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Bilingual XLNC Now Only 24-Hour Classical Radio Station in the County

BY PRESTON TUREGANO

Ever wondered how much XLNC FM 90.7 , the nonprofit, noncommercial classical music station licensed by Mexico and based in Chula Vista , has raised via its periodic on-air membership campaigns?

Since the station’s first membership pledge drive in mid-2002, more than $1 million has been donated as a result of announcers telling XLNC listeners that only they can assure the station’s “Top 400 Hits of the Past 400 Years” programming will continue.

XLNC is now the only round-the-clock classical music station in San Diego County.

The distinction occurred last month when Astor Broadcasting’s KFSD AM 1450 in Carlsbad dumped its classical music format and became a simulcast of “The Spa,” Astor’s KSPA AM 1510 in Riverside County.

The on-air appeals are conducted a few days at a time in the summer, fall and winter. The station’s latest effort in the first 10 days of last month took in nearly $100,000 in pledges.

“This last campaign has been our best ever,” said Lisette Atala, XLNC executive director.


Going Silent

In the past several years, numerous classical stations have gone silent across the country. According to Inside Radio, a New Hampshire-based publisher of industry news, there are 184 classical music stations in the United States.

Locally, KPBS FM 89.5 continues to air classical music via satellite during the evening and early morning hours, but none of that programming originates here.

With its transmitter located in Tijuana, XLNC went on the air in February 2000.

As a bilingual station, XLNC’s announcements alternate in Spanish and English. The station was established by the late radio mogul Victor Diaz, who died in October 2004.

Diaz often said classical music was his first love, resulting from having to program classical selections while working at a station in Mexico City when he was young.


A Cultural License

To establish XLNC (a play on the word “excellency”), Diaz was granted a “cultural” license by Mexico, meaning he could never change XLNC from a nonprofit, noncommercial operation to a for-profit, commercial venture, Atala said.

Diaz’s Califormula Radio Group at one time owned some of the most popular Spanish-language stations (Radio Latina and Fiesta Mexicana) in the San Diego-Tijuana region, as well as the English-language hip-hop Jammin’ Z90 and country music Hot Country stations.

Because XLNC’s offices are in the United States, the station is a California public benefit nonprofit corporation.

Papers filed with the secretary of state’s office say “XLNC ONE” was established “exclusively for charitable, artistic, or educational purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children.”

Atala said XLNC helped promote a fund-raiser for the San Diego-based Emilio Nares Foundation, providing information and support for the parents of children who have cancer, in 2004 and 2005.

During the 1990s, Diaz sought to protect children from radio programming “smut,” locally citing the “Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw” morning drive time show on KGB FM 101.5. Diaz’s anti-smut crusade fizzled, and to this day the DSC show continues.

XLNC has a five-member administrative staff, and five paid on-air announcers.

The outlet operates in Spartan warehouselike facilities along the southeastern shores of San Diego Bay. XLNC recently received a $50,000 grant from the Parker Foundation for improvement of broadcasting equipment and the creation of a new, more state-of-the-art studio.

Before XLNC began asking for listener support, Diaz and his wife bankrolled the station.

Since the day XLNC went on the air, its weak signal often has been disrupted by the 100,000-watt transmission of Los Angeles KPFK, which has the same frequency as XLNC and airs an eclectic mix of music, news and talk. KPFK’s sound overtakes XLNC totally in North County.

Many classical music devotees’ chief complaint about XLNC is its 1,000-watt signal. Over the air, the frequency begins to fade in North County and cannot be heard south of Tijuana. Often, XLNC’s music is static on car radios.

Mexico approved the 90.7 frequency for XLNC even though Mexican federal government communications officials and Diaz knew the frequency was identical to KPFK’s.

KPFK General Manager Eva Georgia could not be reached for comment.

A Federal Communications Commission spokesman said radio station power levels along the U.S.-Mexico border are coordinated by the two nations. In the case of KPFK and XLNC, the interference of signals across the border has been “incidental” and can be attributed to “tropospheric ducting,” a weather-related condition/phenomenon that bends radio signals and occurs at certain times of the year in coastal areas, the spokesman said.


Preston Turegano is a freelance writer in San Diego.


Classical Collections

Money raised by XLNC FM 90.7’s membership campaigns since 2002:

Winter 2007 $98,928

2006-07 $288,882

2005-06 $190,229

2004-05 $185,987

2003-04 $162,554

2002-03 $84,931

Source: XLNC FM 90.7

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