RADIO TUNES OUT ANTI-FOX SONG

Mexican Stations Fear Government Backlash Over Hit

MONTERREY, Mexico - The latest accordion-driven hit by Los Tigres del
Norte pounds from cantina jukeboxes and is belted out by street
musicians, but you won't hear it on the radio.

The group -- which drew fire in the past for songs about drug
traffickers -- is now mocking President Vicente Fox.

"Oh, now that change has come, we can all toast it with a glass of
Coca-Cola," their new song says, referring to Fox's former job at the
soft-drink giant.

Some in the music industry say radio stations steer clear of
"Chronicle of a Change" because they fear losing government
advertising, a mainstay for most Mexican media.

Servando Cano, publicist for Los Tigres del Norte, was reluctant to
talk about the song's lyrics or the chilly reception it received from
radio stations.

"All I know is that it's not being played on the radio," he said.
"I don't know what the motives of the radio stations are. I just tell
people that if they want to hear it, they have to buy the compact disc."

There is no evidence Fox has used his power to retaliate against
unfavorable media depictions -- even though, two years after he was
elected, his inability to produce concrete results has bred hundreds
of unflattering cartoons, editorials and television satires. His
office did not immediately return calls for comment on "Chronicle of
Change."

But some people say the fear of retaliation is enough to keep the song
off the air -- especially in conservative northern Mexico, where
support for Fox's National Action Party is strong.

"Other stations don't want problems with the current government, so
we're the only ones locally who play it," said Ricardo Escobedo,
programmer for La Regiomontana, an AM station in this northern Mexican
city of nearly 4 million people.

Playing on the campaign slogan, "For a Change," which Fox used to
unseat the longtime ruling party, the song asks, "Now, my Zorro [Fox,
in Spanish], when are we going to really get this change?"

The Tigres, masters of the "corrido" style of storytelling song, go
on to depict hungry farmers face-down in the dust while executives of
the state-run oil company vacation in Las Vegas.

The song describes an economically polarized nation that hasn't
changed much since Fox's historic 2000 election.

But even without airplay, it's hard not to hear the song in this city
two hours south of the Texas border.

Musicians with guitars sing their own versions from the city's
rattling buses in the hopes that passengers will give them some
change. In winding, open-air markets, fans snatch up countless pirated
copies of the CD, which sell for as little as $3.

The Tigres have waded into presidential politics before in a 30-year
career known for colorful, Western-style costumes, four-hour-plus
performances and songs chronicling everything from love affairs to the
travails of immigrants in the United States.

In 1995, they scored a hit with "The Circus," which criticized
former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and his brother Raul, who
is now in prison on a conviction of masterminding a political slaying.
But that song was released after Salinas left office.

The Tigres also are credited with popularizing "narcocorridos" --
ballads that tell bloody stories of real-life drug traffickers. Some
say the songs glamorize violence, and those tunes also are often
scratched from radio playlists.

Escobedo said the new song, which appears on the compact disc
"Uniting Borders," simply reflects the corrido style and provides a
snapshot of reality.

"The corrido is nothing more than a three-minute news report," he
said. "This particular song just reflects the current state in which
the country finds itself."