Radio stations from Veracruz, Veracruz

Veracruz is one of Mexico's great port cities, and its radio dial tells the story of the country itself: from humble AM transmitters in the 1940s, through powerful regional family empires, to the national FM brands you hear today. If you're jarocho by birth or by heart and living in the US, the good news is that the city's stations stream live — and our catalog lists 22 stations broadcasting from Veracruz, Veracruz, all available through the Veracruz state page.

This guide walks through the real history behind the dial, the stations worth knowing today, what genres dominate the port, and the practical details of listening from el norte.

The Story of Veracruz Radio, Told Through Its Stations

The 1940s: XEHV and XELL take to the air

Radio in Veracruz begins on April 2, 1940, when XEHV-AM 1310 signed on with 1,000 watts under owner Juan A. Palavicini. That station is the ancestor of today's 94.1 La Fiera, Grupo Pazos Radio's Regional Mexican outlet. Between 1954 and 1966 it belonged to Miguel Núñez Carrillo, and by the 1990s it was running 2,500 watts by day. In 2010, XEHV was authorized to migrate from AM to FM — the fate of nearly every station on this list.

Just six years later, on August 23, 1946, XELL-AM 1430 received its first concession and hit the air on October 20 of that year, owned by Dolores G. Ferreira with a modest 250 watts. XELL changed hands repeatedly — sold to Carlos Ferráez Matos in March 1951, then to Julio César Orozco y García two years later — and by the 1960s was broadcasting with 5,000 daytime watts. Esperanza Navarro de Núñez acquired it in 1967 and transferred it to Radio Jarocha in 1968. Power dipped to 500 watts in the 1980s before climbing back to 5,000 by day and 1,000 by night in the 2000s. Known over the decades as Radio Onda on 1430 AM and later as Latido on 90.1 FM, it survives today as FUSIÓN 90.1, mixing classic and modern pop in Spanish and English, rock, classic hits, hip-hop, romantic music, reggaetón and urbano under one roof.

The 1950s and 1960s: the Ferráez empire and XEWB

Few names loom as large in Veracruz broadcasting as Carlos Ferráez Matos. After buying XELL in 1951, his growing broadcast empire also reached XEFM-AM 1010 — a station whose concession dates to 1963 and was formally granted to José L. Bravo — and even the early TV station XHFM-TV channel 2, one of the first affiliates of Televisión Independiente de México. That AM 1010 signal eventually migrated to FM in the late 2000s, becoming the first station to use the XHFM call letters since Mexico's very first FM station, XHFM 94.1 in Mexico City (today's XEJP-FM 93.7), which operated from 1952 to 1957. After a stint as an electronic-music format called "One FM" (dropped March 31, 2022), it relaunched on May 1, 2022 as FIESTA 94.9, a Spanish-language urban music station.

Ferráez also received the concession for XEQT-AM 1600 on July 30, 1969 — and the station was on the air just two days later as La Pantera. An FM companion was authorized in November 1994, the AM signal later moved to 800 kHz, and the AM transmitter was finally shut off on May 12, 2022. Today the station lives on as 106.9 La Poderosa, jointly owned by Grupo Radiorama (the Pérez family) and the Ferráez family's Avanradio.

The 1950s also brought a different kind of station: XEWB-AM, concession granted January 25, 1956 to Radio Golfo, S.A., originally on 760 kHz with 5 kW by day and 1 kW at night. By the 1960s it had moved to 900 AM and become a relay of the legendary XEW-AM from Mexico City — one of Mexico's most powerful stations — running 50,000 watts by day, a function it shared with the two XEWA-AM stations on 540 kHz in Monterrey and San Luis Potosí. By the 1980s it ran 50,000 watts around the clock with a directional night pattern, before dropping to 10 kW overnight in the 2000s. The migration to FM forced XEWB to reinvent itself as a local station primarily serving central Veracruz, and it adopted the Los 40 format. Today it's LOS40 98.9, owned by Radiópolis.

