Radio stations from Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche

Radio in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche: the Island's Story Told Through Its Stations

Ciudad del Carmen sits on an island between the Laguna de Términos and the Gulf of Mexico, in a corner of Campeche that lives from fishing, oil, and its own strong sense of identity. For carmelitos who have moved to the United States — and there are many, scattered from Houston to Los Angeles — local radio is one of the fastest ways to feel at home again. The accents, the news, the grupero and romantic ballads, the morning chatter: it all travels surprisingly well over an internet stream.

This guide walks through the real history of Carmen's stations in chronological order, introduces the stations worth knowing today, breaks down the genres you'll hear, suggests what to listen to at different hours, and explains how to listen from the US, including the time difference. We have 16 stations from Ciudad del Carmen streaming live in the catalog, so there's plenty to explore.

The story of Carmen's radio, station by station

1962: XEIT, the first voice of Carmen

Radio in Carmen begins with EXA FM 99.7 — or rather, with its AM ancestor. XEIT-AM went on the air in January 1962 as the first radio station in the city. Among those who helped establish it was Mario Antonio Boeta Blanco, a man whose name keeps reappearing in this story, because he went on to found another station and later served as mayor of Ciudad del Carmen in the mid-1970s.

Today the station transmits as the combo XEIT-AM 1070 / XHIT-FM 99.7, carrying the Exa FM pop format from MVS Radio. It's operated by Organización Radio Carmen and owned in a 50/50 split between members of the Boeta family and Grupo Radiorama — a direct line back to those founding families, more than sixty years later. In 1994 the station became an AM/FM combo, part of the first wave of such combos across Mexico, and in 2015 the concession passed from Radio Carmen, S. de R.L., to the current concessionaire.

So when you tune in to Exa FM today, you're listening to the direct heir of the station that started it all. If the FM stream gives you trouble, the same programming is listed separately as 1070 Exa FM, and as 99.7 Exa FM — same station, different signals and listings.

1973 and 1980: the Boeta family expands, and a competitor arrives

In 1973, Mario Antonio Boeta Blanco received the concession for XEMAB-AM 950, a 250-watt station. That frequency evolved over the decades: in 2010 it was authorized to migrate to FM, and after format changes that included the regional Mexican "La Poderosa" (dropped in May 2017), then Retro, then El Heraldo Radio starting in August 2020, it settled in mid-2022 into its current identity as Globo 101.3, the romantic format from MVS Radio. The format was announced on June 28 of that year, with Organización Radio Carmen — the same operator as Exa — as the new operator. The station still transmits as the combo XHMAB-FM 101.3 / XEMAB-AM 950.

A few years after XEMAB's founding, a third player entered the market. LA REVERENDA 100.5 began broadcasting on April 11, 1980, on AM as XEBCC-AM 1030. Like XEIT, it became an AM/FM combo in 1994, part of that same first national wave. Its identity has changed several times over the years — originally BCC Radio, later La Gaviota Musical del Golfo until the mid-2000s, then the pop franchise Los 40 Principales, then La Mejor FM's regional Mexican format starting April 30, 2013. That format lasted until late 2024, and in early 2025, under new operator Corporativo Rivas, the station launched the current La Reverenda regional Mexican format. A technical note for radio enthusiasts: XHBCC-FM is authorized to broadcast in HD Radio, one of the more technically modern licenses in the city.

2017–2022: the IFT-4 wave brings new voices

For decades, Carmen's radio landscape was built around those legacy stations. Then the IFT-4 spectrum auction of 2017 changed everything, adding three new FM stations to the city in just a few years — going from three signals to six, and nearly doubling the dial.

Two of the new licenses went to NRM Comunicaciones, whose president Edilberto Huesca Perrotín paid 5.737 and 5.687 million pesos for the two frequencies. BANDOLERA 92.3 went on the air on August 31, 2020, with a Regional Mexican format, after about six months of transmitter tests. RETRO FM 93.9 followed the very next day, September 1, 2020, with Spanish-language classics.

