Who remembers Dr.Brinkley/DelRio,Tx

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 31 Oct 2003 7:28 pm

In the late 1930's I grew up on a small farm in Virginia, we had no electricity, no running water but my uncle down the road had a battery operated radio and every Saturday night we would gather around and listen to the Grand Ole Opry, which often faded in and out, so we tuned in a station from Del Rio Texas that played the greatest country music you ever heard. On that station Dr.Brinkley advertised his cure for everything you could think of. Some old timers said he had a potent formula made up from animal-glands to perk-up those old guys sex life. I also remember hearing Clell Summey playing "Steel Guitar Blues" on a Dobro.This was on a 78 Roy Acuff record.
In our small town there were a couple guys that gathered at the country store picking and singing all the latest country songs. There was one old guy that played a home made guitar on his lap, reminds me of Thumbs Carlisle style. All these guys never took a music lesson in there lives but they could play and sing. In those days if you had a $7.00 Sears Roebuck guitar you were king of the group. Also,in those days I never saw a guitar case, today people would throw the guitars they played in the trash.
I could go on and on, but what has happened to the real country music that I am talking about, can we bring it back? If we could, I would settle for Dr. Brinkley sponsering such a show.
Keep on pikin
Alvin

Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 31 Oct 2003 8:49 pm

I can't remember "names" but I do remember my mother tuning in our little family radio
(played black and white only!) way back during WWII, in the early 1940's. She used to listen to Hank Williams Sr. and others of that day. It was her connection to "home" back in Kansas prior to 1938. She'd also tune in KIRO Seattle, that played much of the same great music. When one station would fade away, she'd quickly tune in the other. That is where I became addicted to the early great country music, then called HILLBILLY and FOLK MUSIC. Had it not been for Del Rio's station, I most likely never would've become associated with steel guitar that has played such an important roll in my life.

Lawrence Sullivan · Post by **Lawrence Sullivan** » 31 Oct 2003 8:54 pm

Alvin you are bringing back memories of the "GOOD OLD DAYS"??? I guess the best part of those days is we were young

The station in DEL RIO, was this the one actually transmitted from Mexico so they could run a lot of power???

I remember sittin around trying to hear the OPRY above all the static, of folks bringing their fiddles, etc to the house and pickin till late at night, me hidin in the corner hoping not to be sent to bed with all the fun goin on, occassional big deals at the Armory, and my dad calling square dances. for live picking, large crowds too, maybe a pie auction too where if you were the high bidder you got to share the pie with the lady that baked it, win win situation.

Sittin round the wood stove in winter, by the coal oil lamp, eatin popcorn and listening to my mother pickin Jimmy Rodgers tunes on a beat up flattop, and singin Waitin For A Train, etc
Gettin a dry cell Burgess battery at the Western Auto, ridin a taxi to the end of the hard road then walkin the last couple miles, carrying everything, to the Home Place where one of my grandmas lived still, carryin water from the spring at the bottom of the hill, hustlin along the path to the little house hoping you could make it in time and the seat wasnt wet or frozen.
Yeah I still remember the station from Del Rio, Listenin for as much as to WSM Opry, WWL New Orleans< WHO Des Moines IA,Wayne Rainey from Cincinati, Oh, Renfro Valley, Ky , Call for Phillip Morriss, Haddacol.
Thanks fer the memories but think George Burns tune of Wish I was 16 Again sums it up
Any relations in SMYTH CTY, Va????
Respectfully Larry

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 31 Oct 2003 9:24 pm

Yeah, XERA, Del Rio, Texas (transmitter in Villa Cuna, Mexico). Biggest signal on the dial. It was still on the air when I was a child. Of course I don't remember Dr. Brinkley but I have read quite a bit about the man. I believe that he started out on a self-owned station, KFKB in or near Milford, Kansas. His radio slogan at that time was "this is the old early bird, KFKB, Kansas' first, Kansas' best". Seems that his infamous goat-gland operations ("you men over 40 know what Ah'm talkin' about") got him in a world of deep sludge and the State of Kansas revoked his license to practice medicine in their fair state, then his station license was yanked. So anyway, he soon re-emerged on XER, Del Rio TX, in 1930 with (get this) as high as 500,000 watts of AM power by 1932. With that kind of smokin' wattage and the natural "skip" characteristics of the AM signal he could be heard in Alberta, in Michigan, and in just about any populated area in North America. The call letters were changed to the 4-character XERA in 1935.

So there they all were in one place, Dr. Brinkley the purveyor of miracle cures, real "hillbilly" music as it was known at the time, a whole lineup of late-night radio preachers, and one commercial announcement after another, just burning up the "ether waves" from Del Rio. Most of this programming was transcribed, some was live.