The 1970s: the FM generation arrives

The 1970s seeded the modern FM dial. XHTS-FM, today's YA! FM 102.9, received its concession on June 13, 1972 under Vicente Capillo Rocha with 28 kW. Sold to Radio Tipo in 1983, it was later picked up by Radio Núcleo Oro — today's Grupo Pazos Radio — and by May 2002 it had evolved from "Stereo Oro" into the pop station Ya! FM.

Four years later, in 1976, XHRN-FM received its concession (July 20) under Romeo Luis Rascón Delgado, transmitting 10 kW. Sold in October 1993 to Frecuencia Modulada Tropical, which boosted power to nearly 40 kW, the station spent 2008 to 2011 as a Ke Buena franchise from Televisa Radio before returning to its previous identity in September 2011. In 2015, its owner's group split into two family companies, and XHRN landed with Radio Networks — which also runs Más Latina-branded stations in Córdoba (XHFTI-FM) and Coatzacoalcos (XHTD-FM). It was authorized for HD Radio that same year. Today it's MÁS LATINA 96.5, transmitting from a high-power tower in Santiago Tuxtla with a lower-power signal in the city itself — which is why it reaches so much of the region.

Finally, XHPS-FM — today's EXA FM 93.3 — received its concession on November 9, 1977, founded by Alberto Pérez Alfaro. An MVS Radio concessionaire bought it in 1986, running it as the romantic FM Globo format, then converting it to pop as Pulsar FM in 1999 and finally to Exa FM in 2000 — the name it has kept ever since.

The thread that connects them all

Read together, these stories share a pattern: family founders, AM roots, migrating signals, and consolidation into a handful of local groups — Pazos Radio, Radio Networks, Radiorama, Avanradio, MVS, Radiópolis. That's why the Veracruz dial today feels both local and national at once, with regional institutions and big-city formats side by side. It also explains why several stations you hear in the port have sisters in Córdoba and Coatzacoalcos: the same families built radio across the whole state.

The Stations to Know Today

Out of the 22 stations streaming from the city, these are the most-listened-to and a good starting point:

• EXA FM 93.3 — national pop hits from MVS.
• MÁS LATINA 96.5 — the powerhouse regional signal, with its main transmitter in Santiago Tuxtla.
• LA FIERA 94.1 — Regional Mexican from the oldest call sign in the city.
• FIESTA 94.9 — urban and reggaetón, the newest identity on the list.
• FUSIÓN 90.1 — the eclectic one: everything from classic rock to romántica.
• YA! FM 102.9 — pop from Grupo Pazos Radio.
• LOS40 98.9 — chart pop from the Los 40 network.
• BELLA MÚSICA 90.9 — ballads and classics.
• Soy FM and +Azul Radio — more variety across the dial.
• +Radio Bemba — for listeners who like their dial with sabor.

A few notes on which station fits which moment:

• For the commute or the gym: FIESTA 94.9 for urban and reggaetón, or EXA FM 93.3 if you want the big national pop hits.
• For cooking on Sunday: LA FIERA for banda and norteño, or 94.1 La Fiera — both point to the same Regional Mexican tradition rooted in XEHV.
• For background music while working: BELLA MÚSICA 90.9 keeps things calm with ballads.
• For when abuela is over: MÁS LATINA 96.5 — tropical and contemporary, the classic port-city sound that crosses generations.

What Veracruz Listens To, by Genre

The genre breakdown in the catalog paints a clear picture of the port. Pop and rock en español rule, but tropical sounds — a Veracruz trademark — have a real presence:

• Rock en Español — 10 stations in the city
• Pop Latino y Éxitos — 10 stations
• Noticias y Hablada — 9 stations
• Tropical — 5 stations
• Clásicos y Retro — 4 stations
• Regional Mexicano — 3 stations
• Banda — 3 stations
• Salsa — 2 stations

The tropical and salsa numbers reflect the city's Afro-Caribbean musical heritage — son jarocho, danzón, and the Cuban-influenced sounds that have always traveled easily through this port. If that's what you're missing from home, the tropical and salsa pages are where to look first.

