Broadcast area Mexico City First air date September 13, 1946 | Branding Formato 21 Format News radio | |
Slogan La estación de las noticias (The news station) Frequency 790 kHz
97.7 FM HD2 XERC-FM | ||
XERC-AM (branded as Formato 21) is a radio station based in Mexico City and airing an all-news radio format on 790 kHz. The station is owned by Grupo Radio Centro.
History
In 1946, Francisco Aguirre Jiménez created XERC-AM under the concessionaire Radio Popular de México. This station would serve as the base for what would become Grupo Radio Centro, as "Radio Éxitos 790" and sister to 1030 AM XEQR-AM, known as "Radio Centro 1030".
In the 1960s it became "La Campeona 7-90", a subname/slogan of "Radio Éxitos", a pioneer in broadcasting Spanish-language rock, but mostly airing then-current music in English from all genres. Its famed Beatles Club program, which began in 1964, remained on the station for 25 years and later moved to FM on "Universal" (XEQR-FM until 1998, XHFO-FM until 2016 and currently XHRED-FM), where it still airs to this day. It was a strong competitor to Nucleo Radio Mil's XEPH-AM ("La Pantera") and Grupo ACIR's XEL-AM ("Radio Capital") for younger audiences who listened to the latest music in English.
On September 12, 1988, 790 AM was relaunched as "Expresión 7-90", a spoken format. On October 21, 1990, the station flipped to an oldies Spanish music format as "El Fonógrafo" (The Phonograph). In October 2001, XERC and 1150 AM, then XECMQ (now XEJP-AM) switched formats: El Fonógrafo moved up to 1150 AM, and Formato 21, an all-news format consisting of a 21-minute news wheel that originated in 1993 on 1320 AM, moved down to 790.