Radio stations from Monterrey, Nuevo León

Monterrey is one of Mexico's great radio cities. Perched between the Cerro de la Silla and the Sierra Madre, it built an broadcasting industry as serious as its reputation for industry. If you grew up in Nuevo León or your parents did, the voices and jingles of Monterrey radio probably still live somewhere in your memory.

Today our catalog lists 52 live stations broadcasting from Monterrey, and you can stream every one of them from anywhere in the United States. This guide walks through the city's radio history through its actual stations, tells you what to listen to today, and explains the practical details of listening from up north.

How Monterrey's Radio Story Unfolded, Station by Station

Rather than a dry timeline, the best way to understand Monterrey radio is to follow a handful of stations whose histories span the decades. Each one captures a piece of the city's character.

The AM foundations

Monterrey's earliest radio presence came through AM, including stations that carried the big Mexico City networks north. A good example still audible today is LOS40 88.5. Its roots go back to XEWA-AM, concessioned in May 1961 to bring the signal of Mexico City's legendary XEW-AM 900 to Monterrey and improve nighttime reception. For decades it was linked to a sister station of the same callsign in San Luis Potosí.

XEWA's FM history is a rollercoaster: in March 1988 it adopted a grupera format called Súper Estelar WA, programmed by Multimedios Estrellas de Oro — one of the first stations in Mexico to commit to the grupera genre. It later passed through the Ke Buena era under Televisa operation, then W Radio, then Radiorama administration, then Dominio Radio. In September 2014 it became Los 40 Principales, and after migrating to FM in June 2018, the old AM signal finally went silent in April 2020. One frequency, more than half a century of Mexican radio history.

The FM boom of the 1960s and 1970s

FM arrived in Monterrey in waves, and some of the concessions from that era still shape the dial today.

Banda 93.3 has one of the quirkiest origin stories in Mexican radio. It began as XEH-FM with a concession granted in December 1963 to operate on 93.2 MHz — an even frequency. At the time, Mexico had authorized only about twenty FM stations on even frequencies, mostly as studio-to-transmitter links, and just a few, including XEH-FM, were licensed as full stations. By 1970 it was the last even-frequency FM still on the air, and in the early seventies it moved to 93.3 to match the odd-frequency standard used across the continent. Today it belongs to Grupo Radio Centro.

La Sabrosita 95.7 began around the same time, authorized in March 1964 as XEBJB-FM on 96.5 MHz. By the 1980s it had become XHRK-FM at 95.7, where it now programs grupera music for Grupo Radio Alegría. (The old 96.5 frequency wasn't left empty: it was taken in 2012 by a relocated station, XHMSN-FM.)

The 1970s brought another burst of growth:

• Classic 106.9, classic rock in English with Spanish-language commercials, got its concession in November 1976. The original concessionaire sold it almost immediately to Multimedios. Its transmitter still sits atop the Cerro del Mirador.
• Genesis 98.1, concessioned in April 1972, started as Estéreo Recuerdo under Multimedios' predecessor company, playing romantic Spanish-language music. In 1990 it was sold to Núcleo Radio Monterrey and renamed Génesis, keeping the romantic core while adding Spanish pop and, later, English music.
• D99 at 98.9 FM, concessioned in 1974, has belonged to Multimedios from day one. Its name honors Jesús D. González, the founder of Multimedios. It began as Stereo 99, became Energy 99 in the late eighties, and adopted the D99 name in the early nineties — the name it still carries as a hit-music station.
• EXA FM 97.3, also concessioned in late 1976, was long tied to José Vargas Santamarina, who would later help run MVS Radio's stations. As an MVS station it carried FM Globo until 1998, then Pulsar FM, and since 2000, Exa FM.
• El Heraldo Radio 99.7 — the signal now carrying El Heraldo's all-news format — received its concession in May 1973. Its concession company eventually became the legal holder of nearly all of what is now Grupo Radio Centro's Monterrey cluster. In 2021, Grupo Radio Centro put it up for sale and Heraldo Media Group bought it, moving El Heraldo Radio onto this stronger signal.

