History of The Mighty 690 XETRA Tijuana-San Diego-Los Angeles

If you grew up in Southern California during the early 1980s, you almost certainly will remember The Mighty 690. This Top 40 AM radio station was actually licensed to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico as XETRA. But it's powerful 50,000 watt directional signal boomed across the Pacific Ocean to cover not only San Diego but also Los Angeles, over 120 miles to the north! XETRA was one of the legendary "border blaster" Mexican stations broadcasting contemporary hit music in English. Others included XEPRS-AM 1090, XEROK-AM 800, and XERF-AM 1570.

The Mighty 690 featured several programming elements typical of Top 40 or CHR radio during this time: a very tight playlist, sped-up music (about 3% from what I am told), aggressive loud audio processing, and DJ talk breaks that were short and scripted. No ad-libs, no rambling jocks, no obscure album cuts. Just hit radio, 'bright and tight!'

As FM radio began to take hold, The Mighty 690's audience gradually eroded. Specifically, the debut and subsequent rise of San Diego's KS103 (KSDO-FM 102.9) and Los Angeles' KISS-FM 102.7 extracted a significant toll on XETRA 690AM listener base. Low ratings eventually caused the CHR format to be abandoned in favor of Oldies as 69XTRA Gold. Next came XTRA Sports, affiliated with ESPN Radio. Today, the 690 frequency in Southern California has come full circle. The station is once again broadcasting in Spanish as XEWW-AM, commonly known as W Radio 690AM. But during the first half of the 1980s, the 690 spot on the AM dial was the place to turn for the hottest hits in Southern California.

"Xehhes Eaaay Rrrrr Ohh Kahhh....Juarez, Meheeeco." (Legal ID, given in Spanish once per hour.)

"Clutter Free, The Mighty 690!"