Retro FM has an interesting backstory that ties the whole city together. The Retro format had previously been heard on XHMAB-FM 101.3 — the former Boeta station — until that frequency was leased to El Heraldo Radio in August 2020. All the Retro programming, including the news program Centro Regional de Noticias, moved to the new 93.9 signal operated by Grupo Audiorama Comunicaciones. And when El Heraldo Radio ended on 101.3 on March 1, 2022, that frequency became Globo. Formats in Carmen don't die; they just change dial positions.

The third new station went to Grupo SIPSE, which paid 4.988 million pesos in the same auction. LA COMADRE 95.5 began transmissions in April 2019, originally as a Kiss FM, and in September 2022 SIPSE swapped it for the grupero format La Comadre that listeners enjoy today.

Notice the pattern: Carmen's radio history is a chain of connections. One man helped found the first station in 1962, then founded the second in 1973, and his family still owns half of the first. The third station cycled through formats and operators for four decades. The newest stations inherited formats from the old ones. It's a small city, and its radio family tree shows it.

The stations to know today

If you're from Carmen and want to reconnect, these are the most-listened stations in our catalog:

• EXA FM 99.7 — youth pop in Spanish, the heir of XEIT and still one of the city's most popular signals. Also listed as Exa FM Ciudad del Carmen and on AM as 1070 Exa FM.
• Bandolera 92.3 — Regional Mexican, one of the newer signals but already a listener favorite. Also listed as 92.3 Bandolera.
• RETRO FM 93.9 — classics in Spanish, perfect for listeners who grew up with the older Retro format on 101.3.
• Globo 101.3 — romantic ballads and soft pop, the MVS Globo sound. Also listed as Globo.
• ESTÉREO VIDA 93.1 — another staple of the Carmen dial, also listed as 93.1 Estéreo Vida.
• LA COMADRE 95.5 — grupero and banda for the regional crowd.
• LA REVERENDA 100.5 — Regional Mexican on one of the city's oldest licenses.

With 16 stations total, the dial covers most tastes. Here's how the genres break down.

What you'll hear: genres on the Carmen dial

The city skews strongly toward music formats, with pop and rock leading:

• Rock en Español and Pop Latino y Éxitos — 8 stations each, the heart of the dial. Exa FM 99.7 is the flagship here.
• Regional Mexicano — 5 stations, including Bandolera, La Comadre, and La Reverenda.
• Clásicos y Retro — 4 stations, with Retro FM 93.9 as the reference point.
• Románticas y Baladas — 3 stations; Globo 101.3 is the one to know.
• Tropical — 2 stations, natural for a Gulf coast city with Caribbean and Cuban cultural ties.
• Cristiana — 2 stations for religious programming.
• Noticias y Hablada — 1 station, so local news on the radio is scarce; music dominates.

A practical tip: if you miss the sound of home specifically, the regional and classics stations tend to carry the most local identity. Regional stations in smaller Mexican cities often include community announcements and local host chatter between songs, while national pop formats like Exa sound similar everywhere. Retro FM 93.9 is a good middle ground — the classics are national, but the station inherited a news tradition (that Centro Regional de Noticias lineage) that keeps it rooted in the region.

What to listen to, and when

Matching the station to the moment makes a real difference, especially across a distance:

• Mornings (Carmen time): the morning shows on the regional stations — La Comadre, Bandolera, La Reverenda — are where you'll hear local personalities, birthday shout-outs, and the day's talk. This is the closest thing to being back on the island.
• Midday: Exa FM 99.7 and Estéreo Vida carry upbeat pop for working hours, and Retro FM 93.9 works beautifully as background for lunch, especially if you're on US Central or Eastern time and catching Carmen's midday live.
• Afternoons and evenings: Globo 101.3's romantic ballads are a classic wind-down, and the grupero stations keep energy up for end-of-workday listening.
• Weekends: regional Mexican and tropical formats typically go harder on weekends with longer music blocks — good for cleaning-the-house or cooking-with-family listening, wherever you are.

If your parents or grandparents remember the older dial, ask them about names like La Gaviota Musical del Golfo or La Poderosa — then surprise them with the current stations that carry those same formats' spirit. La Reverenda on 100.5 is the direct descendant of the station they knew as La Gaviota, and Bandolera plays much of what La Poderosa once played on 101.3.

