Shattered Crystal
Four more commercial stations declared dead in Edomex, Veracruz
The April catalog update issued by the Instituto Nacional Electoral includes previously unpublished information on the expiration of four radio station concessions.
The stations and the expiration of their last listed concessions are
- XHCME-FM 103.7 Coacalco–Melchor Ocampo, State of Mexico (July 18, 2021)
- XHEDT-FM 93.3 Toluca, State of Mexico (August 4, 2021)
- XHCOV-FM 105.9 Poza Rica, Veracruz (April 4, 2021)
- XHDZ-FM 88.1 Córdoba, Veracruz (September 17, 2020)
The two State of Mexico stations are owned by Grupo Siete. XHCOV-FM is owned by XHCOV-FM, S.A. de C.V., with 68.33 percent belonging to the Pereda family and the remainder to the Sanabria family. The concessionaire of XHDZ-FM is Radiodifusoras Eles, S.A. de C.V., of the Domínguez Ferráez and Ferráez Matos families.
For Grupo Siete, the news is a body blow to its Radio Crystal network and to its operating strategy, which has long concentrated on the periphery of populated central Mexico. While Siete programs XHTOM-FM there, the news is worse for Coacalco. XHCME is the densely populated north of Edomex’s only commercial station oriented toward it, operating in the shadow of — sometimes literally — the Mexico City media market. And given the density of stations and people here, this could have been the only one to ever exist if an Article 90 reserved band issue crops up like it did in much of southern Hidalgo.
En Frecuencia sent an email to Karen Sánchez Abbott of Grupo Siete seeking comment on the expiration notice but did not receive a reply at press time.
Short Profiles
XHCME was given a concession on August 5, 1994, and was owned by Carlos Rafael González de Aragón Ortiz. That same day, Enrique Arturo González de Aragón Ortiz got the paperwork for XHEDT-FM in Toluca, which acknowledges August 5 as the day it went on the air. The stations have long been associated with Grupo Siete and have mostly carried the Crystal branding they do now, though Grupo Siete did do some tinkering throughout the 2010s with formats and names.
XHCOV-FM started as XECOV-AM in April 1994 and has been a Radiorama (Pergom) property for its entire 29-year history, including a migration in 2010. It currently airs Éxtasis Digital.
XHDZ in Córdoba, Veracruz, went on the air as XEDZ-AM in 1951 and was originally owned by — and named for — the Zúñiga family. It is programmed by Audiorama now as Retro 88.1, but it earned its lengthy history under the names Canal 58 (it was on 580) and Radio Ondas.
