XERA-AM

XERA (1935-1939) are the call letters of a famous border-blaster radio station licensed in September 1935 to Cia Mexicana Radiofusori Fronteriza in Villa Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. This station was the successor to XER which had been situated at the same location but whose transmitter had been dismantled after the station ceased broadcasting in February 1933. Like XER, it was under the control of Dr. John R. Brinkley of Kansas. XERA ceased transmissions in 1939.

History of XERA

After losing control of XER when it was shut down by Mexican government in 1933, Dr. John R. Brinkley dismantled the original XER transmitter but attempted to get a new license for Villa Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. Months later in September 1935 he was granted a new license via his Cia Mexicana Radiofusori Fronteriza company which was represented on paper by Mrs. Esther O. deCrosby as the owner. Dr. Brinkley used the old buildings of XER but installed a new 500 kilowatt transmitter with help from two Texas radio engineers. The antenna for XER had been omnidirectional, but the new directional antenna of XERA allowed Dr. Brinkley to claim that his station had an effective radiated propagation of one megawatt. One of his Texas engineers called XERA "the world's most powerful broadcasting station," which was a slogan that he would use again in the 1960s for two more of his engineering endeavors: the United States military transmitters which communicated with the U.S. submarine fleet, and again for the offshore pirate station Swinging Radio England. Following the signing of various international treaties with the United States, the Government of Mexico revoked the license of XERA in the closing days of 1939. Again the equipment was removed and the location would not become the site of another, unrelated border blaster until years later following World War II in 1947. See the history of XERF for details.

See also

• John R. Brinkley - a biography of the doctor and his relationship to his radio stations.
• Border blaster - a list of super-power radio stations located on the international border of Mexico facing the United States of America.
• XERF - years after XERA closed down in 1939, XERF occupied the original facilities of the defunct XERA, before XERF moved to new facilities.

References

• "Wolfman Jack's old station howling once again," Dallas Times Herald, January 2, 1983. - primarily about XERF-AM 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