XTRA Permit Could Keep Tijuana Trek to Minimum

As XTRA-AM (690) prepares to switch to a news-talk format, its competitors are grumbling about the station’s “325B permit,” a key factor in XTRA’s ability to easily do news-talk.

For announcers and guests of XTRA, the permit is akin to a letter excusing them from ever having to go to a dentist. Issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the 325B permit allows an American-based programmer to send programming across the border to a foreign-based station for transmission back to the United States, which means the XTRA personnel do not have to drive to Mexico to work.

The Tijuana-based XTRA is operated by the America-based Noble Broadcasting, which is in the process of recruiting talent for the new news-talk format. Without the permit, Noble not only would have to convince people to take a chance on their new format, but would have to ask the talent and guests to travel to Tijuana. Obviously, XTRA’s 325B is a valuable recruiting tool.

Chris Conway, general manager of KSDO-AM, the dominant news-talk station in town for many years, said the Gannett-owned station currently has no plans to challenge XTRA’s permits.

“But it is certainly something that needs to be looked at,” Conway said. “It’s outrageous. It’s hard to perceive the logic behind a foreign radio station being permitted to originate programming in the United States. It’s mind boggling. Some people may think it is a disservice to American broadcasting.”

XTRA’s permit is due for renewal in April. If a programmer meets the requirements for ownership of a programming service, there are few reasons to deny a permit, according to Lillo Cunningham, the FCC attorney who reviews the applications for 325B permits. In three years, she has never refused an application, and only one challenge has been filed, she said, noting there are about 12 permits in effect.

Such considerations as competition or the station’s need for a permit, issues KSDO could conceivably raise, are not factors in the application process, Cunningham said.

“It is the commission’s position that the market will determine what it can and cannot support,” she said.

John Lynch, president of Noble Broadcasting, which operates both XTRA and its sister station, 91X-FM, said that XTRA has had its 325B permit for many years and that almost all of XTRA’s current broadcasting originates from the United States. Noble said his attorneys have assured him that the station has a right to broadcast from the United States, regardless of the permit, citing the station’s First Amendment rights.

“Even if there was a challenge to the 325B permit, we would go forward and broadcast,” Lynch said.

To the dismay of the 91X-FM deejays, who do have to trek to and from Tijuana every day, 91X does not have a 325B permit. Lynch said XTRA’s broadcasting of the Charger football games and its personality-oriented format justifies the cost of transmitting signals via satellite to Mexico, but it would not be cost-efficient for the rock-oriented 91X-FM.

Changes continue at KCST-TV (Channel 39). After serving as acting news director for the past two months, Nancy Bauer has officially assumed the title. While most people at the station applauded the choice, some expressed surprise that management would choose someone with her relative inexperience.

Stories about Gillett Communications’ plans to sell the station could not have helped the search for a news director. A well-placed source confirmed that negotiations are continuing between Group W and Gillett for the station.

Meanwhile, Brian Hackney is almost certainly losing his regular weekday weather stint. Both he and chummy Bob Dale are being “reassigned.” Channel 39 also has a new sports director, Bobby Estill, from WNEV-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston. Estill replaces Al Keck, who is bound for Tampa, Fla.

Notes and quotes: There is no truth to the rumor that Mickey Mouse is auditioning for the San Diego Tribune’s TV and radio critic job. But if the search for a replacement for retired critic Gus Stevens goes on much longer, Mickey may get the call. The search is now in its fourth month, after six staffers were each given two-week tryouts. Now, the Tribune is giving two writers from outside the paper a shot at the job: Bill Doty, from Los Angeles, and Mike Dale, a writer with the Copley News Service. Management says the stints are not auditions; rather, the writers are merely filling in while the search continues. But insiders say the new critic is almost sure to come from the eight auditioners. . .

Paramedics were called to Escondido radio station KOW-AM early Friday morning for operations and sports director Clip Helps, who was slurring his words and acting generally incoherent on the air. Helps, a 20-year veteran of Escondido radio, was having a reaction to an over-the-counter pain killer he took for a headache. The paramedics released Helps, and he was feeling fine by the afternoon.