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.
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.
The NFL Network will air 90 hours of live coverage this weekend, providing the latest news and reports from around the league.
The free-agent signing period officially opens at 3 p.m. Friday, and the NFL Network will provide continuous news reports through 9 p.m. and possibly later on the players shaking up the free-agent market.
Live coverage continues Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 6 a.m.
The baseball trade deadline is at 1 p.m. Sunday, and the MLB Network plans to keep fans updated.
There will be a two-hour special starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, and 10 hours of coverage starting at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
The MLB Network will use 15 of its reporters, tracking down last-minute rumors as the deadline approaches.
Can't wait for the NFL; neither can the TV networks. Without a major event last week, ratings were brutal. The Sunday night baseball game on ESPN ---- Braves-Reds ---- did a 1.7 rating with 1.3 million viewers. Despite a number of Olympians competing, the first day of the world swimming championships Sunday on NBC did an 0.7 rating with 539,000 million viewers. Americans watched Women's World Cup soccer in record numbers. By contrast, Saturday's Manchester United-Chicago Fire match on ESPN2 did an 0.3 rating with 231,000 viewers. The WNBA All-Star game Saturday afternoon on ABC did an 0.6 rating. That's the same number as the U.S.-Canada softball game the same day on ESPN.
"Clinch Gear Radio" is gone from Saturday mornings on XX Sports 1090, but the show about mixed martial arts is far from dead.
The show, hosted by San Diego radio veteran Jeff Dotseth and Stephen "The Fight Professor" Quadros , can now be heard live Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m. on Sirius 94 and XM 208.
The Armed Forces Network will play a tape of the first hour of the show at 7 p.m. Saturdays on "The Voice."
"San Diego is consistently one of the top-five markets for MMA events for TV events," Dotseth said. "And a lot of the top fighters live and train in Chula Vista, Carlsbad and Temecula.
"So we're thrilled to be on Sirius and XM and really thrilled that the Armed Forces Network is picking us up."
Cox Communications announced that it is part of a joint deal with the Pac-12 Conference to bring the newly created Pac-12 Networks to its customers in August 2012. The agreement ---- which also includes Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Bright House Networks ---- will also enable customers to access the programming away from home on digital devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Pac-12 Networks will include a national network and six regional networks that will bring 850 Pac-12 events annually to customers. The regional networks will be Southern California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Mountain.
Pac-12 Networks will cover a variety of men's and women's sports.
The Longhorn Network hasn't even launched, and already there is an investigation.
The network, which will focus on University of Texas sports and is owned by ESPN, announced plans to carry high school football games on Friday nights. The problem is that the prep games wouldn't just follow Texas teams, but teams that have players being recruited by the Longhorns.
So the plan is on hold for now as the NCAA examines whether the prep games conform to the rules. The NCAA wants to make sure the Longhorn Network, the Big Ten Network, the new Pac-12 Network and the BYU Network play by the same rules that govern all NCAA teams.
The final 10 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will move to ESPN, starting with the Brickyard 400 at 10 a.m. Sunday from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Allen Bestwick , who had been on prerace shows, will take over race duties from Marty Reid , with Nicole Briscoe the new prerace host.
ESPN will have two in-car cameras and continuous racing. During commercials, one-third of the screen will feature racing.
Fox will send the Cubs-Cardinals game to San Diego at 1 p.m. Saturday while the rest of Southern California gets the Angels-Tigers. NBC has coverage of the U.S. Senior Open at noon Saturday and Sunday. The event features some of the biggest names in golf ---- Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Fuzzy Zoeller and defending champion Bernhard Langer ---- as they play the Inverness Club in Ohio. Dan Hicks and Gary Koch anchor NBC's coverage along with Mark Rolfing , Roger Maltbie and Dottie Pepper . ESPN has coverage of the LPGA's British Open at 7 a.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday. NBC has live coverage of the world swimming championships at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with replays at 5 p.m. on NBC Universal. The X Games continue this weekend on ABC and ESPN. If you can't wait for football, I suggest tuning into Canadian Football League action on the NFL Network. I've watched three games and they're very professionally done and you'll recognize a number of the players. The next CFL game is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with Calgary at Saskatchewan and 4:30 p.m. Thursday with Montreal at Toronto.
John Maffei's TV/Radio column appears every Friday. He can be reached at 760-740-3547 orjmaffei@nctimes.com.
Copyright 2011 North County Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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