Mexican Standoff For BCA San Diego

• The ongoing drama between Broadcast Company of the Americas in San Diego and the owners of their stations’ towers in Mexico escalated again yesterday — at noon PT, the 16-year-old Sports-Talk format vanished from XEPRS-AM (The Mighty 1090), and at press time, the frequency was simulcasting Bi-Media Classic Hits KJAV-FM (Ultra 104.9), licensed to Alamo, TX and serving the McAllen market.

“We have lost our connection in Mexico and are working to get this resolved,” BCA President Mike Glickenhaus told the San Diego Union-Tribune, adding, “As you can imagine, this has my full attention, and there is nothing more to say at this time.” It was announced late yesterday that the Mighty 1090’s morning show would be back online and on the app by this morning. Whether the station’s two afternoon shows will follow was not known.

This incident marks just the latest chapter in a continuing dispute between BCA and the folks who own the stations’ towers in Mexico. Back in December 15, 2018, two of the cluster’s stations — Classic Hits XHPRS (105.7 MAX FM) and XEPE-AM (ESPN 1700) were taken over by the transmitters’ landlord in Mexico, who shut XHPRS off and change format on the AM to Spanish-language Sports. A month later, BCA laid off several employees, including VP of Programming & Operations Mike Shepard.

For an excellent source of behind-the-scenes information, we strongly suggest you listen to the message posted online by The Darren Smith Show. As Smith commented, “There is not a lot of optimism about our future as a Sports radio station.” Watch this space for further developments.