A practical way to use these numbers: if you know exactly what mood you're in, the genre page gathers every Veracruz station playing that style in one place, so you can hop between signals without hunting through the full list. If you're building a routine — say, tropical in the morning, news at midday — bookmark the individual station pages instead.

How to Listen from the US

Everything is simpler than in the old shortwave days. Every station page in our catalog carries a live stream you can play from any browser — no app, no antenna, no account. Here's how to make it work well:

The time difference, explained

Veracruz is in Central Time. That means:

• US Central Time (Chicago, Houston, Dallas): same clock as Veracruz, essentially year-round. This is the easiest scenario — whatever is on the air in the port right now is what you hear. Much of the Mexican-American population in Texas and the Midwest sits in this zone.
• US Eastern Time (New York, Miami): you're one hour ahead of Veracruz most of the year. Both countries shift for daylight saving, but on different dates, so for a couple of weeks in spring and fall the gap can briefly close or widen — double-check during those windows.
• US Mountain Time (Denver, Phoenix): Veracruz is one hour ahead of Denver, and two hours ahead of Phoenix for most of the year, since Arizona doesn't change its clocks.
• US Pacific Time (Los Angeles, San Francisco): Veracruz is two hours ahead most of the year.

Matching programming to your schedule

• Morning shows start early. Mexican talk and music programs often begin by 6 or 7 a.m. Veracruz time — which is 4 or 5 a.m. in California. West Coast listeners should save the breakfast shows for weekends and lean on music programming on weekdays.
• Drive time works in your favor from the East Coast. Veracruz afternoon drive (4 to 7 p.m. local) lands at 5 to 8 p.m. Eastern — perfect for the evening commute home.
• Night owls get live radio. If you're up late in California, you're catching Veracruz morning radio in real time.

Practical tips

• News stations are your lifeline during events. With 9 talk/news stations in the city, there's always someone covering weather (hurricane season matters in Veracruz), local politics, and port news. If family is in the state, a news station is worth bookmarking before you need it.
• Search by genre, not just by city. If you only care about, say, tropical music, the genre pages above gather every Veracruz station playing it in one place.
• Streams are live, not on demand. You're hearing the same broadcast as listeners in the port — same commercials, same time checks, same everything. That's the point.
• Mobile data is fine. Radio streams use far less bandwidth than video, so listening on your commute won't blow through your plan the way streaming TV does.

Beyond the City: Exploring Veracruz State and Mexico

The city's 22 stations are just part of the picture. The whole state of Veracruz has 44 stations in the catalog on the Veracruz state page — including the nearby markets of Córdoba and Coatzacoalcos, which, as the Más Latina story shows, share owners and sometimes programming with the port. If you have family inland rather than on the coast, those markets may actually carry the stations your relatives grew up with.

And if you want to wander the national dial:

• Mexico City — 350 stations, the biggest dial in the country, and the home of the XEW signal that XEWB once relayed.
• Sinaloa — 67 stations, banda country.
• Guadalajara, Jalisco — 59 stations, plus another 54 across Jalisco state.
• Chihuahua — 54 stations.
• Monterrey, Nuevo León — 52 stations, norteño territory, with 41 more across Nuevo León.
• Or browse everything with all of Mexico.

Why It Matters

Radio travels better than almost anything else from home. A Veracruz station streaming into a kitchen in Houston or Chicago brings the same music, the same commercials for local businesses, the same announcer banter your parents or grandparents grew up with on XEHV and XELL. For second-generation listeners, it's also one of the easiest ways to keep your ear tuned to the port's Spanish — the rhythm, the humor, and the local references you can't get from a playlist.

Open the Veracruz station list, pick a station, and let the port play.