English stations in Mexico (Other than the stations in San Diego)

[Thisi]

Does anyone know of any English stations in Mexico other than San Diego?

 

[Thisi]

And before anyone objects, I know that San Diego is not part of Mexico. They just serve that area.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Does anyone know of any English stations in Mexico other than San Diego?

Outside of border areas, there are no English language stations in the rest of Mexico. Decades ago, XEVIP (AM and FM) in Mexico City was all English. But, as American and other foreign companies trained and recruited local staff, the need for ex-pats decreased and the station changed format.

Similarly, before FM became very profitable there was a Guadalajara FM programming English MOR for retirees in the Lake Chapala region outside of that larger city.

The question is, except for multi-lingual border stations, why would any station in Mexico want to broadcast in English.

As reference, there are no commercial radio stations in Puerto Rico, USA, in English... although there is one religious AM on Vieques Island serving the USVI and part of the Lesser Antilles in English.

 

[elchupacabras]

XESQ-AM (San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato) used to air a weekend program in English for the ex-pat community. Imagen radio used to air daily news on its network in English twice a day, but it looks like that has been cut to a weekly program (Ana María Salazar). Pirate Radio, XHLAYA-FM, used to have all imaging and music in English.

 

[joewo]

Puerto Vallarta has 2 stations that play almost all English music but they have Spanish DJs. 89.5 playing hit music almost commercial free as it used to be Radio Disney and 92.7 with a 70s 80s 90s today US music blend. Interesting thing is that after living here for a year it seems those 2 stations with 89.5 way ahead in the numbers are the most popular stations I have heard in taxis....which we take a lot of here. 104.3 in Puerto Vallarta which is the University of Guadalajara station used to have an English morning show on Saturday mornings but they apparently have pulled that show.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Puerto Vallarta has 2 stations that play almost all English music but they have Spanish DJs.

There are stations that play all or lots of English language music everywhere in Latin America. Some play only English music, some play a blend. Of course, the DJs and ads are all in Spanish.

The highest billing FM in Mexico City plays what we'd call Gold Based AC, and there are about a dozen FM stations there playing at least some English music.

When I interned at Grupo Radio Centro in 1953, one of the 5 stations played half English and half Spanish language Top 40 hits. I went on to build a Top 40 station in Ecuador and it played about 30% hits in English. This has been a normal thing for at least 60 years.

 

[Gregg.]

I know we're talking about radio stations. But I seem to remember there were a few Mexican TV stations on the border broadcasting in English. Maybe in Ciudad Juárez broadcasting to El Paso and maybe in Ciudad Acuña, broadcasting to Laredo? They were WB or UPN affiliates, IIRC.

And XETV 6 in Tijuana broadcast in English for San Diego viewers from 1953 to 2017. At various times XETV was San Diego's ABC affiliate, Fox affiliate and later CW affiliate. But it now broadcasts in Spanish, linked to Canal 5 and NU9VE in Mexico City.

I wonder, are there now only three FM stations left in Tijuana broadcasting in English? 90.3 XHITZ (Top 40), 91.1 XETRA-FM (Alternative Rock) and 92.5 XHRM (Rhythmic AC). And one AM station, 1090 XEPRS (Sports).

No more TV stations in English? No more Classic Hits XHPRS 105.7 or Bilingual Classical XHLNC 104.9 or ESPN affiliate XEPE 1700. Of course, there are a few Spanish language stations that sell ads on both sides of the border.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I know we're talking about radio stations. But I seem to remember there were a few Mexican TV stations on the border broadcasting in English. Maybe in Ciudad Juárez broadcasting to El Paso and maybe in Ciudad Acuña, broadcasting to Laredo? They were WB or UPN affiliates, IIRC.

Laredo and Nuevo Laredo are the sister cities. Cd. Acuña/Del Río is about 135 miles from Laredo.

 

[EricStein]

There are stations that play all or lots of English language music everywhere in Latin America. Some play only English music, some play a blend. Of course, the DJs and ads are all in Spanish.

The highest billing FM in Mexico City plays what we'd call Gold Based AC, and there are about a dozen FM stations there playing at least some English music.

When I interned at Grupo Radio Centro in 1953, one of the 5 stations played half English and half Spanish language Top 40 hits. I went on to build a Top 40 station in Ecuador and it played about 30% hits in English. This has been a normal thing for at least 60 years.

When I was in San Diego a couple weeks ago, I was able to pick up an English-language station from Ensenada from my top floor hotel room ("Amor Mio 92.9" - given the distance from Ensenada to SD, it was traveling over water, and had better reception in the evening). It was kind of like an attempt of a "love songs" station. English stations like this sure play a lot of '80s British acts (their RDS showed "Pet Shop Boys" instead of "Real Life" when they played "Send Me An Angel"). I streamed it a week later, and it was still a lot of '80s pop that American radio stopped playing decades ago. Then, all of the sudden, I hear them play a hard hip-hop track in between '80s songs - bizarre.

