Here’s one of my favorite stations… even though I was unable to hear it growing up due to my location (CKLW was the dominant station on 800 at night).
X-Rock 80 – one of those border blaster stations from Mexico. 150-thousand watts of pure heaven which went all over the Western U.S., Central America and even Florida.
Rather than ooh and aaah you to death, just listen for yourself!
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I spent many a late night in the 70s listening to XEROK 80. It was one of the great top-40 stations, like KOMA 1520 (Okla City), KSTP 1490? (St.Paul)and CFUN (Vancouver)
Glad I found this site. Man… the memories of cruz’n in Merced, Ca. listening to XEROK. It was almost always so clear. Blew other kids minds when they heard where it was from. I was a big time AM DXer then. I was soooo involved my grandmother made me a shirt with all the call signs that I had heard from Merced. XEROK, WLS, WOAI, KING, KLS, and one other I beleive was on 1020, and XEROK was the largest and went shoulder to shoulder across my back. The letters must have been 3-4 inches high. Other kids scoffed but I still wore it with pride. My wife (high school sweetheart) and I were talking about that shirt just about a month ago. Our 30th. will be on 11-10-09. I made a 70’s cd and several songs always makes me flashback to my XEROK days.
Thanks for the memories and this great site.
Sorry that should be KSL
XEROK boomed into Phoenix at night in the 70’s. I used to love to listen to it along with KOMA. Once you got out of the valley that Phoenix was in, you could even hear X-ROK in the daytime.
I lived in Southern Arizona in the 70’s and I, like Brian Kaye, remember these fondly:
KTKT, KIKX, KOB, KYA, KFI, KOMA, KOOL, KUPD, and of course XROK80!
Many a late night I spent in my bedroom absolutely loving XROK80 and KOMA, KTKT – all the great ones!
I now live in an Eskimo village in western Alaska – nothing like those great stations here! LOL!
XEROK was the best station ever. Living in Abilene Texas, XEROK boomed into our town like a local station. Too bad the present owner can’t see the potential for a 250,000 watt station.
TO SEAN & DAVE……what a coincidence that all 3 of us had listened to X-ROCK 80 & KOMA during that time period. Of all stations, why those 2 in particular? I was living in Las Vegas at the time and then later moved Mesa, AZ and listened to KUPD & KOOL-FM. Has the FCC changed their requirements and/or imposed certain restrictions? I’m only asking because such great radio stations are nowhere to be found. Even the good ol’ RADIO VERONICA from Holland had to dock their boat for good as well as others: http://www.offshore-radio.de/offshore.htm
LINDA
I, too, used to listen to X Rock 80 many years ago from Silver City, NM. I created my own online station and as a tribute, named it “X Rock 80″ but I concentrate more on 80’s Rock. I wish I could find a picture of one of the old X Rock 80 T-shirts with the running radio guy… If you remember that one!
I listened to and loved this station while living in Denver, Co.
Listened to XROCK 80, KOMA, KIMN (DENVER), WLS, KFI from Wyoming in the 70’s/80’s until the Country craze and FM radio shoved them all to talk formats….what memories I have makin’ out with those stations in the background.
i was a police officer working deep nights in abilene, texas(hey, malcolm) in the late 70’s…x rock kept me going…
This 4 minute clip brought back alot of memories of growing up in New Mexico.
i used listen to x rock 80 out on the hopi rez int the 70’s,and along with koma from ok city, captian koma, i thought i was one of the few,xrock 80 play the hard stuff, and i can still hear the call sign in me head!up the beers!!
the hopi rez rocked to xrock 80,cool stuff!!
We can still hear XEROK in North Carolina at times. CKLW and PJB cause a lot of interference. The Windsor, Ontario station is usually dominant.
Thanks so much for bringing back memories of such an important piece of my youth. Growing up in southern New Mexico, x rok was what all of us had in common – so many great songs, I learned by heart on x rok, in the car, in the bathroom getting ready for school, by the pool – everywhere.
It’s very sad to me there aren’t any more great stations like this which play great rock and roll.
Great formatics. They should be brought back to radio today, just too much clutter now. I listened to X-Rock 80 in L.A. a lot in the 70’s.
The music from XEROK filled alot of my time when I was a young man hauling rock in west Texas.
