By Juan Larrosa, September 2, 2025
University radio stations are media outlets with the capacity to offer new voices and perspectives to the public life of a community. In this piece, I address the topic in light of good news: since August 20, Radio ITESO has been on the air at 95.1 FM.
In Mexico—and probably younger listeners may not recall this—throughout practically the entire 20th century, we lived under a system of mass communication, namely radio and television, highly controlled by the federal government and administered undemocratically by a handful of families who became the post-revolutionary aristocracy of the country. This is the story of how the television empires of Televisa and, later, TV Azteca emerged in the late nineties, along with most of the country’s radio networks. (For more, see: La lucha por las telecomunicaciones en México II: la integración al mundo postindustrial.)
Since the 1980s, there have been multiple efforts by civil society, academia, and social organizations to transform that communication system. After years of struggle and political changes, new regulations were sought for educational projects. It was not until the 2013 telecommunications reform that a new legal framework was established, allowing non-commercial radio stations to access concessions.
That reform arrived late: the broadcasting model was already worn out, with shrinking audiences and a declining business model. Nevertheless, it opened the door to various projects, including public, university, and community radio stations, as well as those run by Indigenous peoples. Within this new landscape, ITESO has joined by offering an alternative on Guadalajara’s radio dial. (For more, see: El medio subutilizado: la radio tapatía.)
Radio ITESO represents an opportunity to listen to voices that are typically underrepresented in commercial radio, and to share content that cannot be heard elsewhere on the dial.
I will not delve into the details of the ITESO case itself, as I work at the university and there is a conflict of interest on my part in writing about this. It will be up to society and the community of Guadalajara to judge the quality of the content. What I do want to emphasize is the historical framework: having a new university radio station is excellent news for the diversity of the city’s radio landscape.
For my part, I wish my colleagues at ITESO the utmost success in this endeavor, and to the listeners, meaningful moments of companionship and reflection.
This text was originally read on the NTR Radio newscast broadcast on September 1, 2025, and hosted by journalist Sergio René de Dios Corona.