I've always been fascinated about the stations, primarily on the U.S.-Mexico border, that have tried English language formats.

 

[EricStein]

I know we're talking about radio stations. But I seem to remember there were a few Mexican TV stations on the border broadcasting in English. Maybe in Ciudad Juárez broadcasting to El Paso and maybe in Ciudad Acuña, broadcasting to Laredo? They were WB or UPN affiliates, IIRC.

And XETV 6 in Tijuana broadcast in English for San Diego viewers from 1953 to 2017. At various times XETV was San Diego's ABC affiliate, Fox affiliate and later CW affiliate. But it now broadcasts in Spanish, linked to Canal 5 and NU9VE in Mexico City.

I wonder, are there now only three FM stations left in Tijuana broadcasting in English? 90.3 XHITZ (Top 40), 91.1 XETRA-FM (Alternative Rock) and 92.5 XHRM (Rhythmic AC). And one AM station, 1090 XEPRS (Sports).

No more TV stations in English? No more Classic Hits XHPRS 105.7 or Bilingual Classical XHLNC 104.9 or ESPN affiliate XEPE 1700. Of course, there are a few Spanish language stations that sell ads on both sides of the border.

XHPRS has been running a bizarre automated English "alternative" format called "Willy 105.7" for over a year.

 

[DavidEduardo]

When I was in San Diego a couple weeks ago, I was able to pick up an English-language station from Ensenada from my top floor hotel room ("Amor Mio 92.9" - given the distance from Ensenada to SD, it was traveling over water, and had better reception in the evening). It was kind of like an attempt of a "love songs" station. English stations like this sure play a lot of '80s British acts (their RDS showed "Pet Shop Boys" instead of "Real Life" when they played "Send Me An Angel"). I streamed it a week later, and it was still a lot of '80s pop that American radio stopped playing decades ago. Then, all of the sudden, I hear them play a hard hip-hop track in between '80s songs - bizarre.

I've always been fascinated about the stations, primarily on the U.S.-Mexico border, that have tried English language formats.

Amor Mío 92.9 is not an English language station. It is a Spanish language stations that plays a lot of English language music, just like hundreds and hundreds of stations in Latin America do. They even have a Spanish language news block about Ensenada every morning.

Remember, the English language music that is popular in Latin America is not the exact same as what is well liked in the USA. A good example is that in all of South America, CCR was a bigger group in its peak years than the Beatles ever were. Many songs and artists that are hits in the US do not meet favor in Latin America, and there are songs that are bigger hits there than in the US or the UK.

 

[EricStein]

Amor Mío 92.9 is not an English language station. It is a Spanish language stations that plays a lot of English language music, just like hundreds and hundreds of stations in Latin America do. They even have a Spanish language news block about Ensenada every morning.

Remember, the English language music that is popular in Latin America is not the exact same as what is well liked in the USA. A good example is that in all of South America, CCR was a bigger group in its peak years than the Beatles ever were. Many songs and artists that are hits in the US do not meet favor in Latin America, and there are songs that are bigger hits there than in the US or the UK.

Thank you for clearing that up. I notice that Mexican stations play a heavy amount of '80s British new wave selections that weren't very popular in the United States. A rimshot on the edge of the Phoenix market that happens to be owned by a Mexican national (KRPH 99.5) was "testing" earlier this year with a variety format that reminded me of Mexican English-language radio.

98.3 in La Rumorosa/Mexicali was one of my favorite listens when they were doing English-language Alternative, then Classic Rock. A lot of crazy variety in those incarnations. They've been English Top 40 for about a decade now.

 

[Marcos_C]

XHTO-FM (104.3 HITfm), which is licensed to Ciudad Juárez, is an English-language station that serves El Paso by playing CHR music.

 

[RF101]

I understand there might still be some Plattdeutsch segments on a few rural AM stations serving Mennonite areas. (I have run across such programming on the Bolivian and Paraguayan radio dial.)

Meanwhile, Radio México Internacional (IMER) used to carry some French and English segments but not sure they continue today, now into the post-XERMX revival period.

 

[GEDA1990]

Amor Mío 92.9 is not an English language station. It is a Spanish language stations that plays a lot of English language music, just like hundreds and hundreds of stations in Latin America do. They even have a Spanish language news block about Ensenada every morning.

Remember, the English language music that is popular in Latin America is not the exact same as what is well liked in the USA. A good example is that in all of South America, CCR was a bigger group in its peak years than the Beatles ever were. Many songs and artists that are hits in the US do not meet favor in Latin America, and there are songs that are bigger hits there than in the US or the UK.

Musical Programming of Amor Mío 92.9 FM

From 9am to 2pm (except 10-11am for a program about health in weekdays) plays Spanish Hits and from 2pm to 6:30am (to 9am in weekends) plays Classic Hits

 

[BamaTX]

Pirate Radio, XHLAYA-FM, used to have all imaging and music in English.

About 15 years ago, XHJD-FM from Monterrey used to have English imaging with a mix of Top 40 and alternative rock.