{"id":67621,"date":"2026-11-13T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=67621"},"modified":"2026-11-12T09:23:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T13:23:56","slug":"xerf-1570-ciudad-acuna-coahuila-mexico-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/xerf-1570-ciudad-acuna-coahuila-mexico-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"XERF 1570, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico \u2013 Then and Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>by Dan Greenall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Decades ago, there were a number of high-powered AM radio stations operating from Mexico, just across the border from the southern United States. Here, they could bypass U.S. regulations, power limits, and censorship. Accordingly, these stations were nicknamed \u201cborder blasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the better-known border blasters was radio station XERF in Ciudad Acu\u00f1a, Coahuila state, which was right across the river from Del Rio, Texas. They reportedly ran 250 kW of power and could be heard in many of the U.S. states and Canadian provinces.<\/p>\n

To fund operations, XERF sold large blocks of nighttime airtime to American evangelists, faith healers, and mail-order merchants. On-air personalities included Wolfman Jack, who gained popularity playing rhythm-and-blues\/rock-and-roll records unavailable on mainstream U.S. stations, and Paul Kallinger, who broadcast the overnight “graveyard” shift as “Your Good Neighbor Along the Way,” playing early country, hillbilly, and gospel music. Paul\u2019s voice can be heard in the following brief recording from 1971:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/XERF-1971.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Today, XERF is controlled by IMER (Instituto Mexicano de la Radio), the Mexican government\u2019s public broadcaster, as it has been since 1986.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The station identifies as \u201cLa Poderosa\u201d and serves the local border communities and Mexican migrants by broadcasting news, public information, and Regional Mexican music. Using a Kiwi SDR near Monterrey, Mexico, during my local evenings, I have observed that regular full station IDs are generally given in Spanish near the top of each hour. They include call letters, frequencies, and power used: 100,000 watts on AM (XERF) and 4000 watts on FM (XHRF). The attached recording of this was made on November 10, 2026, at 0103 UTC on 1570 kHz:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/XERF-1570-SND.dxmty_.proxy_.kiwisdr.com_2026-11-10T01_03_15Z_1570.000_am.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dan Greenall Decades ago, there were a number of high-powered AM radio stations operating from Mexico, just across the border from the southern United States. Here, they could bypass U.S. regulations, power limits, and censorship. Accordingly, these stations were nicknamed \u201cborder blasters.\u201d One of the better-known border blasters was radio station XERF in Ciudad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[373,433,3,305,746],"tags":[7441,10271,10759,5699],"class_list":["post-67621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-recordings","tag-border-blasters","tag-dan-greenall","tag-xerf","tag-xerf-le-ponderosa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-hAF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62700,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/pure-am-radio-nostalgia-vintage-aircheck-recordings-from-the-1970s-by-dan-greenall\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":0},"title":"Pure AM Radio Nostalgia: Vintage Aircheck Recordings from the 1970s by Dan Greenall","author":"Thomas","date":"April 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall for once again sharing a remarkable collection of vintage off-air AM radio recordings. In this post, he shares recordings made from his home and during his travels across North America and the Caribbean. Dan writes: Hi Thomas Judging by the interest on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dan-Greenall-AM-Letters-1.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22639,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/oxford-shortwave-log-transatlantic-mw-dx-catches-with-200-metre-beverage-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":1},"title":"Oxford Shortwave Log: transatlantic MW DX catches with 200 metre Beverage – part 2","author":"Clint Gouveia","date":"December 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi there, here is the second set of reception videos for my transatlantic MW DX catches using the 200 metre Beverage antenna. Most of the signals originate from the United States and Canada, however, there is also a catch from Mexico -\u00a0XERF La Ponderosa - which is a personal first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"verdad-final","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/verdad-final.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/verdad-final.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/verdad-final.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34946,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/texas-standard-explores-the-rich-history-of-outlaw-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":2},"title":"Texas Standard explores the rich history of outlaw radio","author":"Thomas","date":"November 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Guy (KC5GOI), for sharing a link to the following (brilliant--!) radio feature\u00a0from the Texas Standard: Texas Standard For November 23, 2018 On this Black Friday, we explore how marketing created a legacy of pirates in the air over Texas \u2013 affecting music culture and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Panasonic-RF-2200-Dial-Angle-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Panasonic-RF-2200-Dial-Angle-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Panasonic-RF-2200-Dial-Angle-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Panasonic-RF-2200-Dial-Angle-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22777,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/medium-wave-sdr-spectrum-with-over-20-transatlantic-signals-a-quick-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":3},"title":"Medium wave SDR spectrum with over 20 transatlantic signals: a quick tour","author":"Clint Gouveia","date":"December 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Tour of a medium wave spectrum with over 20 transatlantic signals Hi there, I thought some of the readers of SWLing Post might be interested in a review of a MW spectrum with multiple transatlantic signals - all with audio. This is one of the recordings I took with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/spectrum-3.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50766,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/radio-waves-radio-and-education-border-blasters-fm-switch-delayed-per-dcms-and-a-quick-temporary-am-antenna\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":4},"title":"Radio Waves: Radio and Education, Border Blasters, FM Switch Delayed per DCMS, and A Quick Temporary AM Antenna","author":"Thomas","date":"November 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0readers.\u00a0 To that end:\u00a0Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WHKY-AM-Towers-Transmitter-Site.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WHKY-AM-Towers-Transmitter-Site.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WHKY-AM-Towers-Transmitter-Site.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WHKY-AM-Towers-Transmitter-Site.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/WHKY-AM-Towers-Transmitter-Site.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52572,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/radio-waves-border-blaster-early-days-resistance-on-the-radiowaves-towers-with-flared-skirts-and-palau-restores-am\/","url_meta":{"origin":67621,"position":5},"title":"Radio Waves: Border Blaster Early Days, Resistance on the Radiowaves, Towers With Flared Skirts, and Palau Restores AM","author":"Thomas","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.\u00a0Enjoy! In border radio\u2019s early days, psychics and mystics ruled the airwaves (Mexico News Daily) Charlatans originally built powerful 'border blaster'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67628,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67621\/revisions\/67628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}