How to listen from the US (and the time difference)

Streaming Carmen's stations from the United States is simple with the live player on each station page. A few tips to get the best experience:

• Check the schedule against Central Time. Campeche is in Mexico's southeast time zone, which corresponds to US Central Time most of the year. When the US switches to daylight saving time and most of Mexico does not, the offset shifts by an hour temporarily — so a show that normally starts at 7 am Carmen time may appear to start at 8 am on your clock for a few weeks. If you're in Eastern time, add an hour; in Pacific time, subtract two.
• Morning shows are the easiest catch. Carmen's morning programs air at hours that work well for US listeners in Central and Eastern time — you can often catch them live before or during your own morning routine. On the West Coast, Carmen's evening drive shows land around your lunch break.
• Live streams need a stable connection, but they're audio-only, so even a modest mobile connection works fine — no video-level bandwidth required.
• Bookmark your favorites. Save the station pages you return to, so getting your daily dose of Carmen radio takes one tap instead of a search.
• Use the genre pages if you only care about a mood: the Pop Latino or Clásicos pages show every Carmen station in that format in one place, which is also handy when you want variety beyond your usual station.
• Set a reminder for live-only content. If a station carries local news or a favorite host at a specific hour, the time difference matters most for that content; music blocks you can join at any point.

One quirk of our catalog: some stations appear under slightly different names. Exa FM, for example, has several listings because of its separate AM and FM signals — try EXA FM 99.7, 99.7 Exa FM, and 1070 Exa FM. Globo similarly appears under more than one listing. If one stream doesn't load, try the alternate — it may be a different signal of the same station, and one of them will usually connect.

A quick family tree of Carmen radio

Because the stations' histories are so intertwined, here's the short version to keep it straight:

• XEIT (1962) → today's Exa FM 99.7 / 1070 AM. The first station, still half-owned by the founding Boeta family.
• XEMAB (1973) → La Poderosa → Retro → El Heraldo Radio → today's Globo 101.3.
• XEBCC (1980) → BCC Radio → La Gaviota Musical del Golfo → Los 40 → La Mejor → today's La Reverenda 100.5.
• XHPCAR (2019) → Kiss FM → today's La Comadre 95.5.
• XHPCDC (2020) → Bandolera 92.3, Regional Mexican from day one.
• XHPMEN (2020) → Retro FM 93.9, which took over the Retro format from 101.3.

Six licenses, decades of format swaps, and one family appearing at the origin of it all.

Explore radio from nearby regions

If you're from Campeche state or the wider Gulf region, branch out beyond Carmen:

• Veracruz — 44 stations from the port city and surroundings, with a strong tropical and son jarocho flavor that Gulf coast listeners will recognize instantly.
• The full Mexico directory if you want to wander the whole national dial.
• Ciudad de México — 350 stations, the largest selection in the catalog, useful for national news and talk.
• Monterrey, Nuevo León — 52 stations with a norteño and rock identity all their own, plus the wider Nuevo León region at 41.
• Guadalajara, Jalisco — 59 stations from Mexico's second city, and Jalisco state with 54 more.

And if your family's tastes run toward banda and corridos, the northern states deliver: Sinaloa has 67 stations and Chihuahua has 54.

A small island with a long radio memory

What makes Ciudad del Carmen special on the radio map isn't the number of stations — 16 is modest compared to the big cities — but the density of history. One family helped launch the first station in 1962 and the second in 1973, and still owns half of the first. Formats migrated from one frequency to another as ownership changed hands: Retro moved from 101.3 to 93.9, a news tradition moved with it, and a romantic format took the vacated spot. A 2017 auction nearly doubled the number of signals in about three years.

For carmelitos abroad, that history is personal. The station your parents listened to as kids might have a different name today — La Gaviota became Los 40 became La Mejor became La Reverenda — but it's probably still on the air, on the same license, and probably still streaming. Start with EXA FM 99.7 for the pop sound, Retro FM 93.9 for the classics, or Bandolera for the regional sound, and let the island come to you.