DXing the Indigenous AM stations of Mexico
Mike Jeziorski, Juriquilla, Querétaro, México (mjeziorski@gmail.com)
Information on Mexican AM stations is regularly updated on my online spreadsheet, which can be visited at https://tinyurl.com/mr2xe5yk
At some future point I hope to add links to sound clips to the sheet. You can hear some of the stations described here via my Juriquilla KiwiSDR coupled to a W6LVP loop and hosted at
http://rx.linkfanel.net/
In recent decades, broadcast stations have been leaving the AM dial in many countries, and Mexico is a prime example. When I moved to Juriquilla from the US in 1999, over 800 AM stations were active in Mexico. Today that number is under 300, with the remainder dominated by national networks such as Radio Fórmula, Radio Centro, W Radio/Deportes, and Arre en AcústiK that maintain affiliates in the major cities of the country with little local content. Queretaro, the city of over 1.5 million on whose outskirts I live, has had no active AM outlet for several years.
A welcome exception to the disappearance of stations from the Mexican AM band has been the group of stations governed by the Instituto Nacional de Pueblos Indígenas (National Institute of Indigenous
Peoples), known by its acronym INPI (pronounced IN-pee). The creation of the INPI in 2018 was one of the first acts by the previous president of Mexico, and with the election of his handpicked successor in 2024, the INPI is expected to continue.
In addition to Spanish, 62 indigenous languages are recognized as official in Mexico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Mexico
These range from Nahuatl, the tongue of the prehispanic Aztec civilization that still claims over a million speakers in the center of the country, to languages maintained by only a few dozen speakers. Like the US and Canada, Mexico has had a problematic history with indigenous cultures, and even with renewed effort to protect them, many of the less common languages are threatened by mass media, internet, and generational loss. INPI radio stations are part of a larger effort to protect the indigenous cultures that provide richness to Mexico.
Since the first indigenous AM station signed on in 1979, the group that is now governed by INPI has grown to 23 radio outlets, either standalone AM or FM stations or AM-FM pairs. Of these, only two are exclusively FM. AM stations that are part of INPI share particular characteristics of interest to DXers. Each broadcasts both in Spanish and in one or more indigenous languages commonly
spoken in the broadcast area. For that reason, all INPI stations are situated in rural areas far from
major Mexican cities. Each AM station has an ample power of between 4-10 kW; although a couple
are assigned lower night powers, all are assumed to be broadcasting at maximum power throughout
their broadcast day. In my experience, INPI stations stand out in Mexico for being competently
programmed, properly engineered, and efficiently repaired after suffering natural disaster or
vandalism. For those DXers interested in logging difficult Mexican estados (states), INPI stations are
often the best targets.
Furthermore, the schedule of each station resembles that of a daytimer in the US, but with the
important distinction that sign-on and sign-off occur at fixed times regardless of sunrise or sunset,
commonly 0600-1800 or 0700-1900 local time. Thus, during winter months INPI stations are often on
the air at full power when the station and most of North America are in complete darkness. The beginning and end of the broadcast day of INPI stations often feature unique and entertaining
announcements, music, and native sounds that may act as clear identifiers. Another INPI hallmark is the Mexican national anthem being sung not by a practiced choral group as on most other Mexican stations, but by a presumably local group of what I charitably call “untrained” singers, often children, that can assault the ears of even the most hardened veteran of preschool talent shows.
At present the official INPI site https://ecos.inpi.gob.mx/ lists 21 AM stations, although at least two may not be currently active. The site offers streams for each station, but an active stream does not necessarily mean the station is on the air. Through DXing, I have been able to verify 13 of the INPI AM stations on the air in the past month. Those I have not heard are difficult targets in Querétaro for one reason or another, and other DXers are invited to confirm they are on the air.
All stations intersperse Spanish with native languages, sometimes mixing languages within a single announcement. Times are in UTC and are accompanied by a question mark where I have not directly verified the details or the station varies its hours. Most if not all INPI stations are in areas of Mexico that do not change clocks for Daylight Saving, but I cannot state for certain that station schedules remain the same in summer. Naturally, comparing sign-on and sign-off times against sunrise and sunset maps are key to finding the best time to target a station; as a rule of thumb, 1200 sign-on is a sunrise target and 0100 sign-off a sunset target in the winter. When I have heard a clean signal I have included the offset, measured with a Perseus SDR and Jaguar v10.4 software after calibrating against XEOY-1000. I have included translations of the slogans, which all start with “La Voz de” (The Voice of).
