Electrical issue with accessory switch

When I turn my ignition switch back to the accessory selection my radio won't come on. We hooked the radio up to the constant current for the clock and the red wire to the ignition wire for powering up when ignition is on. Shouldn't that work on accessory as well as when the Jeep is running?

So, what year is your XJ?

Anyway, OEM harness should have two hots for the radio, main power and memory. The original main power would be hot in ACC and ON.

Just to make sure you have yellow to Constant +12V and Red to Ignition +12V right?

Are you using a wiring harness from your factory harness to your stereo's harness?

I suspect the ignition switch at the base of the steering column isn't correctly indexed, or may have burnt/corroded terminals. It is moved back and forth when you rotate the key cylinder, which drives a rod along the column to move the electrical switch. They designed it that way to prevent running two dozen wires up and down the column to connect to a big multiterminal gizmo right where real estate is extremely limited.

The adjustment is made by holding the key in the correct position to preload the switch, and tightening the hold down screws to keep it in the correct position. It's in the Chilton, Haynes, FSM, and Mitchell manuals, which may be at your local library reference section for free use.