XHEWA-FM/XEWA-AM are

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

s in San Luis Potosí City,

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. XEWA broadcasts on

540 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 540 kHz: 540 AM is a Canadian and Mexican clear-channel frequency. CBK, Watrous-Regina, Saskatchewan, and XEWA San Luis Potosí, Mexico, share Class A status on 540 kHz. Becaus ...

and is a Class A station. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is in

Soledad de Graciano Sánchez Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, formerly Soledad Diez Gutiérrez, is the second-largest city of the state of San Luis Potosí in Mexico. It lies adjacent to the east side of the state's capital city of San Luis Potosí in the west-central part of t ...

. XEWA is one of the highest powered radio stations in North America, broadcasting at 150,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

by day and a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining t ...

at night.

is a Mexican and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

clear-channel A clear-channel station is a North American AM broadcasting, AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from Interference (communication), interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classifi ...

frequency. XHEWA broadcasts on 103.9 FM, with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 25,000 watts. Its

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

is also in Soledad de Graciano Sánchez. The two stations are owned by

Radiópolis Radiópolis (incorporated as Sistemas Radiópolis, S.A. de C.V.) is a Mexican radio broadcast company that owns AM radio, AM and FM radio stations in Mexico and syndicates music and talk formats. It is the former radio division of Televisa, which ...

. They carry a Top 40 (CHR)

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

, playing both

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

hits, known as "Los 40."

History

XEWA received its concession on December 2, 1948, one of a string of repeaters of

XEW-AM XEW-AM (900 kHz) and XEW-FM (96.9 MHz) are commercial radio stations in Mexico City, Mexico, simulcasting a news/talk radio format branded as ''W Radio''. XEW serves as the flagship for other "W Radio" stations around Mexico that carry some or ...

900 Mexico City authorized in the late 1940s. XEWA began operations on the frequency of 540 kHz with 150,000 watts of power — still its current levels, making it the most powerful AM radio station in the country. In May 1961, a second XEWA-AM was licensed to operate in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

, in order to provide daytime XEW service and an improved nighttime signal there. It operates with 1,500 watts during the day and 1,000 watts night. On March 16, 1988, XEWA struck out on its own with a

grupera Grupera (also known as Grupero or Onda Grupera) is a subgenre of regional Mexican music. It reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s, especially in rural areas. Grupera music traces its roots to the rock groups of the 1960s yet has evol ...

format known as Súper Estelar WA. Broadcasting from Monterrey, Súper Estelar was programmed by Multimedios Estrellas de Oro and served as one of Mexico's pioneering grupera stations. After five years, Súper Estelar left XEWA and migrated to XHSNP-FM 93.7 in San Luis Potosí, which was owned directly by Multimedios; it was also carried on some Multimedios radio stations in other cities until the format became known as La Caliente. The end of Súper Estelar made way for a flip to the Ke Buena format from

, which lasted into the late 1990s when the station began repeating XEW again, now known as "Cadena W Azul y Plata" and later as "W Radio". In 2003, Radiorama began managing the station for Televisa Radio. 2009 saw the first ever split between XEWA Monterrey and XEWA San Luis Potosí. The San Luis Potosí station was transferred to local radio company MG Radio, while XEWA Monterrey began offering a Nuevo León-specific version of W Radio; ever since, XEWA Monterrey, now on FM as

XHWAG-FM XHWAG-FM is a radio station on 88.5 FM in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It is owned by Radiópolis and carries its Los 40 format. History Together with San Luis The original XEWA in San Luis Potosí received its concession on December 2, 194 ...

, has been a separately programmed station which is currently operated directly by Televisa Radio. In San Luis, XHEWA-FM 103.9 was authorized in 2011 and came on the air that July; while it is technically an AM-FM migrant, the AM station cannot be shut off until radio service is available in the entirety of its coverage area, including ten municipalities in five states with no other radio service.List I of stations that must remain on AM – IFT Pleno 2014
/ref> In 2012, Radiorama returned to manage XEWA/XHEWA, and in July, W Radio was replaced with

Los 40 Los 40 (stylized as LOS40, formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', ) is a Spanish Top 40-themed music radio station that broadcasts current and recent music, primarily focusing on genres such as pop, dance, electropop, Electro Latin, and Reggaeton. T ...

Principales, which previously broadcast on

XHOB-FM XHOB-FM is a radio station on 96.1 FM in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí. It is owned by MG Radio and is known as Factor 96.1 with a pop format. History XHOB received its concession on September 20, 1971. It was owned by Benjamin Orozc ...

96.1 from January 2011 until the end of March 2012. Radiorama's regional affiliate in Tampico, Grupo AS, took over the San Luis Potosí region in 2016 and operated it until December 31 of that year. On January 9, 2017, GlobalMedia, which also had begun programming Ke Buena in San Luis Potosí on

XHBM-FM XHBM-FM 105.7/XEBM-AM 820 is a combo radio station in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí. It is known as Ke Buena and carries a grupera format. History XEBM received its first concession in March 1940. It was owned by Benjamín Briones Muñoz ...

, took over operations of XHEWA after the station spent several days directly relaying

XEX-FM XEX-FM (101.7 FM) is a commercial radio station in Mexico City. Broadcasting from a tower atop the World Trade Center Mexico City, XEX-FM airs a contemporary hit radio format and is the flagship station of the Mexican Los 40 network. Most ...

Mexico City.

Coverage

XEWA-AM is the dominant

clear-channel station A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, powered at 150 kilowatts to cover the Mexican states of San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Querétaro, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes. The station also has nighttime coverage throughout most of Mexico, as well as the neighboring American states of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

References

External links

Los 40 103.9 Facebook

FCC information for XEWA
{{Clear-channel AM Contemporary hit radio stations in Mexico Spanish-language radio stations Radio stations in San Luis Potosí Radio stations established in 1950 Mass media in San Luis Potosí City Radiópolis Radio stations in Mexico with continuity obligations Clear-channel radio stations