San Diego Radio: Max 105.7 FM Disappears

The '80s-based Classic Hits Max 105.7 has disappeared from the San Diego airwaves. No music, no commercials, no station IDs, nothing. Programming continues on its website.

And, according to the San Diego Reader, the abrupt squashing of the Max 105.7 FM (XHPRS) by its Mexican owner could lead to some big changes in how American broadcasters use Mexican-based radio transmitters owned by Mexican nationals.

The station is operated by Broadcast Company of Americas. Its studios in Mira Mesa feed programming to three different Mexican stations with transmitters in greater Tijuana, including 105.7 XHPRS-FM and two all-sports stations, Mighty 1090 XEPRS-AM and XEPE 1700 AM.

BCA apparently has been delinquent in paying its annual transmitter fee.

Broadcast Company of America’s other two stations, 105.7-FM and 1700-AM, are owned by Tijuana-born businessman and politician Jaime Bonilla Valdez, who radio insiders say he was no longer interested in continuing to allow Broadcast Company to use his FM station without paying rent. The tipping point came late Wednesday, December 12 when Bonilla pulled the plug. It is not known how much the rent for 105.7 to Bonilla is, but the insider says he was told it was more that Mighty 1090’s $100,000 per month and that 105.7’s may be as much as $135,000 monthly.

Good morning. We are currently resolving an issue that is affecting what you hear on the air. Listen to MAX-FM on our stream at https://t.co/ZtN9uEDMeh and on the MAX app. We hope to be back on 105.7 soon. Thanks for listening and for your patience. https://t.co/FVxqIzPTr3

— 105.7 MAX FM (@1057MAXFM) December 14, 2018

Going forward it is not clear that Mexican owners can continue to expect the rental fees they have enjoyed over the years due to decreased overall ad spending on American terrestrial radio.

The situation is different for another San Diego broadcast group called Local Media San Diego which just sent out a press release saying that its three key management members were in fact buying Local Media and its three Mexican stations 91-X (XETRA-FM), Magic 92.5 (XHRM-FM) and Z90 (XHTZ-FM) from the Thoma Bravo venture capital firm. General Manager Gregg Wolfson would not divulge the amount of the sale price or any other specifics.