Radio stations from Querétaro, Querétaro

Querétaro holds a special place in Mexican radio. It is a mid-sized city with a dial that punches well above its weight, home to one of the country's first commercial FM stations and a local radio scene shaped by a handful of families and regional groups that have traded stations, formats and frequencies for decades. For the queretano living in the United States, tuning in from afar is one of the easiest ways to keep the city close.

Right now our catalog carries 15 live stations from Querétaro, Querétaro, and this guide walks you through where they came from, which ones to know today, what you'll hear on the dial, and how to listen from the US without missing your favorite show.

A Dial Built Over Decades

The story of Querétaro radio is best told through its stations, because their histories connect to each other in surprising ways. Formats migrated from one frequency to another, owners changed hands, and family groups grew into regional powers.

Radio Hits and the Caballero Family

The story begins in the mid-1960s, when AM radio was still king. A concession was granted in November 1964, and in 1966 a new station signed on as "Radio Hits" on 1490 AM, affiliated with the then-new Grupo ACIR. It was the fourth station in the city, with a varied music format and one of Querétaro's first radio newscasts.

That station, XEXE-AM 1490, would change identities many times over the following decades. After a brief run as Radio Capital in the late 1970s, ACIR returned with 24-hour broadcasts. In 1989 the station went independent, moved to new facilities and rebranded as "Radio Hit 1490 AM," famous for live broadcasts of lucha libre from the Arena Querétaro. It moved to 1090 AM in the mid-1990s with a grupero format, then became the local Radio Fórmula affiliate, and finally landed on the FM band in 2011.

Today that signal is LA MEJOR FM 92.7, carrying MVS Radio's national regional Mexican format since 2020. That last change is part of a pattern you'll see again and again in Querétaro: stations with long, layered AM histories that eventually settled into national FM brands.

The First FM in Town

In June 1980, Querétaro got its first commercial FM station: XHOE, known then as Estéreo Mundo. Its owner later became Multimundo, and the station went through name changes including Planeta and Kiss FM before adopting MVS's Exa pop format in 2008.

That station is today's EXA FM 95.5, one of the most-streamed pop stations from the city in our directory. When Multimundo sold most of its stations to Grupo Imagen in 2007, XHOE was the one it kept.

The AM-to-FM Migrations of the 1980s and 1990s

The late 1980s brought a wave of new concessions that would define the modern dial:

• In January 1988, STEREO CRISTAL 101.1 received its concession. Operated by ACIR for most of its history, it cycled through formats including regional Mexican as "Bonita 101.1" and the romantic Amor format, before being relaunched as Stereo Cristal under Corporación Bajío Comunicaciones in 2017.
• In May 1988, the concession for XEKH-AM 1020 was granted. It signed on that August as "Radio Centro 1020," marking the arrival of what would become the third major radio group operating in Querétaro. That station is today TOP MUSIC 91.7, owned by Respuesta Radiofónica and transmitting pop from an antenna on the Cerro del Tambor.
• In October 1991, the concession for XHQRT was granted, the station that became 91 DAT 90.9. Also owned by Respuesta Radiofónica, it broadcasts in HD from the Cerro de la Bandera, giving it coverage across the metropolitan area, San Juan del Río, and even parts of Guanajuato and Michoacán.
• In November 1994, the concession for XHQTO was granted. Sold to ACIR in 1998, it lived through several identities: Azul 97, then Mix FM, then the classic-hits Radio Felicidad, then Amor. In late 2022, ACIR relaunched it as MATCH 97.9, its hot adult contemporary format in English.

Frequencies That Trade Formats

One of the most interesting things about Querétaro radio is how formats hop between frequencies. When Amor left 101.1 in 2017, it moved to 97.9, which in turn had been Mix FM, which later moved again. The Mix format eventually landed on XHGV-FM, today's MIX 106.5. That station has its own deep history: it began as XEGV-AM 1120, a 500-watt daytimer licensed in 1977 and originally broadcasting from El Pueblito, in the municipality of Villa Corregidora. It migrated to FM in 2011 and ended up in ACIR's hands.

And Querétaro radio isn't strictly limited to Querétaro. RADAR 107.5 is licensed to Cortázar, Guanajuato, where it signed on in March 1986 as the first FM station in Celaya. In 2011 its owner, Corporación Bajío Comunicaciones, changed its call sign to XHQRO to signal its ambitions in the Querétaro market, and today it runs studios and live music events in Querétaro while its transmitter remains on a hill in Guanajuato.

