Cuaderno En Frecuencia: May 19
Querétaro gets a different kind of wild; Capital Media gives up on three social stations; RTVH tries to put radio employees in new jobs
That’s Not Normal Lokura
Querétaro’s XHNAQ-FM 104.9 is still known as Lokura FM. And Capital Media still owns it. But the station has broken away from the other stations with that name to flip to English classic hits starting this past Monday.
There is a lot to unpack in this change. For one, the Facebook page of the “new” Lokura FM 104.9 has been recycled from the “105.3 Digital” format that XHINFO-FM had last year after going back under Henkel control. Yet it’s still operating from Capital’s Querétaro studios.
There is a connection that might explain how this one happened. Cynthia Zarco, who was involved with 105.3 Digital, once worked (and per her LinkedIn still works) at Capital Media. So if there was one place the format was going to resurface, it was going to be at a Capital station. And if there was one market that made sense for this in the Capital portfolio, it probably was Querétaro.
It also fits with the fact that Capital seems to always be receptive to offers; in some markets, the Lokura FM adult hits format is little more than the filler they program between others’ turns at the transmitter. At the start of this month, it started leasing Villahermosa’s XHRVI-FM. XHEV-FM in Izúcar de Matamoros–Atlixco has been a revolving door of operators in recent years.
Capital U-Turn
One of Capital Media’s social arms, Fundación Radiodifusoras Capital Jalisco, A.C., has abandoned plans for three radio stations in Oaxaca and Veracruz, per the May catalog update from the INE. The stations would have been XHHUA-FM 104.7 Huatulco, XHXOX-FM 90.5 Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán (Oaxaca area), and XHCOS-FM 89.3 Cosamaloapan. They had been on the books for as many as five years.
Update: The IFT on Friday added a surrender letter for XHPEBV-FM 94.1 in Comitán de Domínguez, Chiapas. It is identical to the letter for XHNSM-FM Tonalá, covered last week.
RTV Gets Renewal
Radiotelevisión de Veracruz announced that it has received renewals for three of its five FM stations. Concessions for 2024–2039 were issued for XHTAN, XHOTE, and XHOBA. The other two transmitters, XHZUL and XHXAL, have concessions that lapse in 2030.
Hidalgo State Network Scouts Job Alternatives
With half of the Hidalgo state network shut down by failure to renew and two more transmitters still awaiting the IFT to resolve whether the state or the state university should get the keys, Radio y Televisión de Hidalgo is trying to place its radio employees in other positions and avoid wasting them or laying them off.
Linked to that story is another from March that promises a really interesting battle royale when a public FM allotment for Tenango de Doria goes up in the September filing window.
Actualmente, informó el director general Alán Austria que compiten por obtener la concesión en Tenango de Doria, la cual fue gestionada por la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH) y ahora la Radio Estatal ya se sumó con la misma pretensión.
If the UAEH or RTVH go into the fray, they will have to square off with the actual reason Tenango is on the rolls this year. The allotment, XHCPFM-FM 94.9A, was added after the Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Hidalgo asked the IFT. There is really no precedent for disputes of this type, and the precedent set either in the Ixmiquilpan/Huichapan cases or the Chilpancingo battle among the Guerrero state legislature, state university, and state government.