The Carter Family was on XERA from 1938 to 1941. I could be wrong about this, but I'm thinking Wilma Lee Cooper said that she also performed on Dr. Brinkley's station way back in the 1940's or so, before she and Stoney started hitting the charts. Carol Lee probably knows the answer to that. Dr. Brinkley went on to operate XEPN and XEAW. There were at least a couple of other powerful border stations which he may or may not have had a hand in. If nothing else, the old Doc was at least quite influential in getting early commercial country music out there on the air where folks could hear it. So he definitely has a place in the history of country music in the 20th century.

Glad you brought this topic up. I am glad to see that others are also interested and have memories about this.

Tim Rowley

[This message was edited by Tim Rowley on 31 October 2003 at 09:43 PM.]

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 1 Nov 2003 12:42 am

My favorites were Cowboy Slim Rheinhart and Wayne Rainey with Lonnie Glosson. Jody.

Larry King · Post by **Larry King** » 1 Nov 2003 4:44 am

Some of the commercials were funny as we look back on them....raising baby chicks, ordering genuine faux diamonds and pearls,somebody was selling harmonicas....we could get a fade in fade out signal there in Stockton, Ca.....one other thing...the preachers...anybody ever remember the Jessup Brothers?? W V Grant?? Did the Mexicans own the station or some entreprenureal(sp) yankee?

Al Udeen · Post by **Al Udeen** » 1 Nov 2003 9:32 am

I remember the "Blade Man" hawking razor blades.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 1 Nov 2003 10:18 am

I remember listening to Wolfman Jack broadcasting from a station across the border from Del Rio. About 1967 or so.

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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 1 Nov 2003 10:44 am

Tim, you missed the call letters by one letter. The station was XERF in DEL RIO. The transmitter in Mexico was broadcasting at 200,000 watts, 4 times the power of any U.S. station.
When I started listening to XERF in 1953 at age 10, Paul Kallenger was the announcer. He would say, "This is Paul Kallenger, Your good neighbor along the way." Listening to Paul 50 years ago, was my introduction to Country Music.

Roger

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 1 Nov 2003 10:53 am

I grew up with Del Rio....my most vivid memory is Wayne Rainey & Lon Glossen (sp?)and I believe one of their sponsors was the baby chicks...I always wondered how they (the chicks)survived shipment from Mexico alive when we had a hard time getting them from Mangum, Oklahoma, alive?
www.genejones.com

Tim Rowley · Post by **Tim Rowley** » 1 Nov 2003 11:40 am

Oops!

Tim Rowley

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 1 Nov 2003 11:45 am

I want to thank all those who responded to my post.Ray Montee, you are so right that the station and the music they played had a great influrnce on me in choosing the steel guitar. And Lawrence Sullivan, no I don't know where SMYTH CTY is, I grew up in Tucker Hill which is located in what is called the Northern Neck. Our lively hood was raising tomatoes and corn. How many remember thinning corn? You also reminded me of the tin wood stove, coal oil lamps, Jimmy Rogers and pop corn. My dad used to say we were so poor that we ate pop corn for breakfast, drank water for lunch and swelled up for suupper.
Tim Rowley seems to be well versed in the history of the station and Dr.Brinkley. I do remember the station had 4 call letters but didn't remembere what they were. Putting out 500,000 watts, no wonder they came in so clear. Also I remember hearing the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers. Jody Sanders refreshed my memory of Wayne Rainey who wrote "Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me"
Larry King reminded me of W.V. Grant, that voice I will never forget, and the preachers, that station sold everything including religion.
I think at that time the FCC had a limit on the maximum power that a staion could run so many entreprenureals set up high power stations out side the U.S, there were some that set up transmitters on ships that operasted within international waters.
It is interesting to hear from those that were listening in the 60's to this station. Is the station still operating today ? and what is there format, I hope they are still playing those old 78's and selling harmonicas.
Again, thanks to you all for making me feel like I am back home and young again.
Just keep on pikin
Alvin

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 1 Nov 2003 11:59 am

Gene: We got the baby chick, and I will never forget it, I think we got about 10 or 12 and ended up with about half of them surviving. It was somthing to see. Thank you Gene. All you guys are making me re-live my past.
Keep on jogging my memory, it keeps me young, Ha, Ha.
Alvin

Roger Shackelton · Post by **Roger Shackelton** » 1 Nov 2003 2:00 pm

HERE IS A LINK TO THE HISTORY OF THE STATION IN DEL RIO.
http://www.ominous-valve.com/xerf.html

Tim I stand corrected. The station went under the call letters XER,XERA AND XERF. They must have been broadcasting on different frequencies. I think XERF was in the 1400 band range.