The 1980s and 1990s: new names, new owners

La Gran AW 101.3 began in October 1983 when Francisco Ibarra López, president of Grupo ACIR, won a concession for 101.3 MHz and named it XHIL-FM after his own initials. In July 1993, ACIR sold it to Multimedios, which renamed it XHAW-FM. Today it's a romantic-music station that also simulcasts the Telediario newscasts from Multimedios Television — a nice example of how Monterrey's media companies tie radio and TV together.

KY 104.5 got its concession in May 1985 under Radio General. In the mid-2000s Grupo Radio México began operating it with the pop format Planeta, and in 2014 it became a repeater of Mexico City's Alfa FM. In May 2025, that arrangement ended and the station passed to Grupo Audiorama Comunicaciones, which installed the urban format KY, based on a Guadalajara station of the same name. It's pronounced "calle" — as in street credibility.

La Lupe 105.3 has perhaps the most dramatic family history. It was concessioned in September 1991 as XHPAG-FM, known as "Papagayos FM," based in the town of Los Ramones and transmitting from the Sierra Papagayos. It later moved to a mountaintop on the Cerro de la Silla, passing through identities including Ke Buena, La Más Buena, and "105.3, La Que Te Complace," before becoming La Lupe in 2017.

La Ranchera de Monterrey 90.1 tells a similar story of reinvention. Concessioned in 1994 for a transmitter near China, Nuevo León, it launched in 1996 as the grupera "La Picosa." After moves between frequencies, it became Beat 90.1 — one of only two dance-format stations in Mexico at the time — then Ultra 90.1, then El Heraldo Radio, then Ke Buena. Since the end of 2022, Núcleo Radio Monterrey has paired it with the legendary La Ranchera programming of XEG-AM 1050, restoring a name deeply loved in the region.

The 2020s: formats keep moving

Monterrey radio never sits still. Premier 91.7 — concessioned back in December 1959 — made one of the strangiest format changes in recent memory: in February 2020 it spent two days looping Maroon 5's "This Love" before debuting a soft-adult format called Nova 91.7. That lasted less than a year; in January 2021 it became Premier 91.7, reviving a name the same company had used on another frequency years earlier.

The Stations to Know Today

With 52 live stations, where should you start? Based on what listeners in our directory tune into most, these are the essentials:

For romance and nostalgia:

• Café Romántico RADIO — the most-listened Monterrey station in our catalog, a continuous stream of romantic ballads perfect for a slow morning with coffee.
• Radio Recuerdo 860 — AM-era memories for those who remember when the dial was king.
• +Estrellas de los 80's Radio — decade-specific classics.

For party music:

• Cumbias Inmortales Radio — cumbia after cumbia, no filler.
• La Sabrosita 95.7 and Banda 93.3 — grupera and banda, the backbone of a Monterrey cookout.
• Norteñisima — norteño music, the sound of northern Mexico.
• XEH 1420, Antología Vallenata — a deep catalog of vallenato, a genre with a devoted following in Monterrey.

For hits and youth formats:

• D99 and Exa FM 97.3 — current pop hits, Spanish and English.
• Los40 88.5 — the Monterrey outlet of Mexico's biggest hit countdown brand.

For news, talk and sports:

• ABC Noticias 1310 — round-the-clock news and talk.
• El Heraldo Radio 99.7 — national news coverage with local windows.
• ABC Deportes 660 and La T Grande 990 — sports talk, Rayados and Tigres debates, live play-by-play.
• BJB 570 and TKR 1480 — more talk options for long commutes.

What Genres Dominate the Monterrey Dial

The station mix tells you a lot about the city's musical soul. Here's how our Monterrey catalog breaks down by genre:

| Genre | Stations | |---|---| | Clásicos y Retro | 24 | | Pop Latino y Éxitos | 17 | | Regional Mexicano | 15 | | Noticias y Hablada | 13 | | Rock en Español | 9 | | Tropical | 7 | | Románticas y Baladas | 7 | | Deportes | 6 |

Two things stand out. First, classics dominate: nearly half the catalog plays music from decades past, which explains why stations like Café Romántico and the cumbia and 80s channels top the listening charts. Monterrey radio is a memory machine.

