XHIRC-FM is a radio station serving

Colima, Colima Colima () is a city that is the capital of the Colima state and the seat of Colima municipality, located in central−western Mexico. It is located near the Colima volcano, which divides the small state from that of Jalisco. The city of Colim ...

, in central−western

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 ...

. The station is owned by the state of Colima through the Instituto Colimense de Radio y Televisión and broadcasts on 98.1 MHz.

History

XHIRC is the successor to the first public radio station in the state of Colima.

XEBCO-AM

XEBCO-AM on 1210 kHz to the air on June 26, 1986, as part of a joint project between 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 ...

and the state government of Colima. It was one of several new partnership stations between IMER and state governments established in the 1980s. Broadcasting with 50 kW power day and 5 kW night from its transmitter in

Villa de Álvarez Ciudad de Villa de Álvarez is a city in the Mexican state of Colima. It is the municipal seat of Villa de Álvarez municipality. The city is adjacent to the northwest side of the state capital city of Colima and the two can be considered as "t ...

(still home to the radio studios of XHIRC), its signal covered the state of Colima as well as portions of Michoacán and Jalisco and carried programming from

XEB-AM XEB-AM (branded as ''La B Grande'') is a radio station on AM frequency 1220 kHz, serving Mexico City and surrounding areas in Mexico. It airs a Spanish language classic contemporary format with music from the 1940s to the 1970s. It has been ow ...

"Radio México", thus the XEBCO callsign. In the IMER era XEBCO was known as "Radio Occidente, La Voz de Colima". In 1988, it was announced that XEBCO would begin broadcasting on FM, on 98.5 MHz; this never happened. In 2004, IMER and the state government dissolved their partnership, as IMER was seeking to shed stations. In shuttering the

Radio México Internacional Radio México Internacional is a Mexican government-run radio service based in Mexico City. It broadcast as a shortwave radio station with the broadcast callsign XERMX-OC from 1969 to 2004, and was relaunched as an Internet-only radio service i ...

shortwave and returning XEBCO and Campeche's XETEB to their state governments, the IMER cited their obsolete equipment and high cost to the agency. The new Instituto de la Radio Colimense (Colima Radio Institute) was formed to manage XEBCO. Under its management, from 2005, the station became known as "Conexión 1210 AM".

XHIRC-FM

In 2005, the state government of Colima sought to replace XEBCO with a station on the FM band. In 2006, the application was granted, and the state government received the permit for XHIRC-FM 98.1. On April 30, 2007, XEBCO left the air for good. The next day, XHIRC-FM "Conexión 98.1 FM" signed on for the first time, under the aegis of the recently expanded Instituto Colimense de Radio y Televisión.

References

Public radio in Mexico Radio stations in Colima Mass media in Colima City Radio stations established in 1986 {{Colima-radio-station-stub