The station now known as Switch 105.9 has occupied its Ciudad Juárez frequency since 1980, but it took a 2016 format flip and, later, an act of violence against its own staff to shape the station listeners hear today.
From Romance to Switch
According to Wikipedia's history of the station, call sign XHGU received its concession on October 17, 1980 under original owner Guillermo O. Huerta Ramírez, broadcasting on 105.9 FM at 23 kilowatts before doubling its power two years later. The signal moved to a transmitter site at Cerro del Indio in 2002, boosting output to 100,000 watts and giving it real reach across the Ciudad Juárez and El Paso border corridor. For years the station ran Romance, a romantic ballads format, before MegaRadio flipped it in 2016 into Switch, a Latin pop station built around Spanish-language hits from the 80s through the 2000s alongside current reggaeton and pop.
A Station That Refused to Go Silent
On August 11, 2022, an armed group linked to a prison riot that spilled into the streets of Ciudad Juárez attacked Switch 105.9 announcer Allan González while he was hosting a remote broadcast from a pizzeria, then targeted the station's mobile unit, killing González along with colleagues Armando Guerrero, Lino Flores, and Alejandro Arriaga, according to the LatAm Journalism Review's coverage. MegaRadio, the station's parent company, paused its news programming for a day in response. Company director José Loya put it plainly at the time: "Yesterday, not one, but four of our company's voices were silenced. But we will never remain silent in the face of impunity." The station returned to air and has kept broadcasting since.
Part of a Larger Border Radio Network
Switch 105.9 is one piece of MegaRadio, a Mexican broadcasting group with roots dating back to 1961 that now runs stations across Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, and Mazatlán, spanning formats from grupera to rock. Within that lineup, Switch is the pop specialist, aimed at listeners who want current hits and nostalgic Spanish-language pop in the same rotation.
Why It's Worth Tuning In
Switch 105.9 offers a genuine slice of border-city pop radio, a station whose staff kept it on air through one of the hardest days in its history, still delivering the Latin pop hits that have defined it since 2016.