Radio stations from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua

Ciudad Juárez occupies one of the most fascinating radio positions in all of Mexico. Sitting directly across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, its stations serve two countries at once — and in some cases, run studios on the American side of the border while transmitting from Mexican soil. If your family is from Juárez, Chihuahua, or you grew up flipping between Mexican and American signals, the city's dial will feel familiar in a way no other Mexican market can match.

This guide walks through the story of Juárez radio as told by its stations, highlights the ones worth tuning into today, and explains how to listen from anywhere in the United States.

Why Juárez Radio Is Different

Most Mexican radio markets serve one city. Ciudad Juárez serves a binational metropolitan area. Stations here consciously program for listeners on both sides of the border: some broadcast in Spanish, others lean bilingual or even English-heavy, and several maintain sales offices or studios in El Paso.

That means the Juárez dial has always been in conversation with itself. Formats shift, ownership changes hands, and stations pivot between serving Juarenses, El Pasoans, or both. It's radio that reflects the border itself — hybrid, fast-moving, and never boring.

Our catalog currently lists 14 live stations from Ciudad Juárez, and you can browse all of them here: Ciudad Juárez radio. Here's the story behind the ones with the richest histories.

The Story of Juárez Radio, Told Through Its Stations

The MVS era and EXA FM 98.3

One of the foundational threads of Juárez radio runs through Grupo MVS, the media company founded by Joaquín Vargas Gómez. Two of the city's most important FM stations trace directly back to that legacy.

EXA FM 98.3 (Ciudad Juárez/El Paso) holds the concession XHPX-FM, and its paper trail goes back further than its official paperwork suggests. The station received its formal concession on October 18, 1977, but it had already been on the air for years — it had even changed frequencies back in 1974, moving from 93.7 MHz to where it sits today. The concession was held in the name of Ángel Beltrán Elizarraraz, but MVS operated the station from day one, first with its classic Stereorey format and later with FM Globo.

The ownership history reads like a map of Mexican broadcasting consolidation. In 1993 the station was sold to F.M. Globo de Juárez, then the concession passed to Frecuencia Modulada de Mexicali in May 1999, to MVS de Juárez in December 1999, and finally to Stereorey México in 2012 — all of them MVS subsidiaries in one form or another.

Two milestones matter most for listeners. In 2000, the station became one of the original outlets of the Exa FM network, the contemporary hits brand it still carries today. And in 2005, most operations moved to studios on Mesa Street in El Paso, while the transmitter stayed on Cerro Bola in Juárez. Today it broadcasts contemporary hits with a Spanglish flavor — a sound literally engineered for a binational audience.

The Stereorey connection: KY 104.3

If EXA FM 98.3 inherited one piece of the Stereorey legacy, 104.3 KY (Ciudad Juárez) inherited the other. The station, XHTO-FM, was originally owned by Joaquín Vargas Gómez himself — the MVS founder — and carried the Stereorey format with the slogan "La Máxima Dimensión en Radio": adult contemporary music in English, but with identifiers, promos, and commercials in Spanish. If you grew up in Juárez or El Paso in the 70s or 80s, that mix probably formed the soundtrack of your childhood.

In 1977, the station passed to Frecuencia Modulada de Ciudad Juárez and was later sold to Grupo Radiorama, which took it fully Spanish-language as "La Exitosa." The 2000s brought more pivots: Grupo Radio México took control, launched a Top 40/CHR format in English aimed at El Paso called "HitFM" in 2001, then shifted toward rhythmic contemporary music in 2003 to compete directly with El Paso's KPRR.

In 2015, a merger put the station under Grupo Radio Centro, and in 2020 Grupo Audiorama Comunicaciones took direct ownership through its American division, PRO Radio. The most recent chapter unfolded in 2026: in February, Audiorama ended its operating agreement with Luz María Rygaard, in March the HitFM format moved to KAMA and the station returned to Spanish programming for Ciudad Juárez, and on April 6, 2026, it debuted as "KY 104.3" — a bilingual Spanish adult hits format aimed squarely at Juárez listeners, with official programming launching June 1.

Magia Digital 100.7: the regional Mexican veteran

While the MVS stations chased bilingual and English formats, MAGIA DIGITAL 100.7 (Ciudad Juárez) took a different path. The station, XHH-FM, received its concession in 1968 to operate at 93.3 MHz but soon moved to its current 100.7 dial position. Today it broadcasts Regional Mexican music, owned by MegaRadio Mexico, transmitting in HD — and it reaches El Paso so reliably that it keeps a sales office there.

Three stations, three different answers to the same border question. EXA went bilingual hits, KY oscillated between English and Spanish depending on who was buying ads, and Magia Digital doubled down on Mexican regional music. That tension — between the two markets, two languages, two identities — is the engine of Juárez radio.