Thanks for the memory,
Highway Star
Gran sorpresa que haya encontrado esta pieza para la historia, XEROK la mejor estacion de top 40 en latino america y sur de EUA,en su epoca , debido a su gran potencia yo la escuchaba y era fanatico de esta estacion en Monterrey Mexico en mis años de juventid de los setentas. la podia escuchar solo en las noches, al igual que KOMA de Oklahoma City, su legado influyo mucho en algunos de nosotros que despues fuimos directores de estacion de radio.
gratos recuerdos. gracias por este momento
juan peña
Me gusaria saber quien fue el director artistico de esta estacion en su epoca de los 70´s y ademas poder contactarlo
I listened to X Rock 80 in the middle of the Navajo rez. Chinle, AZ to be exact! Right on listening to the clip brought back lots of good memories! Thanks.
Growing up in rural nortwestern Colorado, there was no FM and only a local AM station. At night we always drove around drinking beer and listening to the X and KOMA. We could also get KFI from Los Angeles, KTWO from Casper, KVOO form Tulsa and KRVN from Lexington NE. Great to hear that sultry call in spanish again! “I heard it, I heard it, I heard it on the X.” (ZZ Top, Heard it on the X, Fandango!.)
hey man when they say they heard it on the x they mean mighty 1090 xerb wolfman jacks baby thats what the songs about as zz top saw it later j
It is interesting to learn that I was not the only teenager at night listening to these two stations, KOMA and X-Rok80. IN the early 70’s, in a small cabin in the woods, south of Prescott, Arizona, these two stations helped feel a part of something larger than the one-bedroom, poverty stricken home I grew up in. 35 years later, its good to know so many of you were out there.
Greetings all you ol’ rockers! I grew up in El Paso Texas and had the luxury of being practically next door to XEROK. Anyone remember Phillips and Wall or the Mad Mexican?
This is sad that we’ve lost so much like X rock 80. What ever happened to all those good times and great stations? Maybe we just got older. I miss the old stations.
Fred, I have to agree with you. Like so many things in todays world, corporate greed has ruined radio as well.
As a G.I. doing time at White Sands, XROK 80 got me through the night. Its dark and lonely out there in the desert, and that big ol’ blow torch of a radio station made the nights a little shorter, and a lot more fun.
Sooner or later, someone will get off the stick and use fifty thousand watts of AM power for something other than blather.
I was a teenager in the ’70’s and listened to XROK constantly. Steve Crosno rocked. XROK provided the soundtrack to my first backseat makeout session.
As an earlier commenter said, “I can still hear the call sign in my head.”
Miss the good old days…
I can’t believe I just typed that.
Sorry–guess I should’ve included the fact I grew up in Las Cruces NM
I grew up in Orange County California in the late seventies and had these buttons on my car radio:
590 KFXM, 640 KFI, XEROK 800, KHJ 930, KTNQ 1020, KEZY 1190, KKDJ 102.7 FM, KMET 94.7 and 95.5 KLOS
I often found myself listening to X-Rock at night and it came in just fine. Now I’m the Chief Engineer at KGO 810 (the first station that I dx’ed from Seattle as a kid). In the 80’s, I was able to visit and do a tiny bit of engineering work at CKLW, WLS, WABC, WNBC and WCBS. Life is strange. I miss the great programming and am very fortunate to work at a station that’s still a well programmed powerhouse.
To Jon Talbot. Read your comments on Xrock 80, KFI, KHJ and so on. I traveled must through the US in the 70’s and 80’s . I recorded many of the stations on 8 track and casette and since then have put them on cd.
Many hours of air time on these cd’s. Also WABC, WLS , KFRC CKLW and many more with dj’s retired or gone. If interested in copies of these let me know. I would like to share some of this.
Ed
I knew this station and remember all the excellent people who was worked in this an excellent radio station 150,000 watts in 1978 i was studied on secondary school and i was lived in Parra Chih. all the night listened this xerok-80 in this time worked Chris michael,Ram Nieto , Keith Morgan and they put the best excellent music on AM better than FM and I tell you in my main was the bes XEROK-80 150000 WATTS
Hi my name is Luis and i saw this important notice because in my students time i was listened 150 one hundred and fifty thousand watts xrok-80
and remember all the people who worked in this station like Chris michaels, Ram Nieto, Kid Morgan and was the best ON AM XEROK-80
Hi my name is luis when i studied secondary school i listened THE BEST STATION IN ALL USA AND
MEXICO 1500000 WATTS WAS EXCELLENT i kenw chris machaels keith morgan and other of was this great team if you have more noise about this station send to me by mail thanks
The X was a lot of fun. Will never forget her – could never forget her. I was at the right place at the right time… Our parking lot was right next to our tower and at night I would sit in my car & listen to KOMA, KFI, it was just great radio back in those days.
