Radio México Internacional

Radio México Internacional

Mexico City
Broadcast area	international
Programming
Language(s)	Spanish, English, French, indigenous languages
Ownership
Owner	Instituto Mexicano de la Radio
History
First air date	1 September 1969 (shortwave) January 1, 2011 (2011-01-01) (Internet radio)[1]
Last air date	1 June 2004 (shortwave)
Former call signs	XERMX-OC[1]
Former frequencies	5.985, 9.705, 11.77, 15.43, 17.765 MHz[1]
Call sign meaning	Radio México
Technical information
Class	International broadcasting (shortwave)
Power	10,000 watts (shortwave)[2]
Links
Webcast	Listen live
Website	imer.mx

Radio México Internacional is a Mexican government-run radio service based in Mexico City. It broadcast as a shortwave radio station with the broadcast callsign XERMX-OC from 1969 to 2004, and was relaunched as an Internet-only radio service in 2011. Since 1983, it has been under the control of the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER).^[1] The -OC suffix is from onda corta, Spanish for "short wave".

History

Early federal stations

Federal shortwave broadcasting in Mexico goes back to at least 1934, when the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) started XECR. It was discontinued in 1937 when the government of Lázaro Cárdenas began shortwave station XEXA through the Autonomous Department of Press and Publicity (Spanish: Departamento Autónomo de Prensa y Publicidad, DAPP). XEXA continued into the 1940s.^[1]

XERMX

In 1968, Luis Echeverría, then Secretary of the Interior (Spanish: Secretaría de Gobernación), ordered Notimex to create a new shortwave station. The Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) allocated a set of five frequencies to be used at various times of the day: 5.985 MHz on the 49-meter band; 9.705 MHz on 31 meters; 11.77 MHz on 25 meters; 15.43 MHz on 19 meters; and 17.765 MHz on 16 meters.^[1]

XERMX-OC began broadcasting on 1 September 1969. It was taken over by the Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER) in 1983, and ceased broadcasting on 1 June 2004.^[1] It had 10,000-watt transmitters.^[2]

In a November 2006 interview, IMER director Dolores Beistegui explained the logic for taking XERMX off the air:^[3]

Radio México Internacional was a shortwave project that operated with six transmitters, of which five were broken. Repairing them would have cost 60 million pesos... we would have needed 60 million pesos to reach who knows who, because no one listens to shortwave any more... We cancelled the project and gave the transmitters to Radio UNAM.

Internet audio

Radio México Internacional was relaunched by IMER as an Internet radio service on 1 January 2011,^[1] to provide programming in Spanish, English, French, and indigenous languages, with programs including music, dramas and documentaries.^[4]

It is aired as an HD Radio subchannel of XHOF-FM (105.7 HD2) in the Mexico City area and on two FM stations owned by the SPR, XHSPRM-FM 103.5 Mazatlán and XHSPRT-FM 101.1 Tapachula.

References

1. "Historia". Radio México Internacional (in Spanish). Mexico City: Instituto Mexicano de la Radio. 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
2. Fernando Mejía Barquera (2004-06-11). "IMER: los riesgos del silencio". Milenio Diario (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2004-08-03.
3. Beistegui, Dolores (November 2006). "Reconozco cuando me equivoco". etcéter@ (Interview) (in Spanish). Interviewed by Laura Islas Reyes; Luis Miguel Carriedo. Mexico City: Editora Periodística y Análisis de Contenidos, S.A. de C.V. Archived from the original on 2008-07-19. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
4. "Regresa Radio México Internacional por Internet" (Press release) (in Spanish). Mexico City: Notimex. 2010-12-31. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-01-01.

External links

• Radio México Internacional — official webpage