

Satellite Radio Satellite radio offers many things terrestrial radio cannot, the main one being no commercials. You pay a monthly fee, around $10, so that you can skip the commercials and just listen to your favorite music nonstop. The only stations that have commercials are talk show ones but that is so the hosts can have a break from talking. There are around 200 radio stations to choose from that range from sports, comedy, I even have heard an Elvis station. There are two main satellite radio stations, XM and Sirius. Both offer a lot of different options in terms of stations for people to listen to. Some businesses have gone to using satellite in the workplace. This is in hopes of drawing in customers and not making them listen to commercials. At one of my summer jobs the owner had satellite radio for this reason (and so he could hear Howard Stern). A lot of people liked that they could sit down and enjoy their food without having the hear commercials.

The downside is that you have to pay to listen to the radio. There is the monthly fee that but that is not the only thing that you have to pay for. In order to listen to satellite radio, you have to buy a receiver in order to listen to satellite radio. At Best Buy the cheapest receiver that I found for both XM or Sirius is $69.99. If you want to go high-end though you can get one with GPS, a CD/DVD player, iPod-ready satellite radio for $2,000.

Terrestrial Radio The biggest and most obvious positive is that it is free, as long as you have a car. Also with terrestrial radio you are more likely to get a local flavor. You will get local updates on news, traffic and other going ons around your city. They will discuss local concerts, who is playing, where they are playing and how the concerts were. If you want to call in to request a song you are more likely to get through on a local station than a national show where people from all over the country are doing the same.

Having a free radio saves you the money that you would be spending on satellite radio but you have to listen to those annoying commercials. Then there is also the loss of a sense of the radio being personalized to what is going on around you and that which you are going to be concerned with, especially if you like to listen to talk shows.

Verdict It all comes down to what you prefer. Pay vs. Free. Big-time vs. Local. I like to listen to sports talk shows and I'm cheap, so I will almost always listen the local take on things when I'm walking around the mall rocking the Boom Box.

Until next time, Namaste.

Blasting Across The Border

I enjoy listening to the radio, especially sports radio. I have been given a lot of grief from my friends for listening to sports and not music. Being that sports radio nine times out of ten is on the AM side of things I tend to listen to AM more than FM. With this being the case there is something that has always bothered about AM radio, especially after dark.

After the sun goes down, it always seems like when I am listening to AM radio I hear some interference. When I was younger I was told that it came from Mexican stations upping their power. Now that I have a forum where I can investigate it I decided that this would be a great opportunity to figure it out. I am writing a bigger story for the Border Beat website about this issue, so stay tuned to Border Beat for the story.

The radio stations that do this are called Border Blasters. These stations do this so that they are able to avoid certain regulations from the FCC. In the 1930’s radio stations would go into Mexico and then “blast” their wattage so that it is able to be picked up in America. While this still continues, the practice pretty much stopped in the mid-80’s with English speaking stations being blasted across the border because of an agreement signed between the US and Mexico.

On November 9, 1972 the US and Mexico signed an agreement that the frequency on FM stations are set to 108 MHz Band. This was mutually agreed upon by both countries and was put in place so that American radio stations have to follow the regulations set in place by the FCC. This is why you more frequently hear Mexican radio stations interfering with AM radio stations. AM radio stations are being listened to less and less by listeners, so this is why the agreement was put in place for FM stations but not AM ones.

When I interned at an AM radio station in Tucson (which will go unnamed) we would always get complaints from listeners, usually older ones, about not being able to hear the station in Oro Valley area. When I asked the show host about why this was he told me that they had to decrease their signal’s power about 30 minutes after sundown, due to FCC regulations. He was not really sure as to why that was the rule but that was just what they had to do.

The history of border blasters is very interesting and my story will be more in-depth. The Modesto Radio Museum has a great history of border blasters along with a great history of radio in general.

Until next time, Namaste.