Out of Focus
Transmitter facility of Reynosa’s XEFCR vandalized in suspected attack
On Friday morning, unknown vandals inflicted damage on the transmitter site of XEFCR-AM 1670 “Focus Radio”, a social radio station in Reynosa. The station is off the air indefinitely pending repair.
The vandals cut a lock, made a hole in the transmitter building, and once inside proceeded to cut cables connecting equipment in the facility, located in Col. Humberto Valdez Richaud.
XEFCR officials believe they were deliberately targeted, as no material was stolen as might occur in an attempted theft for scrap copper — which has happened to AM and FM stations in Mexico in the past. The station’s manager, Hildebrando Deándar Ayala, declared, “We will not be intimidated by those who, by these illegal acts, seek to censor us. Their own article notes that XEFCR has been critical of the current government.
XEFCR-AM was awarded in 2018 as the first new expanded-band AM station authorized in Mexico in seven years and, unusually, an untyped social station in the reserved expanded band (likely owing to the age of the application). It is owned by and named for Fomento Cultural de Reynosa, A.C., and authorized for 10,000 watts daytime only. As of this week, it was one of just three operating expanded-band AM stations in Mexico and one of two on a non-expired concession.