The Stations to Know Today

Based on listening patterns, here are the Juárez stations our audience comes back to most:

• La Z Ciudad Juárez — a go-to for listeners who want the regional Mexican sound of home without fuss.
• La J Mexicana — another regional favorite, consistently among the most-played Juárez stations in our directory.
• EXA FM 98.3 (Ciudad Juárez/El Paso) — contemporary Spanglish hits; the natural pick for second-generation listeners.
• RADIO MEXICANA Nuestras Noticias 1300 (Ciudad Juárez) — the name says it: local news and talk in Spanish.
• 860 LÍDER INFORMATIVO (Ciudad Juárez) — another strong AM news voice for the border.
• CRYSTAL 1240 (Ciudad Juárez) — a familiar AM presence in the market.
• CRISTO REY RADIO 1110 (Ciudad Juárez) — Christian programming for listeners who want faith-based radio from home.
• KY 104.3 (Ciudad Juárez) — the newly relaunched bilingual adult hits station, fresh off its 2026 format change.

A practical note: several of these stations appear in the catalog under more than one listing — for example, 860 LÍDER appears both as 860 Lider Informativo (Ciudad Juárez) and under its full name, and Crystal 1240 also appears as 1240 Crystal (Ciudad Juárez). If one stream doesn't load, try the alternate listing — same station, separate stream entry. The same goes for Cristo Rey, which can also be found as 1110 Cristo Rey Radio (Ciudad Juárez).

What Genres You'll Hear

Juárez's 14 stations break down into a mix that reflects the border identity. Here's the general landscape, with the genre pages where you can filter further:

• News and talk (5 stations) — the largest single category, no surprise for a city where news matters. Browse Noticias.
• Regional Mexican (4 stations) and Banda (1) — the heart of northern Mexican radio. Try Regional Mexicano and Banda.
• Latin pop and hits (4) — including EXA FM's Spanglish sound. See Pop Latino y Éxitos.
• Rock en Español (2) — for listeners who came of age with rock in Spanish: Rock en Español.
• Christian (2) — including Cristo Rey Radio: Cristiana.
• Románticas and baladas (1), plus clásicos and retro (1) — for slower evenings: Románticas y Baladas and Clásicos y Retro.

That's a healthy range for a market of 14 stations. If you want news in the morning, banda at midday, and ballads at night, Juárez can deliver.

How to Listen From the US

This is the easy part, and it's why Juárez radio is so rewarding for the diaspora. Ciudad Juárez is in the Mountain Time Zone — the same as El Paso, Denver, and Phoenix (most of the year). If you're in California or the Pacific Northwest, Juárez radio is one hour ahead of you: a morning show that starts at 7:00 a.m. in Juárez starts at 6:00 a.m. your time. If you're in Texas east of El Paso, or in the Central time zone, Juárez is one hour behind you.

For listening, a few practical tips:

• Pick your station from the Ciudad Juárez listings and click play — every station in the catalog streams live over the internet, so no radio receiver or border proximity needed.
• For morning news, aim for the 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. window local Juárez time on the AM news stations like Radio Mexicana 1300 or 860 Líder Informativo.
• Music formats like EXA, La Z, and La J Mexicana run all day, so they're ideal for commuting, cooking, or work — no scheduling needed.
• If a stream drops, use the alternate listing (several stations have two), or reload — border stations occasionally restart their streams.
• A stable connection is all you need; live radio streams use modest bandwidth, so mobile data works fine.

Nearby Cities to Explore

Juárez radio sits within a rich northern Mexican radio landscape. If you've worked through the Juárez dial, these markets are natural next stops:

• Chihuahua state — the broader state page, with 54 stations including the capital, Chihuahua City: Chihuahua.
• Sinaloa — 67 stations, and the home of banda music. If the Magia Digital sound speaks to you, Sinaloa is the deep end of that pool: Sinaloa.
• Monterrey — 52 stations from Mexico's northern industrial powerhouse, with a strong news and rock tradition: Monterrey, Nuevo León, or the whole state at Nuevo León.
• Guadalajara and Jalisco — 59 and 54 stations respectively, from the cradle of mariachi and much of the regional Mexican canon: Guadalajara, Jalisco and Jalisco.
• Veracruz — 44 stations with a distinctly tropical, coastal flavor: Veracruz.
• Mexico City — the biggest market in the country at 350 stations, when you want everything at once: Ciudad de México.

Or start from the top with the full Mexico radio directory.

A Few Parting Listening Suggestions

If you're new to Juárez radio, here's a simple first week: start your mornings with a news station — Radio Mexicana 1300 or 860 Líder — to hear how the border talks about itself. Switch to EXA FM 98.3 or KY 104.3 in the afternoon for the bilingual pop sound you can't get anywhere else. Evenings, try Magia Digital 100.7 or La Z for regional Mexican, and save Cristo Rey Radio for Sunday morning.

What makes Juárez radio special isn't any single station. It's that the whole market has spent decades answering the same question — what does a radio station sound like when its audience lives in two countries? Every format change in the histories above, from Stereorey to FM Globo to Exa to KY, was a new attempt at that answer. Press play on any of them and you're hearing the latest version.