Mexican Government ads | San Diego Sportswire

I heard a few of those this morning and I had to look it up in the magic Google machine. This is what I found… Thanks John!

MAFFEI: Mexican ads on 1090 here to stay.

By JOHN MAFFEI jmaffei@nctimes.com | Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 12:33 pm

Judging from the phone messages and emails, you find it just as annoying as I do.

But get used to it. The Mexican government ads on XX Sports Radio 1090 aren’t going anywhere.

The spots, which often run three in a row and as many as 10 an hour, are part of a Mexican licensing agreement, according to Tex Meyer, the new vice president and general manager at 1090.

And while the 1090 studios are in San Diego, the broadcast towers for the 77,500-watt station are in Mexico, making it a Mexican station.

As a point of education, TV and radio stations in North America are identified by their call letters. A “W” means the station is east of the Mississippi River, a “K” means it’s west of the Mississippi, a “C” means the station is in Canada, and an “X” identifies it as a Mexican station.

I understand that 1090 has to live up to its obligations with the Mexican government, and the ads are part of that obligation. What bothers me —- and apparently you, too —- are the number of spots, as well as the quality.

Some of them are professionally done and blend in well with the rest of the station’s commercials. Others are amateurish. You know the ones I mean:

“Oh, no, here comes the man from the rent.”

“Mom, here’s my savings to pay for my little brother’s doctor visit.”

” ‘The Monkey’ has been caught, and the country is cutting down on the number of delinquents in the country.”

“We have to be careful with these spots,” Meyer said. “We get a standardized form from Mexico. Some of the spots are open to interpretation, and some we have to run word for word. I know well the spots that annoy our listeners, but Spanish doesn’t always translate literally into English.

“People think we get paid or compensated for the spots. We don’t. We’re not greedy broadcasters. We not the only station in the U.S. with an X in front of it, but we have to live by the rules. And these spots are part of doing business.

“Trust me, we get feedback from our listeners.”

The feedback can be seen in the ratings. The ads give listeners an excuse to change the station, seek new options.

And in any business, that’s the worst scenario.