XHITZ-FM

XHITZ-FM (Jammin' Z90) is a Contemporary Hit Radio station in San Diego-Tijuana broadcasting on 90.3 MHz. & branded as Jammin Z90. The station is owned by a Mexican company, with its transmitter and antenna in Tijuana. This company leases the programming and advertising rights to Local Media of America, with studios in San Diego.

History

XHTZ was once a popular album rock station in the 1970s and 1980s, before they went to a KQLZ-type "Pirate Radio" 'rock 40' format in 1989. On April 5, 1990 they switched formats to Rhythmic Top 40 under PD Rick Thomas, with a Dance-leaning direction. Q106 was the powerhouse of Top 40 in San Diego but it took only a few books for Z90 to beat them, and thanks to its success, it also forced the market's only Urban outlet, future sister station XHRM, out of that format by 1993. As Z90 remained on top, Q106 began to go in a different direction and wasn't until September 1996 that Z90 would have another direct competitor against KHTS Channel 933 playing a Dance/R&B product.

However by August 1998, Jammin Z90 would move away from its Dance/R&B approach to begin focusing more on R&B/Hip-Hop product and stayed a hip-hop leader until 2004, when XHMORE-FM, "Blazin 98.9," a direct competitor, launched. These two stations would battle until late 2009, when XHMORE changed formats and Z90.3 was acquired into current day LMA radio. LMA changed the format slightly to their original Rhythmic Top 40/Dance sound and again is up against Channel 933 with their CHR-Rhythmic/Dance sound. Named monikers include Z90 and Jammin' Z90, and currently is called "Z90.3". In addition, it also has competition with KSIQ. Interestingly, XHTZ, despite being the market's only Rhythmic Top 40 (although they billed themselves as "San Diego's #1 Top 40 Hit Music Radio station"), continues to share the same music as KHTS, KSIQ, and as of April 2012, KEGY, all of whom are Rhythmic-leaning Top 40/CHRs, along with Adult Top 40 KMYI. On April 2, 2012, Z90.3 rebranded themselves on-air again as "Jammin' Z90," but left their logo unchanged. Today the station airs a Contemporary Hit Radio format.

On July 25, 2005, Clear Channel Broadcasting transferred the programming and local marketing arrangements of XHITZ, along with XETRA-FM and XHRM-FM 92.5, to Finest City Broadcasting, a new company under the direction of former Clear Channel/San Diego VP/Market Manager Mike Glickenhaus. Finest City took over operations on December 1, 2005.

In 2009, these programming and marketing rights were sold to Broadcast Corporation of the Americas after Finest City defaulted on assets that resulted in its bankruptcy. By 2010, BCA would change its name to Local Media of America after a change in management.

Aircheck

This is an aircheck of Jammin' Z90 San Diego from July 1994 with Nick Monroe the DJ

http://airchecked.com/2011/04/02/xhitz-jammin-z90-san-diego-7492-nick-monroe/

Current Operations and ZeeJays

• Tati
• Tre
• Tristan D ^[1]
• Deejay Al (5 O'clock Traffic Jam)
• Pandar
• Sheryl
• J-Leezy
• Mahjestik

Lil Al

References

External links

• Official website
• Jammin' Z90.3 XHITZ-FM on Facebook
• Jammin' Z90.3 XHITZ-FM on Twitter
• Investigation of radio operations in Tijuana, MX conducted by broadcast engineer Donald Mussell
• Finest City Broadcasting (former owners of XHITZ)
• Query the FCC's FM station database for XHITZ
• Radio-Locator information on XHITZ
• http://www.yes.com/#XHITZ