Roger

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 1 Nov 2003 8:19 pm

Tell us more about these"goat glands"...just kidding...

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 2 Nov 2003 6:46 am

Steve: I heard that at one time Dr.Brinkley was using goat glands and business was so good he run out of goats and started to use sheep and one guy asked another how that was working and he answered, Not Baa aadddd.
Keep on picking
Alvin

Lawrence Sullivan · Post by **Lawrence Sullivan** » 2 Nov 2003 9:18 am

The baby chicks were Carter's Baby Chicks and came in a cardboard box via the US Mail You had to go to the post office to pick them up, can you imagine that happening now??? Mr Carter, owner, had a nice cabin on the Current River about 4 miles north of Doniphan, Mo. so he must have sold a lot of the chicks. Wayne Rainey and Fox Chase on the harmonica
I've really enjoyed this posting thanks everyone
Larry

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 3 Nov 2003 2:15 pm

Lee,

Wolfman Jack broadcasted from XERB. 50,000 watts. The broadcaster was indeed in Mexico.

During the 60s my buddies and I made several cross-country drives. We knew we were finally getting into the West when the sun went down and we could tune in a crackly XERB on the old Plymouth radio. Wolfman played some baaaaad blues!

Later, about 1973, I met Wofman Jack when I played a music festival in Ketchum, Idaho, with Oliver. Jack's real name was Bob Smith. He was a great guy.

Chris

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now living in the Ocean State ....

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 3 Nov 2003 2:50 pm

Alvin; I've never tried this one before so I hope it works out OK. Here's a link to a thread along these lines that has some interesting comments about your station near the end of the thread. Hope you like it !!

steelguitarforum.com/Forum10/HTML/001337.html

Regards, Paul[This message was edited by b0b on 03 November 2003 at 05:38 PM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 3 Nov 2003 3:57 pm

Dr. (John) Brinkley's bottles of cure-alls still turn up occasionally at flea markets, and bottle collector sales! I've seen a number of them, and also remember several old-timers talking about his big success with "radio marketing". He started XERA in Mexico because the government took away his licenses (both medical and broadcasting). His 500,000-watt station is probably still around. At one time, there was probably half a dozen of these "wildcat" stations broadcasting at that of power (in Mexico, Cuba, and S. America). I imagine a transmitter that size is pretty impressive. Grounded-grid RF amp, maybe?

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 3 Nov 2003 6:38 pm

Donny: Check out Roger Shackeltons suggested (above)web sight, very interesting about the water cooling of the output tubes and other info about the antenna. Talking about state of the art, Ha, Ha
Thanks Paul everyone should look at your suggested post. Now I know I am not the only old timer here.
Keep on pikin
Alvin[This message was edited by Alvin Sydnor on 03 November 2003 at 06:50 PM.]

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 4 Nov 2003 5:28 am

Alvin: When I worked at WRAL-TV and WRAL-FM in Raleigh, NC in the '60s; one of my chores at the transmitter site was to clean up and arrange the bottles of water in the distilling room. I'm fuzzy on the details of the mechanism but it would drip distilled water into very clean bottles to be used in the cooling of the output tubes. Regular water would short out the plate voltages because of contaminates so the method was devised to accumulate distilled water to be used in the cooling circulators.

I was first a steel guitarist for the Daybreak program on the TV outlet and later became a studio engineer and worked as a fill in at the transmitter site. I also recall doing some counting for the University of NC who was doing a migratory study of birds and they were interested in how many birds would strike the tower and guys lines. We would go pick them up every morning and count them as we placed them in paper bags to be sorted and studied by someone.....Believe it or not !!

Regards, Paul

Alvin Sydnor · Post by **Alvin Sydnor** » 4 Nov 2003 5:51 pm

HI Paul: thanks for reminding me of the distilled water and I had heard a lot about the birds being killed around antennas. I remember my first ham transmitter, 50 watts on 40 meters cw. I think I ran an 807 and the plate would get cherry red, just think 500 KW especially in the 1930's.
As someone said, Brinkley not only advanced radio broadcasting but also put country music in our vains.
I am surprised as to the number of responses to this post, especially from those who remember those good old days.Thank U all.
Keep on pikin
Alvin

Clark Bailey · Post by **Clark Bailey** » 5 Nov 2003 6:42 pm

Yep brings back a lot of memories like the friday nite frolic & the opry on sat nite w/ Rod Brassfield & Minnie Pearl, Lonzo & Oscar &Dell Wood playin that piano. I also remember Wayne Rainey & Lonnie Glossom on WCKY - Cincinatti. I remember him playing records & if it wasn,t country he would stop it & break the record on the air.Enjoyed these posts. Clark