Talk:Border blaster

Mexican border blasters

I remember listing occasionally to XEG and possibly other border blasters when I was a teenager in South Texas in the '50s. They had preposterous religious claims, as I recall, such as the "blessed healing cloths" and the "autographed pictures of Jesus Christ." For most of us wise-guy kids, they served as springboards for ribald burlesques of the claims. But they must have had a paying audience, because they stayed on the air and apparently still are. Maurice

I am still working on the border blaster article and its related articles trying to sort fact from fantasy because at present there is not a single reliable source. Hopefully by pulling together all of the published material it will be possible to come up with a referenced and authentic series of articles. The border blasters were mainly over and done with by the late 1980s because technology had passed them by. The clear channels they once occupied are now no more and the old time preachers are either all dead or dying. The new breed are on satellite television and it is to satellite that the music formats of tomorrow are also moving. This is mainly about a culture that once existed and is no more (just like steam trains.) MPLX/MH 23:56, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

US border blasters into Canada

Radio KPRI AM in Ferndale, Washington at 50,000 watts is targetting Metro Vancouver and the lower mainland in BC as your "number 1 South Asian voice". Its studios are in Richmond, BC.

Off topic additions=SolarSauna 9 September 2013 (UTC)

A number of off-topic additions had been added to this article which is exclusively about Mexican border blasters. These other topics all belong in the "see also" section which is where they have now been moved to with revised text. It is obvious that a couple of new articles containing lists of links to specific articles need to be created (if they do not already exist under other names), and these include:

• International radio broadcasters - a list of stations such as the BBC World Service and Voice of America.
• Clandestine radio broadcasters - a list of stations that have attempted to promote social or political change by using secretly located transmitters. These stations are different from international broadcasting services because they are illegally operated.
• International religious radio broadcasters - A list of religious broadcasting organizations (with links to specific entries.)

Another list article could also be created for International television broadcasters and International religious television broadcasters (to include both terrestrial and satellite broadcasting.) Please help to keep this article topic specific. MPLX/MH 17:38, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

As far as I know the first Border Blaster was PCGG, owned, operated by Hanso Schotanus à Steringa Idzerda and licensed in the Netherlands, broadcasting from The Hague to an audience in the UK (from around 1920). Later on Radio Paris and Radio Normandie broadcast to a UK audience from France, where they were licensed.

At the moment (dec 2009) BigL International, licensed in Holland, broadcasts to the UK on AM 1395 kHz using 10-25 KW from Trintelhaven, a location in the Netherlands. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Berts006 (talk • contribs) 13:25, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

American Grafitti

I'm not sure it's accurate to say that XERB was featured in American Grafitti. While that may have been Wolfman Jack's station in 1962 (when the movie takes place), this would have involved the character Kurt driving from Modesto to the Mexican border and back. Some of the characters speculate as to where Wolfman Jack's broadcasts originate, but the implication is that Kurt visits a station on the outskirts of town. On the other hand, in a fictional movie, perhaps this is possible, and I'm not positive that Modesto is actually identified as such in the film. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 07:11, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

P.S. I'll also post this on the XERB article's talk page. -- Gyrofrog (talk)

Atlantic 252

I've added a link to the station in the see also, as it was effectively a border blaster.

currency

The term isn't widely used in the UK, though such stations may operate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.140.57.113 (talk) 15:04, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Intended target audience

I changed the article to agree with the Radio Luxembourg (English) article that the intended audience was in Britain. In addition, the sentence now states The British government identified these stations as pirates because the intended audience was in the British Isles which is incorrect an inaccurate as the British government do not have jurisdiction over the British Isles. @Tharky, can you provide a reference or reason for your revert? Thank you. --Bardcom (talk) 12:21, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

The included reference does not state that the intended audience was in the British Isles. The only reference produced "History of International Broadcasting" (limited preview on Google books) says that there were 2 million listeners in the British Isles (and even then it's pretty clear that the term is used to mean UK). You cannot chose to ignore the primary reference here which makes it clear that Radio Luxembourg was targetted at Great Britain. There are *no* references that say that the audience was the British Isles. Further on in the same referenced book, it consistently uses the term Britain and refers to the BBC (not to RTE, the Irish broadcaster). Finally, on page 46 it states "1933 - From May onwards, Radio Luxembourg broadcasts 7 days a week; Mondays to Italy, Tuesdays Belgium, Wednesday the citizens of Luxembourg, Friday and Saturday for France, and Sundays reserved for British listeners (deliberately coinciding with with the BBC Sundays of religious programmes)." This makes it abundantly clear that the transmissions were aimed at the UK. --HighKing (talk) 23:41, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Luxembourg did have the occasional programme aimed at Irish listeners although this was largely an afterthought. 2A00:23C6:7F84:8E00:4D4:6CE2:CC46:B3FA (talk) 19:16, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Most important historic example missing

Maybe the first, but certainly the most important border blaster in the history of radio was this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidistra_(transmitter)

In the current article, the history of border blasters starts in 70s Mexico and the pirate ship era in Europe, and while being a bit US-centered, important US border blasters like Radio Marti are missing in it as well. Some completion, restructuring and improvement of this article wouldn't harm.176.4.29.101 (talk) 09:12, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

There were commercial broadcasters long before Aspidistra but I wold dispute the articles inclusion of propaganda stations like Radio Free Europe in this category, The term is generally understood to refer to international or cross-border Commercial rather than political propaganda broadcasters with religious stations (e.g. Trans World Radio) occupying something of a grey era. 2A00:23C6:7F84:8E00:4D4:6CE2:CC46:B3FA (talk) 19:24, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Should this just be the Mexico-US border article?

Looking at this and Peripheral Radio, that Border Blasters are a notable subset of the peripheral radio phenomenon. Therefore the peripheral article should cover the general phenomenon and global and Border Blasters be the spin-off page centered on Mexico-US border examples. That would solve the scope questions in the comment boxes. Compare: Call Sign and Call signs in North America for how these would interact. Thoughts? JKPrivett (talk) 00:53, 1 October 2024 (UTC)