XEB-AM (branded as ''La B Grande'') is a radio station on AM frequency 1220
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
, serving
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
and surrounding areas in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It airs a
Spanish language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
classic contemporary format with music from the 1940s to the 1970s. It has been owned by the
Instituto Mexicano de la Radio
The Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (English: "Mexican Radio Institute") is a Mexican public broadcaster, akin to National Public Radio in the US. It is also known as IMER.
History
It was founded in 1983 as a companion to the public TV broadcast ...
(IMER), a Mexican government public broadcaster, since IMER's founding in 1983.
History
Launch
On June 16, 1923, the first test transmissions were launched of a radio station then known as CYB, as part of the First International Radio Fair.
IMER: XEB History
/ref> It was launched by a cigarette company, the Compañía Cigarrera del Buen Tono, S.A., as a promotional activity; at the same time, it launched a cigarette brand "Radio" Its first complete transmission occurred on September 14, 1923, live commentary of the fight between Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. ...
and Luis Ángel Firpo
Luis Ángel Firpo (October 11, 1894 – August 7, 1960) was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín, Argentina, he was nicknamed ''The Wild Bull of the Pampas''.
Boxing career
In 1917, Firpo began his professional boxing career by beating Frank Hag ...
from New York. José Velasco captured the New York station's signal at Pachuca
Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...
and relayed the information to Enrique W. Curtiss, who broadcast it over CYB. The next day, the station held its inaugural concert, which included a message from Spanish king Alfonso XIII
Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...
. From October 1923, CYB broadcast on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 8-9pm. At the end of 1923, CYB broadcast a bullfight for the first time ever; the next year, it did so live from the El Toreo ring in Condesa, its first remote broadcast.
While the CYB callsign had been used since the station signed on, it was formally awarded to the station the next year at an international convention in Bern, where Mexico received callsigns CYA to CZZ. In Washington in 1929, Mexico moved to the XE callsign range and the station became XEB.
Setting the pace
XEB was notable as a station where many important personalities and genres in Mexican radio got their start. In 1929, actress Pura Córdoba founded a drama group devoted to performing radio plays, which laid down the foundation for the genre's success in Mexico. Jorge Marrón
Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος ('' Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".
The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
, Julio Sotelo Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to:
* Julio (given name)
* Julio (surname)
* Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation a ...
, Enrique W. Curtiss and others all started at XEB, which at this time was located at 665 kHz.
In August 1933, XEB debuted on shortwave as XEBT on 6 MHz; the next year, in October 1934, its medium wave station moved to 1030 kHz. Walter Cross Buchanan was the chief engineer from the mid-1930s, also working at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional
The National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico ( es, Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México; ), abbreviated IPN, is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 171,581 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate level ...
where he created the electronic engineering program. He later became the Secretary of Communications and Transport.
Wartime
From 1942 to 1946, XEB broadcast two prominent newscasts, the "Noticiero Mundial" and "El oído del mundo", important as conflict broke out in Europe and Asia. World War II brought with it a competition among radio stations to be first with the latest developments.
On October 12, 1942, XEB inaugurated its new facilities with five studios, two theaters for concerts and a United Press newswire, and also boasted of its creation of a 40-transmitter network to reach all Mexico. The station also jumped to 100 kW of power, but it had trouble maintaining the transmitter as the war effort made finding replacement parts impossible.
In April 1945, XEB was the first station to inform Mexican listeners of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, four minutes before the competition. That same year, it created a sports radio network featuring such personalities as Julio Sotelo, Fernando Marcos
Fernando Marcos Santiago (born 4 December 1968) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He played professionally in all of Spain's top three divisions, which included 47 appearances in La Liga with Albacete Balompié and Racin ...
and Cristino Lorenzo.
After the war
From 1946 on, XEB's live musical programming was steadily supplanted by recordings, which was more economical, but high-profile stars like Miguel Prado
This is a list of characters from the Showtime TV series ''Dexter'', its sequel miniseries '' Dexter: New Blood,'' and the Jeff Lindsay novels, including ''Darkly Dreaming Dexter'' (on which the show was based), ''Dearly Devoted Dexter'', ''De ...
, Blanca Estela Pavón
María Blanca Estela Pavón Vasconcelos (February 21, 1926 – September 26, 1949) was a Mexican film actress and singer of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.
She appeared in many classic films of the 1940s as a young woman. Her career peaked ...
and Raquel Moreno remained on the air.
By 1950, XEB was branded as "La Emisora de las Américas" (The Station of the Americas). On AM, it was already broadcasting at 1220 kHz, its current frequency. On shortwave, XEBT was at 9.625 MHz.
In 1952, XEB was sold to Luis Martínez Vértiz. During this time, sports announcers like Óscar Esquivel and Ángel Fernandez joined the station, which became known as "Voz y expresión de México" the next year. The format consisted of news, romance music and programs for ranchera music.
Sistema Radiópolis
In 1957, Emilio Azcárraga acquired XEB and incorporated it into the Radiópolis network. The next year, XEB moved to be alongside XEQ-AM
XEQ-AM (940 kHz) is a commercial class A clear channel AM radio station in Mexico City. The concession is held by Cadena Radiodifusora Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. and is operated by Radiópolis. XEQ-AM broadcasts from a transmitter located at Los R ...
940 and XEDF-AM 970. During this era, Alejandro Rodríguez Morán, known as "El Sheriff", devised XEB's longtime slogan "El B grande de México" and its popular nighttime program "Serenata XEB", which debuted in 1960.
In 1962, XEBT was closed, and the Radiópolis stations were branded as the "three points of gold", XEB alongside XEQ and XEDF. This later rose to four, with the integration of XERPM-AM 660, and then to five with XEMP-AM
XEMP-AM is a radio station in Mexico City. Broadcasting on 710 AM, XEMP-AM is owned by the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio
The Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (English: "Mexican Radio Institute") is a Mexican public broadcaster, akin to National ...
710 brought into the fold.
Radio Fórmula
Rogerio Azcárraga Madero bought XEB in 1967, forming Grupo ORO. The station moved to another building, and in 1975, the owner became known as Radio Fórmula. The station was branded as Radio 3, as it was the highest of Fórmula's three stations on the dial after XERPM and XEMP-AM
XEMP-AM is a radio station in Mexico City. Broadcasting on 710 AM, XEMP-AM is owned by the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio
The Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (English: "Mexican Radio Institute") is a Mexican public broadcaster, akin to National ...
710.
Government ownership and IMER
On December 21, 1978, the ownership of XEB, XERPM and XEMP was taken by the federal government. From then until the formation of the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio
The Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (English: "Mexican Radio Institute") is a Mexican public broadcaster, akin to National Public Radio in the US. It is also known as IMER.
History
It was founded in 1983 as a companion to the public TV broadcast ...
in 1983, it was operated by the state-owned concessionaire Compañía Nacional de Radiodifusión, S. A.
References
External links
*
XEB La B grande
— official site
*
— pictures of XEB and other Mexico City stations in 1963 by a former intern at Organización Radio Centro
FCC information on XEB
{{coord missing, Mexico City
Radio stations established in 1923
Radio stations in Mexico City
Clear-channel radio stations