Changing the Channel
Guadalajara’s heritage Canal 58 ends its run; XEAV-AM begins simulcasting XEHL/XEBA
One of the few stations to survive the massive franchise overhaul at NTR’s radio group has become the latest to see major change. XEAV-AM is no longer Canal 58, the music station that in the sixties led the Guadalajara market. Per Fernando García, it is simulcasting NTR-owned XEBA-AM 820 and XEHL-AM 1010. The news was reported by Adriana Luna, who once worked at Canal 58.
XEAV is one of the city’s oldest radio stations. It went on the air in 1942, though no formal concession was issued to Alfredo Vázquez Tello until August 23, 1946. Run by Manuel López Díaz in the 1940s and 1950s, the station was the first to broadcast local soccer.
In the 1960s, XEAV took on the syndicated Hit Parade format from the United States and became the number-one station in Guadalajara, broadcasting rock and roll music. (Like a fair number of US stations in the 1950s and 1960s, seeking to capitalize on the popularity of television, it called itself Canal 58 — “Channel 58” — beginning about 1960). The station was also a pioneer in radio news, first in the city to report some of the largest stories of the 20th century.
Manuel López Díaz owned the station until the early 2000s, after the death of his son José Manuel ‘Pituko’ López following a long illness. The station was sold to the ABC Radio group owned by Organización Editorial Mexicana. The station continued as an oldies/classic hits outlet until Friday.
The name Canal 58 will no longer be heard on the air, but it will remain on maps; the colonia in San Pedro Tlaquepaque that houses the transmitter site is Col. Canal 58.
The move also raises a question. Nobody needs three AM stations, let alone three AMs and an FM. (XEAV was so stable in part because it was an AM station and all the tinkering occurred when co-owned XEABCJ-AM 1440 moved to FM.) Will NTR do something with XEBA and XEHL, which it acquired years ago from Televisa Radio?
