Radio stations from San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí

If you grew up in San Luis Potosí, or your parents did, the sound of the city has a specific shape: a powerful AM signal that reaches half the country, a handful of FM frequencies that have changed names more times than you can count, and a mix of grupera, romantic ballads, rock and Top 40 that feels different from what you get in Mexico City or Monterrey. Today, all 31 of the city's stations stream live, so you can listen from anywhere in the US. Here is how the radio of San Luis Potosí came to be, what to listen to now, and how to tune in.

A City Built on Radio

The first station: XECZ, 1934

Radio in San Luis Potosí starts with XECZ-AM, which began broadcasting in 1934 and received its definitive concession in 1944, making it the first station to operate in the city. Owned by Zeferino Zaragoza Jiménez, it transmitted on 1430 kHz and later moved to 960. In 1950 the station passed to Radiodifusoras Mexicanas, S.A., and in 1999, under GAPE, it was sold to OEM.

That original frequency is still alive today. In 2011, XECZ was selected to migrate to FM, and LA LUPE 104.9 began broadcasting on 104.9 FM on April 5, 2012. When ABC Radio stopped operating in San Luis Potosí on December 1, 2020, Multimedios Radio took over the station with the Spanish-language adult hits format La Lupe. So the oldest signal in the city now plays a mix of Spanish favorites — a nice full-circle for a frequency that has seen ninety years of potosino radio.

The founder who built two stations

Ceferino Z. Jiménez, the man behind XECZ, was also the original concessionaire of XEPO-AM, which received its license for 1310 kHz in 1947. XEPO was later sold to Radio Ondas Populares, S.A., and in 1987 it moved to 1100 kHz and was sold to Grupo ACIR. Under ACIR it cycled through formats — Radio Voz, Radio ACIR, Bonita, Inolvidable — before being sold in 2005 to Controladora de Medios (today GlobalMedia), which affiliated it with Imagen Radio. In November 2010, XEPO moved to FM as 103.1, and today you can hear it as IMAGEN RADIO 103.1, relaying the Mexico City talk programming of XEDA-FM.

The giant: XEWA 540, the most powerful AM in Mexico

Few stations in North America can match XEWA-AM. It received its concession on December 2, 1948, as part of a series of repeaters of the legendary XEW 900 in Mexico City, and began transmitting on 540 kHz with 150,000 watts — a power level it maintains to this day, making it the most powerful AM station in the country. Its signal, beamed from Soledad de Graciano Sánchez with a directional daytime antenna, blankets a huge portion of northern and central Mexico. Many potosinos who migrated north in the 1980s and 90s probably picked up 540 on car radios in Texas before the internet existed.

The station's format history is a lesson in Mexican radio: the grupera Súper Estelar WA in 1988 (programmed from Monterrey and a pioneer of that genre nationally), then Ke Buena, then a return to repeating XEW as Cadena W Azul y Plata and later W Radio. Since 2012, the format has been Los 40, the Top 40 mix of Spanish and English hits. You can hear it today as LOS40 103.9 on FM and as LOS40 540 on AM — the AM signal still can't be turned off until full radio coverage exists across its footprint.

FM arrives: 96.1 and 96.9, two days apart

FM came to San Luis Potosí in September 1971, and it came twice. XHOB-FM received its concession on September 20, 1971, and XHOD-FM on September 22 — though XHOD is considered the state's first FM station. XHOB is today's FACTOR 96.1, owned by MG Radio with a pop format. It passed through Centri Radio in 1982 and Radiocomunicación Enfocada in 1992 before landing where it is now.

Its rival two days younger has had the more dramatic life. XHOD began as "OD 96.9, Otra Dimensión en Radio," owned by María Estela Martínez. Manager Elías Navarro Martínez affiliated it with MVS Radio, and in 1978 it became FM Globo with a romantic format. In 1999 that changed to "Globo FM 96.9" with up to 70 percent English-language rock and pop, and in January 2000 it flipped to the new Exa FM format. When MVS's San Luis Potosí stations went to GlobalMedia in November 2009, Exa FM moved to another frequency in 2016, and XHOD went through a short-lived rock format (RMX from Grupo Imagen, barely 18 months), then "Vox Love Station" romantic programming in 2018, a brief and rocky marriage with El Heraldo Radio content in 2021, and finally, in September 2022, the adult contemporary format it carries now. All that history lives inside VOX FM Radio Hits 96.9.

Stereorey, ACIR and the FM generation of the late 1970s

XHPM-FM signed on August 1, 1977 — a full year before its concession was formally granted in August 1978. It belonged to Joaquín Vargas Gómez, founder of MVS Radio, and carried the elegant instrumental-and-soft-pop Stereorey format for 25 years. When Stereorey was replaced nationally by Best FM in 2002, XHPM held on as the last Best FM station, then flipped to grupera La Mejor in 2007. In a twist unique to this city, GlobalMedia actually brought back the Stereorey name and format in 2009 — the only place in Mexico where that happened. After stops as FM Globo and "Hundred FM," it became WFM in 2017 and finally full W Radio in 2020. Today it's 100.1 W Radio, the city's main talk station.