700 XEXPUJ X’pujil, Campeche, La Voz del Corazón de la Selva [Heart of the Jungle] Schedule 1200-0000 per IRCA Mexican Log; broadcasting in Yucatec Maya and Ch’ol. Never logged by me in Queretaro, and not reported to a DX column in the few years I have been checking, which may be due to the remoteness of the station.
700 XEETCH Etchojoa, Sonora, La Voz de los Tres Ríos [Three Rivers] Schedule 1300-0100; broadcasting in Mayo, Yaqui, and Guajirio. Sign-on begins with a single verse of the national anthem sung by untrained children, followed by a call ID and the slogan given with an echo effect. Flute, violin, and folk singing are interspersed with the announcement, which is given in multiple languages and lasts several minutes. A similar ID and echoey slogan are given at sign-off, which may start before 0057 with folk music and ends with untrained children singing over an orchestral version of the Mexican anthem.
730 XEPET Peto, Yucatán, La Voz de los Mayas [Mayan People] Schedule 1200-0000?; broadcasting in Yucatec Maya. Despite the powerful XEX in nearby Mexico City, I was able to log XEPET through them at 1200 sign-on in mid-December, my first logging from Yucatán state. Because they also broadcast on
XHPET-105.5 FM, what I heard was not a full ID but an announcement joined in progress that was
followed by the anthem sung by untrained children.
750 XEJMN Jesús María, Nayarit, La Voz de los Cuatro Pueblos [Four Peoples], Schedule 1255-0100; broadcasting in Cora, Huichol, Tepehuano, and Nahuatl; offset 750.006.
This station was reported as silent for some time due to damage and is listed as such in the IRCA
Mexican Log, but is now airing regularly. They are currently signing on in darkness, but well after
Atlanta sunrise. XEJMN uses at least two unusual versions of the Mexican anthem. One is a
cacophonous mashup of the Mexican anthem and the more martial Mexican flag ceremony song, and
another is a woman singing in a flat, tired voice over instruments. Sign-on may begin with the anthem or with a minute or so of folk music first. The anthem is followed by a lively fiddle tune followed by a woman giving the announcement in Spanish while backed by folk music. After a rooster crow, a man continues. Sign-off begins with a call ID by an apparently small girl speaking Spanish, and much of the rest of the announcement is in the voices of children. The closing song is one of the versions of the anthem heard at sign-on.
770 XEANT Tancanhuitz de los Santos, San Luis Potosí, La Voz de las Huastecas [Huastecan People]
Schedule 1202-0110; broadcasting in Téenek, Nahuatl, and Pame; offset 770.001. Sign-on starts with an untrained children’s choir singing the anthem, then a distinctive melody repeated on marimba. Sometimes the marimba also precedes the anthem. The start time varies widely; I have heard the sequence begin as late as 1205. The announcement is accompanied by birdsong and traditional instruments. Sign-off begins around 0100, but a full announcement is given in each of the languages, first Spanish. The announcements are accompanied by folk music on accordion, violin, or marimba, with the anthem often not starting until ten minutes after the hour. The long sign-off is a choice DX target, and on one recent episode of his live Friday evening DX Central program on YouTube, Loyd Van Horn recorded the sign-off from Mandeville LA and posted it on his channel. Thanks to that tip, Barry Bankston in Crossville TN logged them the following day.
780 XEGLO Guelatao de Juárez, Oaxaca, La Voz de la Sierra Juárez [region], Schedule 1200-0000?; broadcasting in Zapotec, Mixe, and Chinantec; offset 780.002. Unlike other INPI stations, the first thing heard at sign-on is the station slogan, then the Mexican anthem, which is a conventional children’s choral like those heard on commercial Mexican stations. The anthem is four verses long (about 4:40), after which an announcement starts in an indigenous language over lively folk music. A full ID in Spanish starts around 1207. I have heard XEGLO at sign-off, but not recently.
