Romántica 1380 sounds like a station with a single, settled identity, romantic Spanish-language ballads for a Mexico City audience that grew up on them. But the frequency it broadcasts from has spent nine decades trying on names, formats, and owners before landing here.
Born in 1934 as a Different Station Entirely
According to Wikipedia's history of the station, the concession that eventually became today's Romántica 1380 was granted on September 30, 1934 to Alonso Traslosheros Ávalos as XEMX-AM, running on 1280 kHz at a modest 120 watts. Guillermo Robles bought the station in 1941, sold it to Publicidad Comercial de México in 1946, and by 1954 it had moved to its current 1380 kHz home with a considerably stronger signal.
Radio Femenina, Radio Eco, Dimensión 13-80
The station's identity kept shifting with each new owner. Under Núcleo Radio Mil in the 1960s it ran as "Radio Femenina," a format aimed squarely at women listeners. By the late 1960s or 1970s the call sign changed to XECO and the station rebranded as "Radio Eco 13-80" with contemporary music, before pivoting again in 1987 into an oldies format called "Dimensión 13-80."
Radiorama Takes Over, and Romántica Finally Sticks
Radiorama bought the station in 1995 and initially launched it as "La Poderosa 13-80" with a Regional Mexican format, before the romantic ballad format arrived in 1998 as "Romántica 13-80." Even that wasn't the end of the changes: on May 17, 2005 the station briefly switched to a "Ke Buena" simulcast of sister station XEQ-FM 92.9, before Romántica returned for good on September 1, 2006, and has held that identity ever since under Grupo Audiorama Comunicaciones.
Why It's Worth Tuning In
Romántica 1380 is a station whose calm, consistent format today belies a genuinely restless past, nine names and formats across nine decades before settling into the romantic ballad sound that now defines it for Mexico City listeners.