XHITZ-FM

XHITZ-FM
City Tijuana, Baja California
Broadcast area San Diego-Tijuana
Branding Z90
Slogan Today's Hit Music
Frequency 90.3 (MHz)
First air date 1970
Format CHR
ERP 100,000 watts
HAAT 184.6 meters
Class C
Owner Comunicación XERSA, S.A. de C.V.[1]
(programmed by Local Media of San Diego)
Sister stations XETRA, XHRM
Webcast Listen Live
Website Z90.com

XHITZ-FM (Z90) is a CHR[2] station in San Diego-Tijuana broadcasting on 90.3 MHz. The station is owned by a Mexican company, with its transmitter and antenna on Mount San Antonio in Tijuana. This company leases the programming and advertising rights to Local Media of San Diego, with studios in San Diego.

History

XHIS-FM received its concession in November 1973, owned by Víctor Díaz, founder of Califormula Broadcasting which owned (and operated) various stations in the market.

XHITZ was once a popular album rock station in the 1970s and 1980s, before they went to a "Pirate Radio" format in 1989 based on the success of KQLZ in Los Angeles. On April 5, 1990, they switched formats to Rhythmic Top 40 under Program Director Rick Thomas, with a Dance-leaning direction. "Z90" competed against Q106, which was the powerhouse of Top 40 in the market. With Z90's debut, however, it took only a few books for XHITZ to beat Q106, 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 shifted towards a more Mainstream Top 40 format, and wasn't until September 1996 that XHITZ would have another direct competitor against KHTS, which had a Dance-lean much like XHITZ.

However by August 1998, XHITZ would move away from its Dance/R&B approach to begin focusing more on R&B/Hip-Hop product. The station also rebranded as "Jammin' Z90" before reverting to "Z90.3". XHITZ remained a hip-hop leader until 2004, when XHMORE-FM flipped to a hip hop-emphasizing Rhythmic Top 40. These two stations would battle until late 2009, when XHMORE changed formats. Shortly after this, the station shifted back to its Dance-leaning and more Mainstream sound. Despite being the market's only Rhythmic Top 40, XHITZ continues to share the same music as KHTS and KEGY, all of whom are Rhythmic-leaning Top 40/CHRs, along with Adult Top 40 KMYI. On April 2, 2012, XHITZ rebranded themselves on-air from "Z90.3" to "Jammin' Z90." In mid-2014, XHITZ rebranded back to "Z90." Today, the station airs a CHR format, resulting in both Nielsen BDS and Mediabase moving XHITZ from their Rhythmic to Mainstream reporting panels in February 2015.

Ownership/Management

On July 25, 2005, Clear Channel Broadcasting transferred the programming and local marketing arrangements of XHITZ, along with XETRA-FM and XHRM-FM, 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. In 2010, BCA would spin off XHITZ, XETRA and XHRM to Local Media of America after a change in management.

On October 6, 2015, Midwest Television (owners of KFMB and KFMB-FM) announced that it had entered into a joint operating agreement with Local Media San Diego LLC, forming an entity known as SDLocal to manage their collective cluster of stations. The intent of this agreement is to "[preserve the] local ownership and operation of San Diego's top-rated radio stations".[3]

Current Operations and ZeeJays

References

  1. ↑ Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones. Infraestructura de Estaciones de Radio FM. Last modified 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  2. ↑ "Nielsen Audio Ratings Fall 2014".
  3. ↑ "Local Media, KFMB Stations announce joint-operating agreement". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 6 October 2015.

External links

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