XEPRS-AM

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XEPRS-AM
Broadcast area	Rosarito, Baja California, Tijuana, Baja California, San Diego, California
Branding	"XX Sports Radio"
Frequency	1090 (kHz)
Format	Sports
ERP	50,000 watts
Class	A
Callsign meaning	Express. Station was formerly known as "Soul Express"
Affiliations	Fox Sports Radio
Owner	Broadcast Company of the Americas
Website	www.xxsportsradio.com

XEPRS-AM, known as XX Sports Radio (formerly the The Mighty 1090), is an American-operated sports talk radio station targeting English-speaking listeners in San Diego. Its signal originates from Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico , and it broadcasts in English out of studios in San Diego. XEPRS is the broadcast home of the San Diego Padres, San Diego State Aztecs Baseball and Basketball, University of San Diego Basketball, and the station is also the San Diego home of syndicated sports talk show host Jim Rome. XEPRS is the San Diego affiliate for Fox Sports Radio. The station also used to air games for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. It is the station that was immortalized along with Wolfman Jack in the George Lucas movie American Graffiti.

Contents 1 History 1.1 XERB: The Mighty 1090 1.2 XEPRS: The Soul Express 1.3 XX Sports Radio 2 Program Schedule 3 External links 4 See also 5 References

[edit] History

[edit] XERB: The Mighty 1090

1090 AM started out as XERB. The radio station was licensed to Bob Smith aka Wolfman Jack for the Tijuana / Rosarito area of Baja California, Mexico.

After Wolfman Jack temporarily left XERF 1570 kHz he moved to XERB The Mighty 1090 and was DJ and station manager from 1966-1971. Wolfman was able to make the station turn a huge profit by selling programming to radio proselytizers in 15-30 minute blocks. Because they had such a large following and made so much money, the radio evangelists were never too hesitant about paying huge fees for airtime.

As if being on one border blaster wasn't enough, Wolfman began broadcasting pre-recorded shows on three different Mexican stations at different times of the day, XERB, XERF, & XEG 1050 kHz in Monterrey, Mexico.

According to his biography, by 1971 Wolfman was making a profit of almost $50,000 a month. The Mexican company executives that leased XERB noticed this and got greedy. They wanted to throw him out and make all the money themselves. So, the owners bribed Mexican officials into politically squeezing Wolfman off the air. The Mexican government did this by passing a law that stated there could be no more Pentecostal or religious programming on Mexican airwaves. Since XERB made most of its profits from airtime sold to the prayer-cloth preachers there was no way Wolfman could continue to make payments to the owners each month. “That was it." Wolfman remembers, "In one stroke they cleaned out 80 percent of all the money we were expecting to make." So, he and business partner Mo Burton had to turn control of the station back over to the Mexican owners.

[edit] XEPRS: The Soul Express

With Wolfman out of the way, the station owners tried to duplicate his successful formula. Since Wolfman owned the call letters, XERB, they changed the letters to XEPRS-AM and programmed soul music, calling the station “The Soul Express.” Wolfy still broadcast for over a year while under the new ownership, but left soon afterwards. April 4, 1972 was the last day Wolfman ever held sway over the Mexican border airwaves. Taped versions of the Wolfman could be heard on the station around 1980.

Four months later George Lucas and crew would film Wolfman on location at station KRE/AM in Berkeley, CA playing himself for the film, American Graffiti. Although the movie shows him broadcasting live from California, the Brinkley Act made this impossible. Artistic license was taken with the subject material for the sake of the script.

Soon afterwards, the Mexican government repealed their own law and put the preachers back on the air. But, without the Wolfman howling over the airwaves, the station never even remotely saw the success that Wolfman Jack had achieved.

The call letters XERB have since been assigned to a repeater station for Sol Esotero in Cozumel. [1]

[edit] XX Sports Radio

Beginning February 1, 2006, XEPRS started simulcasting its sports talk programming on a Mighty 1090 sister station, XHBCE 105.7 (La Pantera) out of Matamoros Jaramillo . This operation is aimed at bettering the station's signals to Eastern San Diego County and other California listeners. The station is now known as XX (Double X) Sports Radio.

The station's ownership group, Broadcast Company of the Americas, was founded by John Lynch, a businessman and father of the Denver Broncos defensive back of the same name. Lynch was also once the owner of XETRA, a/k/a "The Mighty 690"; while he was there, he brought Lee Hamilton to San Diego sports radio.

The station also includes news updates produced by fellow San Diego television station KUSI, whose owner, Mike McKinnon, and XX Sports Radio owner John Lynch Sr. have a personal relationship. In a twist of irony, XX Sports Radio personality Billy Ray Smith is married to KUSI news anchor Kimberly Hunt.

[edit] Program Schedule

Weekday Schedule

• 5:00-9:00 a.m. "The Scott & BR Show"
• 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. The Jim Rome Show
• 12:00-1:00 p.m. "High-Noon Headlines" with Josh Rosenberg
• 1:00-6:00 p.m. "Too Much Show" with Philly Billy Werndl and Darren Smith
• 6:00-11:00 p.m. John Kentera (also known as "The Coach")

This schedule fluctuates due to XX (Double X) Sports Radio's obligations to broadcast Padres, Aztecs games, and various other syndicated play-by-play game coverage of any sport.

The station has carried Padres games since 2004, and is under contract to do so through the 2011 season.

[edit] External links

• XX Sports Radio AM 1090/FM 105.7
• The Scott and BR Show
• Padres press release
• XERB tribute site
• Wolfman Jack Online Museum
• Dedication of the Wolfman Jack Memorial in Del Rio, Texas
• Kip Pullman's American Graffiti Page.

[edit] See also

• Border blasters
• American Graffiti
• Wolfman Jack
• XERF-AM

[edit] References

• 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
• "Wolman Jack." Kip Pullman's American Graffiti Page.http://www.geocities.com/kippullman