XHRF-FM
In earlier times, XERF was operated under the laws of Mexico by Ramón D. Bósquez and Arturo González, transmitting 250,000 watts as a border blaster, featuring famed disc jockey Wolfman Jack.
The facilities of the old border blaster XERA, which had been created by John R. Brinkley, were confiscated by the Mexican government in 1939, and Villa Acuña did not have another high-power station until February 22, 1947, when the Compañía Radiodifusora de Coahuila, S.A., headed by Ramón D. Bósquez and Arturo González, signed XERF-AM on the air on 1570 kHz.
The Texas company purchased a 250,000 watt RCA transmitter to broadcast an omni-directional clear channel signal on AM 1570, which originated some distance from the old XERA facilities within three new prefabricated concrete buildings with flat roofs.
Freed not only adopted the name but used the recording of a howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character since he was featuring African-American music that was getting a great reception from America's White teenagers.
One of Freed's fans was Bob Smith, a disc jockey who also adopted the Moondog theme by calling himself Wolfman Jack and adding his own sound effects.
It was here that Wolfman Jack invented his own style of border blasting by turning the airwaves into one long infomercial featuring music and off-the-wall products.
As a result, Smith began to pay his own security force to protect him, because although he lived in Del Rio, Texas, because of the Brinkley Act he had to actually broadcast from the station itself in Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.
After the second gun battle, Bob Smith decided to leave for XERB, a border blaster in Tijuana and listenable in Los Angeles, California.
It featured paid programming, most of it from American fringe evangelists, right-wing political groups and Black Nationalist messages from the Nation of Islam.
[12] In early 1976, station employees who had been seeking back wages for 13 years, since the 1963 gunfight, won a victory in Mexican court, and Montes was appointed the sole administrator of XERF.
In exchange for restoring the main RCA transmitter to active duty, Venditti asked González to lease him the daytime hours from 06:00 AM (UTC−06:00) to 06:00 PM (UTC−06:00).
Venditti succeeded in getting the old transmitter to work, and at first, his new station Love 16 (a name taken from the 1570 AM frequency) broadcast an English language format composed of a mixture of soft rock, oldies, middle-of-the-road, country, and Big Band music, along with hourly ABC News newscasts.
The church was pastored by Michael Kyle, a native of Del Rio and longtime broadcaster himself, having worked in both local radio stations and with Paul Kallinger.
Before Venditti pulled the plug on Love 16, it attracted a lot of publicity in the Texas press concerning the rebirth of XERF as a real border blaster.
Built into the costs of operation were not only the expenses incurred from the electrical bills and basic engineering help, but from payments for the physical security of the station as well as the attorney's own profit margin.
Beginning on August 13, 1984, the Wonderful Radio London Top 40 Show was heard nightly via taped programs which were recorded in England and flown to Texas.
On the second night, which was the anniversary of the close-down of the original Wonderful Radio London on August 14, 1967, airchecks were played beginning with the last Breakfast Show that had been broadcast.
Linking the owners of the Texas Night Train and Wonderful Radio London programs was KXOL in Fort Worth where both shows were also aired on weekends.
Using a "hillbilly" accent under the name of "Billy Purl", he presented a live country music program to fill the dead air on XERF.
Billy Purl's gold lamé XERF jacket is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's border radio collection in Cleveland, Ohio.
After the demise of The Texas Night Train marathon program, the WRLI team approached attorney Arturo González in Del Rio with a new proposal.
Since XERF reception reports had been received from Europe when the power was maintained at 250,000 watts, it was proposed that Wonderful Radio London would take over the entirety of the hours after midnight Central Time.
Under the joint call sign of Wonderful Radio London via XERF and operating as a full-service station at full power, Big L would be able to attract both the additional funding and advertising necessary to also make the new offshore project into a commercial success.
His own age and the additional questionable legalities, among other things, of brokering a contract that would involve yet another country (the UK), would become more of a headache than he wanted at his time of life.
When Arturo González was forced out of the picture due to corruption and alleged fraudulent issues, the Mexicans were left with out-of-date broadcasting facilities and a market that wanted both FM stereo and MTV on cable television.
