Durango is not a city that appears much in the story of Mexican radio. Tucked in the Sierra Madre Occidental at over 1,800 meters altitude, it's the capital of one of Mexico's largest and most sparsely populated states, a city that has always looked inward toward the mountains more than outward toward media capitals. But XHCAV-FM, broadcasting as EXA FM 101.3, connects Durango to one of Mexico's biggest radio brands: the Exa FM national format from MVS Radio, the contemporary hit radio network that carries Spanish and English pop across Mexico.
From a 1954 AM Signal to Mexico's Orange Network
The XHCAV-FM call sign honors the founder of Grupo Radio Armas, Carlos Armas Vega, who received the original concession for a radio station in Durango on October 2, 1954, initially on AM at 1470 kHz. Over the following decades, the station went through several formats and names under Armas Radio, including "Radio Internacional," "Radio Caliente," and "Play," each representing a different moment in Durango's cultural history. The migration to FM happened in the early 2010s, and the adoption of the Exa FM national format connected this local station to a national distribution network.
Today the station broadcasts at 25,000 watts from a transmitter in the hills above Durango, alongside sister stations XHDGO-FM and XHDU-FM in the Armas Radio family. The slogan it carries is the Exa network's own: "La Estación Exacta" ("The Exact Station") and "La Estación Naranja" ("The Orange Station"), both referencing the network's distinctive visual identity.
Contemporary Hits at High Altitude
Exa FM is one of the few Mexican radio formats that genuinely programs both Spanish and English contemporary hits without prioritizing one over the other. The format is listed as "música en español e inglés," music in Spanish and English, reflecting an audience that listens to Bad Bunny and Olivia Rodrigo in the same playlist without treating either as foreign:
- Spanish-language pop and Latin hits, from the reggaeton and pop acts dominating Latin charts to the regional Mexican crossover artists who have found mainstream pop audiences.
- English contemporary hits, the international chart music that Mexican youth audiences consume alongside their domestic counterparts.
- Music and news programming, with the Exa format's mix of entertainment content and real-world information keeping the station relevant beyond the music.
Durango: Silver, Cowboys, and FM Radio
Durango has a mythology that precedes its radio history. It was a major silver mining city during the colonial era, has been used as a stand-in for western US landscapes in countless Hollywood films, and retains an identity as a frontier city even now. EXA FM 101.3 sits in that context as the city's contemporary hit station, giving Durango's urban population access to the same format quality that Mexico City listeners get, from a transmitter pointed at the same dramatic mountain range that gave the state its name.
Stream EXA FM 101.3 Durango Free on Radio Shuffle
Tune in to EXA FM 101.3 Durango on Radio Shuffle , no account, no app, no fee. Press play and get Mexico's orange station, broadcasting contemporary hits in Spanish and English from 1,800 meters up in the Sierra Madre since 1954.