keith morgan say koma is only a little station
becouse 150 000 was the best xerok-80
Incredible reading everyone’s comments! I just downloaded LaGrange and it brought back memories so I Googled X-Rock 80 and found everyone. Growing up in West Texas in the 70’s I had x-rock and KOMA playing out of my Craig Powerplay speakers in Kermit, Texas. Wasn’t there a DJ named the Mad Mexican Richard Ramirez??? We could only get the stations at night but man it was great back then. ZZ TOP, Zeppellin, Mountain, Heart…. I miss it.
When it came to POWER, there was none quite like
X-ROK-80 !!! Sure other Mexican radio had a few
watts thrown north, BUT, not with the POWER of Xrok! I live on the West Cost of California, the Monterey Bay Area, and durring the early 70’s and in the evening, my car was tuned to the “X”. What
was so fun was to have friends listen when in the car with me, and never knowing it was a station from so far away. But to be honest, there were plenty of times KGO-810 did a number on it, but,
not all that bad. The days of “cruzen radio” are
all but gone, as someone said to me about AM/FM Radio “Game Over”. But our memories are still there and all the DX stations are alive with me,
KFRC, KYA, KDAY, WLS, XROK, KOB, KLIV, KCBQ, and on and on…
Thanks for shareing this clip….
Mike~~
XROK-80… Definently part of every evenings hip west side and campus scene in Austin in the 70’s. ” Slacker” on steroids and money.
I’ll never forget that S-9+50 signal, music like Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, Santana, ZZ and all the many others.
The music emanating from supercars you only see on the auction channel now, ‘69 Z-28’s, Magnum ‘70 Challengers burbling down Guadalupe an night, and that beautiful ID…”equis eh ere oh kay”
was that right? Where is she and where is the spirit that made those times? Have you ever tried to explain this to someone under 40?
-Bowman
I was working on air radio in the late seventies in the Santa Fe/Albuquerque New Mexico market at a top 40 station. XROCK80 was truly an inspiration to me and my work with their powerhouse signal that sounded like a local station signal, and their awesome on-air talent. I miss the seventies, and most of all, XROCK 80 !
Radio was so good in the 70’s who would have ever thought it would end? KTKT, KIKX, KOB, KYA, KFI, KOMA, KOOL, KUPD, and of course XROK80! “I’m talkin’ ’bout that outlaw X that was cuttin’ through the air.”
ZZ-Top Baby!
Do you remember
back in nineteen sixty-six?
Country Jesus, hillbilly blues,
that’s where I learned my licks.
Oh, from coast to coast and line to line
in every county there,
I’m talkin’ ’bout that outlaw X
that was cuttin’ through the air.
Anywhere, y’all,
everywhere, y’all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
We can all thank Doctor B
who stepped across the line.
With lots of watts he took control,
the first one of its kind.
So listen to your radio
most each and every night
’cause if you don’t I’m sure you won’t
get to feeling right.
Anywhere, y’all,
everywhere, y’all,
I heard it, I heard it,
I heard it on the X.
- Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard
Wow. Listening to that little clip was like taking a time machine back to my teens. I was predominantly a shortwave listener in my youth, but I always had one of my several receivers tuned to the mighty X… and anytime I was out cruising with my buddies in any of our cars, it was the X we had tuned in.
Thanks Airchexx for the trip down memory lane!
que dias aquellos en los finales de lo 70s yo escuchaba xrok 80 en san luis sonora por las noches con el lobo (wolfman jack) de DJ y la mejor musica de
la epoca.
I lived in El Paso in the 70’s. I could listen to it all day long!:)
i went to HS mid 70s.listened to Steve Krosno on Xrock80. Another radio station was KINT 98.
Loved listening to the Mad Mexican, Richard Ramirez while growing up in Globe-Miami, AZ.! As I recall he used to blow whistle on the air kind of as a gimmick…that guy was cool and played great music. My cousin gave me this X-Rok 80 t shirt. The jingle went….Equis E Ere O Ka, Juarez, Mexico!
I grew up in southwest Texas,Sanderson and Alpine.In the daytime there was only one station that you could pickup X rok 80 and at night KOMA Oklahoma,man i miss those days.