XHITZ-FM

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.

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.