Every city has a first FM station, the signal that got there before anyone else. In Córdoba, Veracruz, that station is still on the air, just under a very different name and a very different sound than the one it launched with.
Córdoba's First FM Signal, Granted in 1973
According to Wikipedia's history of XHPT-FM, the station received its broadcasting concession on January 23, 1973, making it the first FM station to go on air in Córdoba. It launched under owner Carlos Julio Suástegui Fentanes as Fórmula Musical 91.3, a name it carried for decades as an independently owned local outlet, long before any national network took an interest in the frequency.
A Sale That Brought in a National Network
That changed in July 2008, when Grupo Radio Digital acquired the station and folded it into the Exa FM franchise, one of MVS Radio's national formats. The station's transmitter power was increased to 18 kilowatts in 2012, extending its reach across the Córdoba-Orizaba region, and in 2019 local operator Radio Comunicaciones de las Altas Montañas took over day-to-day operation of the station on Grupo Radio Digital's behalf, a structure that still governs the station today.
The National Brand Behind the Local Signal
EXA FM's own roots go back even further than Córdoba's FM debut. As Radio FM Total's history of the network explains, the format traces to a Mexico City station that began broadcasting in 1974 as XHBST-FM under the Stereorey group, running as "Stereo Best" before shifting into a Spanish-language pop format called "FM Globo." In January 2000, the flagship station rebranded as EXA FM with a Top 40 CHR format, a name that nods to the network's practice of playing consecutive blocks of songs. Today EXA FM is MVS's largest youth-oriented radio chain, spanning more than 70 stations across nine countries, all carrying the same "¡Ponte EXA!" identity into markets as different in size as Mexico City and Córdoba.
A Regional Signal Inside a Nine-Country Network
What makes Córdoba's version distinctive is the layering: a locally granted, locally owned FM concession from the early 1970s, now operating as one node inside one of Latin America's largest youth radio networks. The city keeps its own local station identity and operator while pulling music, promotions, and on-air branding from a format built to sound consistent whether a listener is tuning in from Córdoba's mountain valleys or a major metro station thousands of kilometers away.
Tune in to EXA FM 91.3 on Radio Shuffle for Top 40 pop from a Córdoba frequency that has been on the air since 1973.