800 XEZV Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, La Voz de la Montaña [Mountain]. Schedule 1300-0100 per IRCA Mexican Log; broadcasting in Nahuatl, Mixtec, and Tlapanec. I have not heard this station since January of 2021, before I owned an SDR, and have not seen it reported by other DXers since. Stations throughout the state of Guerrero suffered badly from Hurricane Otis in October of 2023; while I don’t know the fate of XEZV since then, in recent months 800 kHz has been badly disrupted for DXers by the distorted modulation of XEERG’s signal.
830 XEPUR Cherán, Michoacán, La Voz de los Purépechas [Purépecha People]. Schedule 1300-0100; broadcasting in Purépecha. Although XEPUR is not far from me (121 miles) they are a difficult catch due to the strong signal of co-channel XEITE in Mexico City. When I have heard XEPUR, it has been through lulls or fades in XEITE’s constantly changing format (now religious). My last log of them was in March of 2024; a review of SDR recordings from the past two months failed to turn up any sign. The web stream I
listened to this week included no sign-off announcement at 0100, only two verses of the fast version of the adult choral anthem.
870 XETAR Guachochi, Chihuahua, La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara [region]. Schedule 1202-0000; broadcasting in Tarahumara and Tepehuano; offset 870.015. The way to log this station is at sign-on; it comes on the air up to two hours before local sunrise. The adult choral anthem that starts its broadcast day can start at any time between 1200-1205, so set your recordings with that in mind. However, only about 30 seconds of the anthem is played before it segues into folk guitar with a chorus, then an announcement in an indigenous language followed by Spanish. Sign-off sometimes starts minutes early so that the anthem ends by 0000. Most times the station uses a traditional adult choral anthem, but on occasion I have heard an a capella children’s choral that is amateur but not painful. The distance between XETAR and WWL should make this one of the first INPI stations in the logbook of western and midwestern DXers in the US. Stephanie Battaglino in Palm Desert CA tells me she has heard XETAR multiple times.
930 XETLA Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, La Voz de la Mixteca [Mixteca People]. Schedule 1200-0000; broadcasting in Mixtec and Triqui; offset 929.998. Because they are paired with an FM station, XETLA has been noted coming on the air suddenly a few minutes before 1200 with continuing programming, then playing the standard children’s choral anthem at 1200. A full ID by a man in Spanish that lasts over a minute follows, bracketed by a lively brass tune. After that comes a brief announcement by a woman in an indigenous language. DXers targeting sign-off should try in late November, when XETLA signs off a few minutes after local sunset.
950 XEOJN San Lucas Ojitlán, Oaxaca, La Voz de la Chinantla [Chinantla People]. Schedule 1200-0000; broadcasting in Mazatec, Cuicatec, and Chinantec; offset 950.001. XEOJN also may play several minutes of music before its formal sign-on at 1200, which begins with untrained children singing over an orchestral anthem. What follows is a ten-second trilled melody on a simple flute that cuts through like an interval signal, then the long station ID in Spanish. XEOJN is far enough east that its winter sign-off can occur 15 minutes after local sunset. The sign-off includes a trilled flute, cricket sounds, and folk string instruments, and ends with two verses of an untrained children’s choral version of the national anthem.
960 XETPH Santa María de Ocotán, Durango, Las Tres Voces de Durango]. This station was reportedly suffering from unreliable power and intermittent activity. It was removed from the 2023-2024 version of the IRCA Mexican Log, with Tim Hall commenting that no DXer had ever reported hearing the station on the air.
1010 XETUX Tuxpan, Michoacán, La Voz de la Sierra Occidente [Western Sierra]. Schedule 1200-0100; broadcasting in Mazahua and Otomi; offset 1010.005. I was surprised to recently learn that traces of XETUX can be heard throughout the day in Queretaro city, at least in winter. Sign-on starts with two verses of the fast version of the anthem sung by a practiced adult group. Unlike most stations, XETUX begins its announcement in an indigenous language, although call letters and other details are in Spanish.
Similarly, the 0100 sign-off ends with an announcement in indigenous language, then a conventional anthem sung by children. 1010 also has XECPHH, a community station in Hidalgo (previously thought to broadcast only on Sundays, but recently heard on other days of the week) that may also include folk music in its top-of-hour ID.