Other FM concessions followed in a cluster: Alfonso Torre López received XHTL in February 1973, ACIR founder Francisco Ibarra López got XHQK in October 1977, and Carlos de la Peña y Quintero received XHNB in January 1979. Those three frequencies are still on air as MAS FM 99.3, RETRO 98.5 and 95.3 Waöh — though all three changed hands and names repeatedly. In February 2020, ACIR's Mix and La Comadre formats swapped frequencies in the city; by late 2021 ACIR had exited its lease on XHTL, and MG Radio relaunched it as Más FM in January 2022, reviving a brand it had used on 90.9 between 2013 and 2016. In May 2026, ACIR pulled its formats from the stations it operated in the market entirely, opening yet another chapter.

Rock, bankruptcy and Candela

The AM band had its own stories. XEEQ-AM 760, concessioned in April 1964 to Radio Potosina, S.A., broadcast as "La Pantera" with a rock format. When Radiorama hit corporate trouble in the mid-90s, XEEQ left the group, went bankrupt and sat dark for two years. It returned as XERASA-AM 750 with more power, then flipped to the grupera Candela brand in 2006, and in 2010 the FM counterpart signed on. That's today's CANDELA 94.1, the city's home for regional Mexican music on Cadena RASA.

Its romantic counterpart, ROMÁNTICA 93.1, has an equally tangled past: XEEI-AM signed on in 1985 as the first Radiorama affiliate in the city, became "La Mexicana," then "Fiesta Mexicana," then "Romántica 10-70," passed through MG Radio and Radio S.A. hands, carried the Ke Buena format, and finally got its FM signal on December 29, 2010. After a brief experiment with rock and alternative as "Antena Radio," romantic music returned for good in October 2011.

The new kid: a radio station from a science company

Not every station has a century of history. 101.3 Magnética FM signed on March 12, 2005, owned by the Fundación Nikola Tesla, part of Grupo AWD — a San Luis Potosí company that also builds audio processors and cathodic protection systems. In May 2022, the station moved to 101.3 MHz to clear the 106–108 range for community and indigenous stations. It's a good reminder that potosino radio is still growing.

What to Listen to Today

The city's 31 live stations break down by genre, and the numbers tell you a lot about local taste:

• Pop Latino and hits — 18 stations, the biggest category by far
• Rock en Español — 17 stations, remarkably strong for a mid-sized city
• Clásicos y retro — 10 stations
• Regional Mexicano — 7 stations
• Noticias y hablada — 6 stations
• Tropical, románticas y baladas and deportes — smaller but loyal audiences

A few practical picks:

For music

• EXA FM 102.1 — the current home of the Exa FM hit format in the city, Spanish and English pop.
• FACTOR 96.1 and VOX FM 96.9 — the two 1971 veterans, now competing in pop and adult contemporary.
• RETRO 98.5 — English-language adult hits, great if you grew up with your parents' mixtape era.
• ROMÁNTICA 93.1 — ballads, for the pure abuelita-approved mood.
• CANDELA 94.1 and 90.9 La Mejor — banda, norteño and grupera.
• 103.9 LOS40 — the Top 40 of the moment.

For news and talk

• 100.1 W Radio and Imagen Radio 103.1 — national talk, news and interviews relayed from Mexico City, ideal for morning coffee in US time zones since Mexican morning shows start very early.

How to Listen from the US

Every station in the San Luis Potosí catalog streams live, so no antenna or 150,000-watt AM signal required. A few tips:

• Time difference. San Luis Potosí is in Central Time (Zona Centro), same as Chicago and Dallas, one hour ahead of Denver, two ahead of Los Angeles. This works in your favor for talk radio: a 6 a.m. potosino newscast airs at 4 a.m. in California, and evening drive-time music shows from home play during your afternoon.
• Best hours for music. Music stations like Factor, VOX and Los 40 are essentially 24-hour; local personality shows cluster in Mexican morning and afternoon drive, which lands mid-morning to mid-afternoon in US Central.
• Finding your station. Browse the full list of 31 stations for the city, or search by genre using the links above if you know you want rock but don't remember the frequency. Frequency names in the catalog appear in several variations, so if you remember a station as "96.1 Factor" rather than "FACTOR 96.1," both will get you there.

Explore Beyond San Luis Potosí

If you're expanding your listening, these nearby and regional markets stream too:

• Ciudad de México — 350 stations, the biggest selection in the catalog.
• Monterrey, Nuevo León — 52 stations; fitting, given Monterrey's Multimedios programmed XEWA's historic grupera era.
• Guadalajara, Jalisco — 59 stations.
• Sinaloa — 67 stations, the largest state catalog outside the capital.
• Veracruz — 44 stations, and a very different tropical sound.

Whether you left San Luis Potosí last year or your family left three generations ago, the dial is still there — XEWA's legacy on 540 and 103.9, a 1934 frequency now playing La Lupe, and a science company's station at 101.3. Put on Candela for the afternoon, Romántica for dinner, and the city doesn't feel so far away.