XEL-AM is a radio station in

Los Reyes Acaquilpan La Paz is a municipality in the State of Mexico, Mexico, with its municipal seat in the town of Los Reyes Acaquilpan. It is located on the dividing line between Mexico State and the eastern edge of the Federal District and is part of the Greater M ...

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, 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 ...

. Broadcasting on 1260 kHz, XEL-AM is owned by

Grupo ACIR Grupo ACIR is a Mexican media company specializing in the operation of radio stations. It was established in 1965. ACIR is an acronym for ''Asociación de Concesionarios Independientes de Radio'' (Association of Independent Radio Concessionaires). ...

. The station is known as La Comadre with a

grupera Grupera (also known as Grupero or Onda Grupera) is a genre of Regional Mexican music. It reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s, especially in rural areas. The music has roots in the rock groups of the 1960s, but today generally consis ...

format.

History

The first concession for what would become XEL was actually for a station on 1140 kHz with the call sign XETA, made to Manuel Espinosa Tagle on August 16, 1932. The station spent the next 17 years under a revolving door of owners: Esperanza Romero González, Banco Capitalizador de Ahorros, Financiera de Inversiones, Ramón Ferreiro Rodriguez, Fidel Hernández Calderón, and finally stability under Radio Impulsora Hérdez, S.A. The station became XEL-AM by the 1950s and moved to 1260 kHz in the 1960s. The station for most of its life carried the name "Radio Capital". In 1964, accountant Francisco Ibarra bought the station, making it

's first station in Mexico City. The format was changed to rock in English with the slogan ''Una buena costumbre de la gente joven'' ("A good habit of young people"). In 1989, the station became the general format "Radio ACIR", a format moved from

XEVOZ-AM XEVOZ-AM is a radio station in Mexico City, with its transmitter at San José Puente de Vigas, Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico, Mexico. Broadcasting on 1590 AM. History The first concession for 1590 AM was made in 1944 for XEMC-AM, made to Dolores ...

1590; that station picked up the rock music format and Radio Capital name. In May 2003, the station was relaunched as "La 12 60" with a focus on self-help, health and family affairs matters. On July 1, 2015, as part of larger changes at Grupo ACIR, the self-help format was jettisoned to make XEL the flagship station of ACIR's La Comadre regional Mexican format, returning the format to Mexico City. On July 31, 2021, XEL-AM changed its format to Radio La Guadalupana, affiliated with

ESNE Radio ESNE Radio is a Spanish-language Catholic radio network based in the United States, owned by El Sembrador Ministries. Headquartered in Chatsworth, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, ESNE broadcasts on 14 stations in the United States, Mexico and ...

and being its second station in Mexico, after

XEBBB-AM XEBBB-AM is a radio station on 1040 AM in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It is owned by Promomedios and carries the Catholic programming of ESNE Radio. History XEBBB received its concession on February 24, 1972 as XECX-AM. The 5 kW daytimer ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

. It was also the second Catholic station to broadcast in the Mexico City area, after

Radio María Radio Maria (formally known as The World Family of Radio Maria; es, link=no, Radio María, pt, Rádio Maria, hr, Radio Marija, mt, Radju Marija, lt, Marijos Radijas, hu, Mária Rádió, russian: Радио Мария, uk, Радіо Ма� ...

leased out

XEUR-AM XEUR-AM is a radio station licensed to and located in Mexico City. Broadcasting on 1530 AM, XEUR is owned by Grupo Radiorama. 1530 AM is a United States Clear-channel station, clear-channel frequency. The station's transmitter is located in the bo ...

1530 in December 2020. ACIR attempted to sell the station to an ESNE affiliate, an act blocked by the

Federal Telecommunications Institute The Federal Telecommunications Institute ( Spanish: ''Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones''; abbreviated as IFT and incorrectly referred to as IFETEL) is an independent government agency of Mexico charged with the regulation of telecommunicat ...

(IFT), which in its decision considered that the proposed controlling owner, ESNE Radio México, S.A. de C.V., acted like a religious organization and was thus barred from owning a broadcast station. After this event, ESNE Radio opted to stop operating the station on December 31, with ACIR resuming La Comadre programming on January 1, 2022.

References

External links

iheart Mexico City website
{{coord, 19.3610, N, 98.9926, W, source:wikidata, display=title Radio stations established in 1932 1932 establishments in Mexico Radio stations in Mexico City Radio stations in the State of Mexico Grupo ACIR