The Stations to Know Today

Out of the 15 stations streaming live from Querétaro, these are the ones our listeners tune into most:

• 91 DAT and 91 DAT 90.9 — the flagship pop station of Respuesta Radiofónica, consistently the most listened-to in our catalog
• TOP MUSIC 91.7 — pop from the same group, a sibling signal to 91 DAT
• MATCH 97.9 — hot adult contemporary in English, ACIR's bet for listeners who like Anglo hits
• W RADIO 107.9 — the local outlet of the national W Radio network, strong for news and talk
• MIX 106.5 — adult hits under the Mix brand
• RADAR 107.5 — pop with a Guanajuato signal and Querétaro studios
• LA MEJOR FM 92.7 — regional Mexican and grupero
• EXA FM 95.5 — youth-oriented pop from MVS
• STEREO CRISTAL 101.1 — classic Spanish-language hits

Some stations appear under more than one name in the catalog — for example, 107.9 W Radio and W RADIO 107.9 are the same signal, as are 106.5 Mix and MIX 106.5, or 90.9 91 DAT and 91 DAT. If one link doesn't load, try its twin.

What You'll Hear: Genres on the Querétaro Dial

Querétaro leans pop, but there's real variety across 15 stations. Here's how the catalog breaks down:

• Pop Latino and hits: 11 stations, the heart of the dial. This includes 91 DAT, Top Music, Exa, Radar and Mix.
• Rock en español: 7 stations — more than most cities this size, and a reflection of Querétaro's strong rock scene. Browse them all under Rock en Español.
• News and talk: 3 stations, led by W Radio. See Noticias.
• Clásicos y retro: 3 stations, including Stereo Cristal — explore the classics.
• Regional Mexicano: 2 stations — La Mejor among them. Browse Regional Mexicano.
• Banda: 2 stations — Banda.
• Deportes: 2 stations — Deportes.
• Románticas y baladas: 1 station — Romántica.

If your taste runs to pop, Querétaro is honestly one of the best dials in Mexico for streaming. If you want banda or sports talk, you may want to supplement with stations from neighboring states.

How to Listen from the US

The Time Difference

Querétaro observes Central Time in Mexico, which lines up neatly with the US Central Zone for most of the year. A quick rule of thumb:

• If you're in US Central Time (Chicago, Dallas, Houston), Querétaro local time is usually the same as yours.
• If you're in US Eastern (New York, Florida), Querétaro is one hour behind.
• If you're in US Pacific (California), Querétaro is two hours ahead.
• If you're in US Mountain (Denver, Phoenix), expect roughly one hour ahead, though Mexico and the US no longer change clocks on exactly the same schedule, so check the current offset around the daylight-saving transitions in spring and fall.

This matters most for talk and news. W Radio's morning shows, for example, air early in Mexico: a listener in California catching breakfast radio in Querétaro is tuning in around 5 or 6 in the morning local Pacific time. Music stations like 91 DAT or Exa work on any schedule.

Practical Tips

• Morning (Querétaro time): news and talk on W Radio 107.9, plus the big morning shows on the pop stations.
• Afternoon drive: request hours and personality shows on 91 DAT and Top Music — this is when local radio feels most alive.
• Evening and night: romantic and classic programming tends to expand; Stereo Cristal and Mix are good wind-down choices.
• Weekends: sports and regional Mexican programming, including La Mejor's grupero blocks, plus live event broadcasts.
• Stream through the station pages on Radio en Vivo — no app downloads or FM antenna needed, and every station in the Querétaro listing plays directly in your browser.

A small tip for second-generation listeners: stations like Match 97.9 broadcast in English, which makes them a gentle entry point if you want to feel connected to the city while you build your Spanish radio vocabulary. Meanwhile, La Mejor and the news stations will keep your ear sharp.

Beyond Querétaro: Nearby Cities to Explore

Part of the fun of streaming is hopping between dials. If you've exhausted Querétaro's 15 stations, these regions have deep catalogs:

• Guadalajara, Jalisco — 59 stations, and the natural next stop if you love banda and regional Mexican, since Jalisco is the heartland of that sound.
• Ciudad de México — 350 stations, the largest dial in the country. Every national format and network originates here, including W Radio and Exa's flagship programming.
• Monterrey, Nuevo León — 52 stations with a distinctive norteño flavor.
• Sinaloa — 67 stations, essential for banda fans.
• Veracruz — 44 stations with a tropical and son jarocho character all its own.
• Chihuahua — 54 stations from the north.
• The full state listings for Jalisco (54 stations) and Nuevo León (41 stations), or everything at México.

Finding Your Station Fast

With 15 stations and some listed under two names, here's the quickest way to navigate:

1. Start from the Querétaro section under Mexico and filter by city.
2. Know the frequency? That's usually the fastest identifier — 90.9 is 91 DAT, 91.7 is Top Music, 92.7 is La Mejor, 95.5 is Exa, 97.9 is Match, 101.1 is Stereo Cristal, 106.5 is Mix, 107.5 is Radar, 107.9 is W Radio.
3. Prefer browsing by mood? Use the genre pages: Pop Latino for the biggest selection, Clásicos for the nostalgia fix, Deportes for game day.

Whether you left Querétaro last year or your family left decades ago, the dial hasn't stopped evolving — the same frequencies that once carried lucha libre from the Arena Querétaro and "Radio Hits" on 1490 AM now stream grupero, pop and morning news straight to your phone. Press play, and the city is right there.