1030 XEVFS Las Margaritas, Chiapas, La Voz de la Frontera Sur [Southern Frontier]. Schedule 1200-0000 per IRCA Mexican Log; broadcasting in Tojolabal, Mame, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, and Popti. Like XEXPUJ, this station has not been logged by me in Queretaro, nor reported to a DX column in recent years. 50 kW XEQR in Mexico City is in the same general direction from my home and a serious obstacle to hearing Chiapas on 1030.
1030 XEFEL Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo, La Voz del Gran Pueblo. No longer listed in the IRCA Mexican Log.
1160 XEQIN San Quintín, Baja California, La Voz del Valle [Valley]. Schedule 1200-0200?; broadcasting in Mixtec, Zapotec, and Triqui. The details are provided by Tim Hall, who verified in October 2024 that XEQIN had returned to the air after a 2023 copper theft. He notes that the station broadcasts a sign-off announcement and national anthem at the expected hour of 0200, but often stays on hours later simulcasting its FM, particularly on weekends.
1210 XECOPA Copainalá, Chiapas, La Voz de los Vientos [Winds]. Schedule 1200-0000 per IRCA Mexican Log; broadcasting in Zoque and Tzotzil. I have not heard this station since 2022, although the IRCA Mexican Log says that they are active.
1260 XEJAM Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca, La Voz de la Costa Chica [region]. Schedule 1200-0000; broadcasting in Mixtec, Amuzgo, and Chatino. For me, hearing this station through nearby XEL and XEZH can be a challenge, but the sign-on has enough distinctive elements to be unmistakeable. After a choral anthem by untrained children that ends at around 1204, an apparently small girl gives an announcement, after which the station ID and slogan are given by a woman and then a man with folk music between and a rooster crow afterward. Sign-off is before or near sunset, and consists of a brief announcement with flute trills interspersed, then a conventional children’s choral anthem.
1350 XECTZ Cuetzalan, Pue., La Voz de la Sierra Norte [Northern Sierra region]. Schedule 1200-0100; broadcasting in Nahuatl and Totonac; offset 1349.989. XECTZ is in the same region of Mexico as XEQK-1350 in Mexico City, but has twice the power and can sometimes be heard here through the nearer CDMX station. At 1200 UTC XEQK plays four verses of a standard children’s choral version of the Mexican anthem that last nearly five minutes, while XECTZ plays a single verse of an a cappella anthem sung by untrained children, with the call ID and slogan given immediately after. Before sign-off they have been heard with traditional music that includes a high-pitched whistle or flute, then an announcement in Spanish with lower-pitched flute and the same anthem as at sign-on.
1360 XEZON Zongolica, Veracruz, La Voz de la Sierra de Zongolica [Zongolica Sierra region]. Schedule 1200-0000; broadcasting in Nahuatl; offset 1359.997. Like XEJMN, XEZON was listed as silent in the recent IRCA Mexican Log due to serious flood damage, and I’m happy to report that they have returned to the air with a healthy signal. Their regular sign-off occurs before or just after sunset and I have not noted any details other than the national anthem, so sunrise is a better time to target them. Sign-on starts with a long anthem sung by untrained schoolchildren; station information begins around 2:30 after the hour, given first in Spanish and then in Nahuatl.
1480 XECARH Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, La Voz del Pueblo Hñahñu [Hñahñu People]. Schedule 1300-0100 and beyond?; broadcasting in Hñahñu and Nahuatl; offset 1480.006. I had had this station noted as having a 1200-0100 UTC schedule, but this week heard them starting on the air slightly after 1300 and continuing their programming beyond 0102. No anthem was heard at either time. Because they also broadcast on XHCARH-89.1, the AM programming may not include formal sign-on or sign-off. At both 1300 and 0100 UTC, the top-of-hour break contains distinctive music and flute sounds and indigenous language as well as call IDs and station slogan in Spanish.
In addition to the 21 stations above, other Mexican AM stations are classified as social or community broadcasters that generally do not have advertising, although they are not under the umbrella of INPI. The southern state of Chiapas, where the indigenous population is large, has its own Sistema de Información Cultural (SIC) that promotes both INPI and non-INPI stations with indigenous content. The latter include XEOCH-600 in Ocosingo, “K’in Radio”, and XETEC-1140 in Tecpatán, “Radio Tecpatán”, which remains on the air (last heard by me on 13 Jan 2025) despite not being listed on the SIC website.
NRC DX News Jan 28, published Jan 21 via WOR iog (2025-01-21)
