XHPOP-FM is a radio station on 99.3 FM in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

. The station is owned by

Grupo ACIR Grupo ACIR is a Mexican media company specializing in the operation of radio stations. It was established in 1965. ACIR is an acronym for ''Asociación de Concesionarios Independientes de Radio'' (Association of Independent Radio Concessionaires). ...

and airs the company's Match format of

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

in English.

History

After initially being authorized as XEN-FM, a counterpart to

XEN-AM XEN-AM (branded as Radio Centro/El Fonógrafo) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Mexico City. It airs a talk radio and Spanish oldies radio format on 690 Hertz, kHz. The station is owned by Grupo Radio Centro. XEN broadcasts wi ...

690, XHPOP was on the air by 1977. It initially broadcast an instrumental music format under the name ''Música Feliz 99'' before changing to a hit radio format as ''Sonido 99'' by the end of the decade. The

1985 Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City are ...

severely damaged the studios used by XEN and its Ondas de Alegría sister stations, and after some time off the air and a relocation to new studios, the station reemerged as ''Radio Metrópoli'' and then ''Fórmula Mexicana'', both broadcasting Mexican music. The station reverted to ''Sonido 99'' at the end of 1987—a year in which the Díaz Romo cluster was split due to family differences—and soon changed to ''Digital 99''. In 1995, it was leased alongside ARTSA sister stations XHSH and XHDFM to Grupo ACIR for a period of 10 years, with the goal being to combine the stations to form new national network concepts. In 2005, the station was sold outright to Grupo ACIR.

Radio Disney

In August 2013, the station stopped using the "Digital" name on-air, only referring to itself as "99-3". This sparked speculation about a format change, with

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

as the main replacement option. This rumors were confirmed, when it was announced that on October 9, XHPOP-FM would become the Mexican version of

, which officially launched at noon on that day. Most of the Digital hosts remained on Radio Disney.

Match

On December 26, 2019, Disney and ACIR announced they were mutually ending their relationship, which had covered twelve Mexican cities. Ten of the twelve Radio Disney stations, including XHPOP, were transitioned to ACIR's replacement format, Match, which formally launched on January 7, 2020. Unlike Radio Disney, Match's programming is mostly composed of English-language hits from the 2000s to the present, with no Spanish hits and no Latin urban music.

References

External links

iheart Mexico City website
* {{coord missing, Mexico City Radio stations in Mexico City Grupo ACIR Radio stations established in 1977