XEN-AM (branded as Radio Centro/El Fonógrafo) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

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 ...

. It airs a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

and Spanish

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

on 690

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 ...

. The station is owned by

Grupo Radio Centro Grupo Radio Centro is a Mexico City-based owner and operator of radio stations. It owns 30 radio stations in Mexico and the United States, including 8 radio stations in Mexico City. History Radio Centro's origins date to 1946, when Francisco Agu ...

. XEN broadcasts with 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s by day. But to avoid interfering with other stations on

AM 690 AM or Am may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * A minor, a minor scale in music * ''A.M.'' (Chris Young album) * ''A.M.'' (Wilco album) * ''AM'' (Abraham Mateo album) * ''AM'' (Arctic Monkeys album) * AM (musician), American musician ...

, it reduces power at night to 5,000 watts. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is in the San Miguel Teotongo neighborhood in Mexico City. XEN-AM can be heard in HD on

XHFAJ-FM XHFAJ-FM is a radio station on 91.3 FM in Mexico City. The station is owned by Grupo Radio Centro and carries a Contemporary hit radio format known as Alfa 91.3. XHFAJ-FM broadcasts in HD.http://hdradio.com/mexico/estaciones HD Radio Guide for M ...

HD2. 690 AM is a Mexican and Canadian

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The syste ...

frequency; CKGM and XEWW share Class A status of this frequency.

History

Early Years

XEN-AM started as CYS, on 710 kHz. The station was owned by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

Mexico from 1925 to 1930. For most of 1930, from February 5 to the end of the year, the station, by then known as "Radio Mundial XEN" and bearing its current

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

, offered something never before provided on radio: a constant

all news radio All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

service. Radio Noticias was owned by Félix F. Palavicini, a journalist who acquired the station at the start of the year. The earliest concession for XEN-AM was awarded to Cervecería Modelo, S.A., in 1934. At that time the station still broadcast on 710 kHz. The next year, the station was transferred to Guillermina Pontones de del Conde, and later it moved to its current dial position on 690 kHz.

World Music, Sports and Lounge Music

Beginning in the 1950s and until the early 1990s, it carried a world music format as Radio Mundo. In 1993, the station switched to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

format as Radio Sportiva. By the late 1990s it offered lounge music and newscasts under the name Ondas del Lago.

La 69

In 2001, Grupo Radio Centro bought the indebted station, disaffiliated it from the Cadena RASA system and converted it to a news format, known as La 69 - Es Noticia. The purchase was made possible because the previous year Radio Centro had sold 1320 AM and 1560 AM to Infored.Radio Centro Form 20-F filed in the United States, 2009 However, the station generally lacked unique programming. It mainly aired a simulcast of the two-hour midday newscast of Radio Red, which was hosted by

Jacobo Zabludovsky Jacobo Zabludovsky Kraveski (May 24, 1928 – July 2, 2015) was a Mexican journalist. He was the first anchorman in Mexican television and his TV news program, ''24 Horas'' (''24 Hours'') was for decades regarded as the most important in the coun ...

until his death on July 2, 2015, being substituted by Juan Francisco Castañeda. The newscast originated on XEN, before moving to Radio Red in 2004. The newscast was recorded and repeated throughout the day and on weekends. A program with José Alberto Barranco Chavarría called "Entre líneas" that beginning July 4, 2016, was also simulcast on Radio Red. Another program, a seven-hour morning talk show, "¿Y usted, qué opina?" hosted by

Nino Canún Nino or Niño may refer to: *Nino (name) *Niño (name) * Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court justice whose nickname was "Nino" *El Niño, a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean *NINO, an abbreviation for National Insurance number in th ...

, was cancelled in August 2014. The station's only original programming after 2016 were cultural capsules aired during commercial breaks, having no advertisers outside of government and electoral spots.

Radio Centro and El Fonógrafo

In 2017, citing "changes in AM transmission infrastructure," Grupo Radio Centro reorganized all of its AM radio stations. It shut down several stations and consolidating their programs. La 69 was replaced by content from the former

XEQR-AM XEQR-AM (branded as Radio Centro Deportes) is a radio station based in Mexico City. It is owned by Grupo Radio Centro, broadcasting sports programming. History XEFO-AM signed on January 1, 1931, as the radio station of the National Revolutionary ...

1030, talk-formatted Radio Centro, and

XEJP-AM XEJP-AM (1150 kHz) is a radio station in Mexico City. The station is owned by Grupo Radio Centro and operated by Grupo Acustik as Acustik Radio. History While the concession for XEJP was awarded in 1936 for a station on 1130 kHz, owned by S ...

1150, El Fonógrafo. Radio Centro's sole program to transition to XEN, "Buenos Días con Héctor Martínez Serrano" airs from 5:30 to 10:00am on weekdays and 5:30 to 11:00am on weekends, with El Fonógrafo oldies music filling in the rest of the air time (except for Sundays at noon, when Catholic mass airs). Since July 2019, the station is also used to broadcast soccer matches from

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

on Friday nights, as well as

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

matches on some weekdays. Besides airing on XEN, El Fonógrafo also maintains a separate stream solely dedicated to music without announcers or commercial interruptions, which could also be heard on the HD2 subchannel of

XEJP-FM XEJP-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Located on 93.7 MHz, XEJP-FM is owned by Grupo Radio Centro and broadcasts contemporary music in Spanish from the 1980s to the present as "Joya 93.7". History XEJP traces its lineage to the first FM ...

until 2020. Martínez Serrano died on May 9, 2020, with his collaborators taking over the hosting of "Buenos Días". Beginning on May 18, 2020, XEN began to be simulcasted on

, ending on June 18, 2022.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Mexico City Radio stations in Mexico Radio stations in Mexico City Radio stations established in 1925 1925 establishments in Mexico Grupo Radio Centro