Update 8/29: XHIM relaunched as gold based AAA “Universal 105.1” at 12pm today.
Now positioned as “Modern Classics”, the change adds more 1990s and 2000s songs to the station’s playlist including some recurrents like Lorde’s “Team”. XHIM retains its daily 9am hour of Beatles songs and 12pm hour of songs starting with a certain letter.
Original Report 8/26: A change is afoot at Grupo Radio Mexico Classic Rock “Rock 105.1” XHIM Ciudad Juarez, MX/El Paso, TX.
The company registered Universal1051.com back in June, and the site is now up in a mostly completed state. Grupo Radio Mexico operates nine stations in the market targeting both sides of the border. XHIM and sister CHR “104.3 Hit-FM” both currently feature English language formats while the other seven (3 FM/4 AM) operate various Spanish language formats.
XHIM and Townsquare Media Active Rock 95.5 KLAQ are currently the only Rock based stations in the market. XHIM registered a 2.6 share in the Spring 2014 Nielsen Audio ratings.
The station logo on the new site looks a lot like the one for the “Universal” in Mexico City (Grupo Radio Centro’s XHFO).
Indeed it does. Based on that it appears a shift to AC or Classic Hits is in the cards, which makes sense with Entravision’s KOFX and Clear Channel’s KTSM at the top of the market’s ratings.
Of course, GRM is owned by the CEO / CEO of Grupo Radio Centro, Francisco Aguirre. He and his son, Francisco Aguirre Kranz, have the GRM stations in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Cd. Juárez and several other markets.
Universal in Mexico City is English AC with Spanish language announcers.