View source for XEW-AM

{{short description|Radio station in Mexico City}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name            = XEW-AM / XEW-FM
| city            = [[Mexico City]]
| area            = [[Greater Mexico City]]
| country         = MX
| logo            = W Radio 900 96.9 logo.jpg
| branding        = W Radio
| power           = AM: 100,000 [[watt]]s<ref name="tecnica">[https://rpc.ift.org.mx/vrpc/pdfs/100216-TECNICA-011681.pdf RPC: #011681 Change in Transmitter Location and Power – XEW-AM]</ref>
| erp             = FM: 51,190 watts{{mexico-inf|FM|accessdate=December 24, 2014}}
| haat            = {{convert|127.07|m|ft|sp=us}} (FM)
| coordinates     = AM: {{coord|19|21|54.18|N|98|57|27.73|W}}<BR>FM: {{coord|19.3945|-99.1744}} 
| airdate         = {{Start date and age|1930|9|18}} (AM)<br/>{{Start date and age|1975|10|1}} (FM)
| frequency       = [[900 AM]] / [[96.9 FM]]
| rds             = WRADIO
| class           = AM: [[list of broadcast station classes#AM|A]] <br>FM: [[list of broadcast station classes#FM|C1]] 
| format          = [[talk radio|News/Talk]]
| owner           = [[Radiópolis]]
| licensee        = Cadena Radiodifusora Mexicana, S.A. de C.V.
| sister_stations = [[XEX-AM]], [[XEQ-AM]], [[XEQ-FM]], [[XEX-FM]]
| webcast         = {{listenlive|https://playerservices.streamtheworld.com/api/livestream-redirect/WRADIO_MEXICO_SC}}
| website         = {{URL|1=http://www.wradio.com.mx|2=wradio.com.mx}}
}}
'''XEW-AM''' (900 [[Hertz|kHz]]) and '''XEW-FM''' (96.9 [[Hertz|MHz]]) are [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[radio station]]s in [[Mexico City]], [[Mexico]], [[simulcast]]ing a [[talk radio|news/talk]] [[radio format]] branded as ''W Radio''.  XEW serves as the [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] for other "W Radio" stations around Mexico that carry some or all of its programs.  The stations feature frequent news segments, talk and sports shows, with some music heard overnight and weekends.

XEW-AM is a [[list of broadcast station classes#AM|Class A]] [[clear channel station]] broadcasting at 100,000 [[watt]]s, one of the highest powered AM stations in North America.  The [[omnidirectional antenna|non-directional antenna]] is off Avenida Independencia in the La Magdalena Atlicpac neighborhood in [[La Paz, State of Mexico|La Paz]].<ref>[https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&mex=FER043219CO-105342&mexsvc=AM FCCdata.org/XEW-AM]</ref>  XEW-FM is a [[list of broadcast station classes#FM|Class C1]] station with an [[effective radiated power]] (ERP) of 51,190 watts.<REF>[https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&mex=FER043373CO-105342&mexsvc=FM FCCdata.org/XEW-FM]</REF>

==History==
===XEW-AM===
XEW began regular broadcasts at 20:00 CST on {{Start date and age|September 18, 1930}}. Broadcasting from a room (later to become a proper studio) at the Olympia Cinema on 16 September Street in Mexico City, it initially was powered at only 5,000 watts.  This was increased to 50,000 watts by 1934.  With the installation of a new [[transmitter]], the power became 250&nbsp;kW by 1935 and remained there for more than 80 years.  For much of its history, XEW-AM was the most powerful AM radio station in North America.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} On February 10, 2016, XEW-AM was approved to relocate its transmitter to a site in La Magdalena Atlicpac in [[La Paz, State of Mexico|La Paz]].  With the move, the power was reduced to 100,000 watts, still among North America's most powerful AM stations.{{r|tecnica}}

XEW was the first Mexico City station in [[Emilio Azcarraga Vidaurreta]]'s ''Chain of the Americas.''  It was the forerunner to today's [[Televisa]] network, whose radio unit still owns XEW-AM.  XEW-AM originally was affiliated with the [[NBC Red Network]] and the [[NBC Blue Network]].  Its future sister stations would take affiliation with rival networks, [[XEQ-AM]] with [[CBS]] and [[XEX-AM]] with the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]].  As radio in Mexico evolved with the country's growth and more radio stations signed on, XEW-AM became flagship to the country's largest radio network.  Several radio and television stations have derived their call signs from XEW radio and [[XEW-TV|XEW television]], all of them affiliated at one time or another with Televisa.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

In the United States, the call letters for [[KXEW]], a commercial AM radio station in [[Tucson, Arizona]], were a tribute to 900 XEW.  That station was owned by Pan American Radio Corporation and went on the air May 10, 1963.  The call sign was chosen by its president and CEO, J. Carlos McCormick, because of his admiration of Azcarraga, whom he had met as a teenager during a 1950 visit to Mexico City.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

=== XEW-FM ===
The FM frequency, 96.9, received its concession on April 28, 1962; it was not launched until the 1970s, and by the end of that decade, it carried a [[disco]] format. By 1981, it had changed to "Rock Stereo". On September 9, 1985, it was renamed "WFM" with an English rock and pop format, being the direct competition of [[XHSON-FM]] (then known as "Rock 101"). Among the DJs that conformed the station were [[Alejandro González Iñárritu]], Martha Debayle and Charo Fernández.

After 14 years, in 1999, the station changed its name and format to "W Radical."  It was directed by the former head of "Rock 101", Luis Gerardo Salas, airing [[electronic music]] and [[eurodance]]. By 2001, it returned to its former WFM format with the slogan "Frecuencia Adictiva."  In late 2002, after the association of Televisa Radio and PRISA, management decided to simulcast the same programming on AM and FM.  Thus XEW-FM became a news and talk outlet, albeit musical programming can still be heard on overnights and weekends when live sports broadcasts are not scheduled.

==Personalities==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* Manuel "Maber" Bernal
* [[Emilio Tuero]]
* [[Juan Arvizu]]
* Luis Arcaráz
* [[Nicolás Urcelay]]
* [[Alfonso Ortiz Tirado]]
* [[Los Panchos]]
* [[Juan García Esquivel]]
* [[Mario Ruiz Armengol]]
* Maria Luisa Landín
* [[María Victoria]]
* [[Mario Moreno Cantinflas]]
* [[Germán Valdés]] "Tin-Tan"
* José Sabre Marroquín
* [[Agustín Lara]]
* [[Toña la Negra]]
* [[Angelines Fernández]]
* Carmen Rey
* [[Pedro Infante]]
* [[Jorge Negrete]]
* [[Pedro Vargas]]
* [[Gustavo Adolfo Palma]]
* [[Fernando Fernández (actor)|Fernando Fernández]]
* Eulalio González "Piporro"
* [[Francisco Gabilondo Soler]] ("Cri-Cri")
* [[Hugo Avendaño]], [[Amparo Montes]]
* Héctor Martínez Serrano
* [[Antonio Aguilar]]
* [[Paco Stanley]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|http://wradio.com.mx}}

{{Mexico City Radio}}
{{Clear Channel AM}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Radio stations in Mexico City]]
[[Category:Radiópolis]]
[[Category:News and talk radio stations in Mexico]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1930]]
[[Category:Clear-channel radio stations]]