Mexican Radio

i have no clue what this song means but i know its amazing

I remember this song from the 80s and I just thought it was a kitschy, funny song. But consdiering the fact that Wall of Voodoo are from LA where there's a huge mexican american community I think this song is mean to be a politcal commentary about mexican american relations. In fact I think this song is as relavant today as it was back in 1982 when it first hit the airwaves.

Yeah, great song...too bad it was their only hit. Very underappreciated and underexposed band. I've never even seen their Dark Continent album available on CD.

New wave did become trashy (when it became all about dancing and flocks of haircut 100's), but Wall of Voodoo was not that. Check out their version of Ring of Fire.

sometimes things are what they seem people, there isn't always some higher or hidden meaning. the song's lyrics describe listening to the broadcasts of high-wattage unregulated Mexican radio stations, known as border blasters. Stan Ridgway and Marc Moreland would listen to Mexican broadcasts, preferring their programming to mainstream Los Angeles radio. the singer is alluding first to listening to these stations and then wishing he was a DJ on one of them. it's not rocket science morons. you people shouldn't be allowed to vote or drive

Ever flipping through the FM dial and get a few Mexican stations crystal clear?--i guess this is the thoughts of a Man listening to Mexican Radio.

those stations come in so well because there are no FCC regulations on broadcast strength in mexico, so the transmitters are VERY powerful

it is about picking up a mexican radio station on a guitar amp. just obscure enough for the 80's

This song is so awesome.

I think it's just about some guy who tunes into a Mexican radio station.

Barriers to clear communication-- language barriers, infrastructure (fuzzy signals), and the different lenses that we use to view our lives (making sense of U.S. inflation or, in remakes of the song, the Iraq invasion)-- don't need to limit curiosity. Meaningful communication can still be shared through the feeling // rhythm (as in sharing music).

By the end of the song, he's imagining a radio DJ in Mexico. He has some fanciful ideas about what they eat there, and pictures himself taking song requests on the phone. Then he imagines tuning into the radio south of the border, and being unable to understand what the U.S. DJs are saying.

Or, in a sense, language barriers may limit communication, but values do so even more because, even when he hears folks speak in English about issues such as U.S. inflation or the Iraq invasion, he still doesn't understand.

So anyway, just wanted to point out that I don't think this song is strictly about Mexico or English/Spanish, so much as it's about communication and understanding in general.

I heard it was about unregulated AM stations in the 30's. Since they could be heard in other countries and didn't have the same trade and FCC regulations we do they were used to hawk a lot of stuff you couldn't on normal radio; homemade pharmaceuticals, unapproved cures, political ideology, etc.... Apparently they would come through crystal clear since there wasn't much or any wattage limitation.

Through the early 1970s, radio stations would set up just south of the US border and were often called border blasters. The band of frequencies used to broadcast the AM signal can already travel great distances and even farther at night due to atmospheric skip (often called a skywave). Bound by looser restrictions regarding content and broadcast strength, these stations sent their signals out where they could be picked up through much of the southern US. I do believe the song refers to someone listening to those stations.