XHSBE-FM is a community radio station on 107.1 FM owned by and serving the indigenous communities of San Bernardino Tlaxcalancingo and Santa María Zacatepec from studios in San Andrés Cholula,

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

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 ...

. It is known as FM Cholollan.

History

XHSBE traces its origins to separate pirate radio stations in Tlaxcalancingo, located in the municipality of San Andrés Cholula, and Santa María Zacatepec, in Juan C. Bonilla Municipality. Pirate radio stations, however, are subject to seizure and forced closure. Axocotzin Radio, which had operated in Tlaxcalancingo since 2009 as an Internet radio station and on FM since 2011, was closed by representatives of the

Federal Telecommunications Institute The Federal Telecommunications Institute (Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones''; abbreviated as IFT and incorrectly referred to as IFETEL, Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Snaul jtsob a’telelil Sk’asesojibal k’o ...

(IFT) on August 4, 2014. That same day, Radio Zacatepec in Santa María Zacatepec was shuttered. On May 30, 2015, Radio Zacatepec was forcibly closed for the second time in less than a year, having operated for just under two years. Recognizing the need to obtain a broadcast concession to make the station legal but also the limited availability of frequencies, the two former stations combined in order to pursue the goal of receiving full approval to serve the municipalities in the shadow of

Popocatépetl Popocatépetl ( , , ; ) is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. At it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Ci ...

. Local residents demanded a new indigenous radio station be set up in the area, noting that stations from the Puebla metropolitan area did not pay attention to indigenous culture and issues. After initially being denied due to an alleged lack of spectrum, in July 2016, the IFT made history by awarding two social indigenous concessions, the first for broadcast use: one to the indigenous communities of San Bernardino Tlaxcalancingo and Santa María Zacatepec, and the other for

XHJP-FM XHJP-FM is a community radio station on 107.9 FM in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, Oaxaca. It is known as Jën Poj (meaning "Winds of Fire" in Mixe Mixe may refer to: * Mixe people, an ethnic group of Oaxaca, Mexica * Mixe languages, the group ...

, a pre-existing station in Oaxaca. The new XHSBE-FM would broadcast on 107.1 MHz, being among the first stations designated in the new reserved band for social community and indigenous stations. XHSBE was initially approved to broadcast from a tower located on Cerro Tlacuaquilo in the community of San Francisco Coapa, located in San Andrés Cholula.XHSBE spectrum concession
/ref> In 2019, it relocated to Cerro Zapotecas.

References

{{Puebla City Radio Radio stations in Puebla Community radio stations in Mexico Indigenous radio stations in Mexico Radio stations established in 2016 Indigenous peoples in Puebla