Cross-Border Targeted Radio in North America

Abstract

This is a historic and contemporary study of cross-border targeted AM and FM radio stations licensed along the United States borders with Canada and Mexico. Each North American nation considered the airwaves a public resource and built its radio industry through privately-owned, advertiser-supported stations licensed to local communities. The countries also developed a set of content and ownership regulations. Radio serves a special role in the lives of its listeners, especially immigrants.

This study used comparative-historical analysis and general inductive analysis to look at how radio markets along the borders evolved, what made a cross-border market different from others, how regulations of two countries affected station operations, and what other legal entanglements faced these stations. The answers came from primary and secondary sources as well as a set of interviews with managers and regulators.

It was determined that most cross-border targeted stations used licenses in Mexico or Canada to reach listeners in the U.S. The study also found that regulators in each country took a different view of this phenomenon: Americans tried to thwart it, Mexicans facilitated it, and Canadians took a dim view of it. Some operators discovered that what is legal on one side of the border may not be legal on the other. Others used loopholes in regulations to build their business. The research also contains true stories of colorful characters and improbable situations.