XHITZ-FM
_(XHITZ-FM).png) |
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| 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 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 5.1 (Holiday 2016, Nielsen Audio[1]) |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 184.6 meters |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | Sounds like "hits" |
| Owner | Comunicación XERSA, S.A. de C.V. (programmed by Local Media of San Diego) |
| Sister stations | XETRA-FM, XHRM-FM |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | Z90.com |
XHITZ-FM (Z90) is a CHR 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.
XHIS-FM received its concession in November 1973, owned by Víctor Díaz, founder of Califórmula Broadcasting which would come to own and operate various stations in the market.
In 1983, XHIS became XHITZ-FM and changed to an album rock format under contract to San Diego Radio Company, an American-based operator. However, in 1984, the station stumbled in an ownership dispute. A bitter battle between San Diego Radio Company and Califórmula led to the abrupt end of the album rock format as the latter took control of the station. Díaz cited continued low ratings, but the straw that broke the camel's back was a humorous news report read on the station that stated a German anthropologist had discovered a tribe of "mole people" living in the sewers of Mexico City. When the report was read in late June, it caught the attention of Mexican authorities, who were outraged over the secondhand account they had heard, which implied that Mexicans were so poor they lived in sewers.
In 1986, Díaz sold the American marketing rights for XHITZ again, this time to Broadcasting, Marketing and Management, Ltd. BMM ceased operation of the station on June 30, 1988 as it assigned the rights to another company, Consolidated Radio Sales, which was also bankrupt. The result was that Díaz and the head of Consolidated Radio Sales, Jack McCoy, clashed. In mid-July, McCoy fired all the employees in the US and had all the locks changed, with several employees instead showing up to work in Tijuana; later that day, however, a bankruptcy judge ruled that Díaz owned the US operation of the stations.
In 1989, XHITZ flipped to a "Pirate Radio" format based on the success of KQLZ in Los Angeles. On April 5, 1990, however, the station 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.
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