Second, regional Mexican music — banda, grupera, norteño — remains central, which tracks with the city's identity as the capital of the north. The grupera format practically grew up here, as the XEWA/Súper Estelar WA story shows.

How to Listen from the United States

This is the part that matters if you're reading from Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, or anywhere else with a Monterrey diaspora.

Streaming is the way. Every station in our Monterrey directory streams live over the internet, so you don't need an antenna or an app subscription. Just open the station page and press play. A few practical tips:

• Use the genre pages to browse. If you know you want cumbias or romance but not which station, start at Clásicos y Retro or Románticas y Baladas and sample.
• Save your favorites. Once you find your station, bookmark its page. Live streams occasionally change URLs, and our pages always point to the current feed.
• Watch your data. Live audio uses roughly 60–100 MB per hour. On Wi-Fi at home or work, it's effortless; on cellular, an hour commute each way adds up.

The time difference is simpler than you think. Monterrey is in Central Time. That means:

• Same clock hour if you're in Texas, Illinois, or anywhere else Central.
• One hour ahead of you if you're in Mountain Time (Denver, El Paso's neighbor zone, Phoenix aside).
• Two hours ahead if you're in Pacific Time (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle).

This matters most for scheduled programming. Morning shows in Monterrey run roughly 6 to 10 a.m. Central — so if you're in California, that's 4 to 8 a.m., perfect for an early shift. Rayados or Tigres matches typically kick off in the evening Monterrey time, which translates to a comfortable afternoon or early evening slot for West Coast listeners. News blocks like Telediario on La Gran AW 101.3 also follow Central Time schedules.

One note: Mexico largely stopped observing daylight saving time in 2022, while most of the US still changes clocks. For a few weeks each spring and fall, the offset between your US city and Monterrey may be one hour different from what you expect. If a show seems to be starting an hour off, that's why.

Beyond Monterrey: Exploring the Region

Monterrey is the heart of radio in northern Mexico, but it's not the whole story. Our Mexico directory covers the entire country, and several nearby and connected regions deserve a listen:

• Nuevo León statewide — 41 stations, including signals from beyond the metro area.
• Chihuahua — 54 stations from the neighboring state to the northwest, with its own rich regional tradition.
• Coahuila and the border region — for norteño and border radio flavors, also try Sonora, with 41 stations.
• Guadalajara — 59 stations from Mexico's second-biggest radio market, and the home base of the KY format now heard on 104.5 in Monterrey. The wider Jalisco region adds 54 more.
• Mexico City — 350 stations, the largest market in the Spanish-speaking world, where many Monterrey formats (Los40, El Heraldo Radio, Exa) originate.
• Sinaloa — 67 stations, the cradle of banda music, a natural companion to Monterrey's banda programming.
• Veracruz — 44 stations for tropical music lovers, son jarocho, and more.

A fun exercise: compare how the same genre sounds in different cities. Banda on 93.3 in Monterrey has a different feel than banda from Sinaloa. Romantic ballads on Génesis 98.1 versus La Gran AW reflect each station's history and audience.

A City That Never Stopped Broadcasting

What emerges from these station histories is a city where radio is treated seriously — bought, sold, relaunched, migrated from AM to FM, renamed again and again, but never abandoned. Monterrey listeners are loyal, opinionated, and quick to notice when a format changes, which is why stations here experiment so boldly, whether it's looping one Maroon 5 song for two days or turning a cumbia station into a dance station and back again.

For the Monterrey diaspora in the US, that living dial is a direct line home. Whether you want the cumbias your tía played at every party, the baladas your parents fell in love to, or live sports arguments about Rayados and Tigres, the signal is right there — no antenna required, just an internet connection and a little bit of longing for the Cerro de la Silla.