X station

English

Etymology

From the initial letter X of Mexican radio stations' call signs.

Noun

X station (plural X stations)

1. (Canada, US) A Mexican broadcast station whose signal overpowers those of stations in the United States.

   Hypernym: border blaster

   • 2004, Jesse Walker, Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America, page 197:

     Not long after the feds started regulating radio, Mexico's megawatt border blasters—high-powered stations planted just south of Texas and California—started beckoning. The FCC couldn't control them […] That same year, the Mexican government revised its radio licensing law, drastically reducing the X stations' autonomy.

   • 2015, Bill C. Malone, David Stricklin, Southern Music/American Music, page 73:

     X-station broadcasts could be heard occasionally in every region of the United States and in Canada, though it is difficult to know who listened to them.