XHFO-FM is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

on 92.1 MHz in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. The station is owned by Grupo Siete and carries the Radio Disney pop format.

History

XHFO received its initial concession on November 26, 1964. It was owned by Raymundo Romero Damian. XHFO signed on in 1979 as "Radio Triunfadora", being renamed to "Crystal FM" in 1982, with a contemporary Spanish music format. In 1993, as

grupera Grupera (also known as Grupero or Onda Grupera) is a genre of Regional Mexican music. It reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s, especially in rural areas. The music has roots in the rock groups of the 1960s, but today generally consis ...

music began to gain success, the station was lent to

Grupo Radio Centro Grupo Radio Centro is a Mexico City-based owner and operator of radio stations. It owns 30 radio stations in Mexico and the United States, including 8 radio stations in Mexico City. History Radio Centro's origins date to 1946, when Francisco Agu ...

in exchange for

XEEST-AM XEEST-AM is a radio station on 1440 AM in Mexico City. The station airs Christian programming under the name "Ondas de Vida". History XELZ-AM received its first concession on December 1, 1942, to María Cardona de Zetina. For most of its history ...

in a relationship that would last 26 years. GRC promptly changed the name and format of XHFO to "Sonido Z" with grupera and regional Mexican music. In 1996 it was renamed "La Z". On December 7, 1998, a format swap occurred between XHFO and

XEQR-FM XEQR-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Located on 107.3 MHz, XEQR-FM is owned by Grupo Radio Centro Grupo Radio Centro is a Mexico City-based owner and operator of radio stations. It owns 30 radio stations in Mexico and the United Stat ...

, with XHFO adopting the English classic hits format "Universal Stereo" that had begun in 1974, whereas "La Z" moved to XEQR. The swap was due to both formats being in close proximity to competitor stations with almost the same formats (

XEQ-FM XEQ-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Broadcasting on 92.9 FM, XEQ-FM broadcasts grupera music under the name "La Ke Buena" and is the flagship of a network of stations with the same branding and format. The programming on XEQ-FM is also sim ...

and

XHDFM-FM XHDFM-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Broadcasting on 106.5 MHz, XHDFM-FM is owned by Grupo ACIR and broadcasts contemporary music in English from the 1980s to the present under the name 106.5 MIX. History The concession for 106.5 MHz in ...

), as well as to keep XHFO's operation in GRC's hands, since Grupo Siete tried to reclaim it after "La Z" had become Mexico City's top-rated station. On May 16, 2016, XHFO and XHRED 88.1 swapped formats. This time, the swap was due to technical considerations involving GRC's contract to operate XHFO, in order to preserve the continuity of the more profitable "Universal" format. Later that year, GRC and Grupo Siete extended the XHFO operating contract through November 30, 2020. After a reorganization of GRC's AM stations in 2017, most talk programs from

XERED-AM XERED-AM is a radio station in Mexico City. Located on 1110 kHz, XERED-AM is owned by Grupo Radio Centro. 1110 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency. History The concession history for XERED-AM begins with XEFO, a radio station laun ...

moved to XHFO, limiting music to overnight hours. Following yet another programming change on November 20, said programming was dropped entirely. On January 14, 2019,

XERC-FM XERC-FM is a radio station in Mexico City. Located on 97.7 MHz, XERC-FM is owned by MVS Radio and airs its grupera format "La Mejor FM". History Radio Hits and Stereo 97 7 XERC-FM signed on in 1974, more than a decade after receiving its c ...

flipped to talk as Radio Centro 97.7, taking with it most Radio Red programs and its format. XHFO became the pop station that XERC-FM had previously been, retaining the Red FM name and logo.

End of Grupo Radio Centro operation and relaunch as XFM

On June 25, 2019, GRC and Grupo Siete jointly announced the end of the former's agreement to operate the station, effective July 31. The new station, known as XFM 92.1, carried the Central FM newscast hosted by

Pedro Ferriz de Con Pedro Ferriz de Con (born December 12, 1950) is a Mexican radio and TV news anchor. During the 1990s, he worked for the Multivision Network. In January 2000, he left MVS and went to Grupo Imagen, where he hosted the morning newscast on XEDA-FM ...

in mornings and other news programs, as well as an English-language classic hits format aimed at

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s a ...

listeners.

Shutdown of XFM and relaunch as Radio Disney

January 31, 2020, saw an abrupt and unexpected end to XFM, which played out in phases. That morning, Grupo Siete announced that because of a "failure to fulfill contractual obligations", Central FM news, provided by Central FM Equilibrio, S.A. de C.V., would no longer be heard on XFM as of February 1. By the end of the day, the company had also announced that XFM would itself give way to a new format to be announced.Tweet from Grupo Siete, January 31, 2020, 8:32pm CT
/ref> At midnight on February 1, the station flipped to an unbranded Top 40 CHR format, however, XFM remained temporarily available as an online stream. On February 17, XHFO began to identify itself as Radio Disney with a "coming soon" message, a format that had previously aired on

XHPOP-FM XHPOP-FM is a radio station on 99.3 FM in Mexico City. The station is owned by Grupo ACIR and airs the company's Match format of contemporary hit radio in English. History After initially being authorized as XEN-FM, a counterpart to XEN-AM ...

from Grupo ACIR, which was replaced by Match FM in January 2020, following Disney's breaking up ties with ACIR in 2019. The format formally began on March 30.

References

{{coord, 19.3944, N, 99.1742, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:MX, display=title Radio stations in Mexico City