First on the Mexico Beat: The IFT Says It’s Over for 17 Radio Stations

This story was originally published on the WTFDA Forums on July 30, 2019.

This is why I check the RPC every day the IFT’s open.

Today, the only new item for an FM station was an item that, unlike anything I’ve ever seen, had as its title the letter number alone. It may be one of the most important items to ever hit the RPC.

It’s a letter from Rafael Eslava Herrada, the head of the Concessions and Services Unit, to the Compliance Unit, informing them that because they did not pay their renewal fees on time, 17 stations have lost their concessions.

(Revision note: the letter was removed from the RPC several days later, but has been mirrored and can be consulted through El Economista.)

The two most-affected groups are Organización Radiofónica Mexicana, a Radiorama component, which will lose 9 stations (two of which it does not operate), and MegaRadio, losing 6 stations, all in Ciudad Juárez.

The full list of lost stations is as follows:

Ciudad Juárez: XHH 100.7, XEZOL 860, XEFV 1000, XEWR 1110, XEF 1420, XEJPV 1560
Tapachula: XHTAK 103.5
Tuxtla Gutiérrez: XHUE 99.3
Gómez Palacio: XHBP 90.3, XHTJ 94.7, XHGZ 99.5, XHDN 101.1, XHVK 106.7 -> 96.7
Oaxaca: XHYN 102.9
Cosoleacaque, Ver.: XHEMI 105.7
Ixhuatlancillo, Ver.: XHOV 97.3
Xalapa, Ver.: XHJA 102.5

Update 1: There are a variety of legal challenges to these cases already, according to my searches. The RPC also marked 12 more stations as expired:

Ciudad de México: XEDA-AM 1290
Culiacán: XHENZ-FM 92.9
Jojutla, Mor.: XHZPC-FM 103.7
León: XHOI-FM 92.3
Manzanillo: XHECS-FM 96.1
Mazatlán: XHST-FM 94.7
Monterrey: XHQQ 93.3, XEMN 600, XEH 1420
Santa Ana, Son.: XHAB-FM 98.7
Xalapa, Ver.: XHOT 97.7, XHWA 98.5

This story was picked up by El Economista newspaper several days later. That led to a categorical denial from MegaRadio, which you can read here.