Mexico City, January 22 – XHCDMX-FM 106.1, Mexico City’s pioneering feminist community radio station, will resume operations, marking a significant victory for women’s communication rights in the country. The Alliance for the Human Right of Women to Communicate A.C. announced the station’s return on Wednesday, January 22, 2026, following a notification from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT).
A Historic Return to the Airwaves
The radio project, historically driven by the Alliance for the Human Right of Women to Communicate A.C., aligns with Section J of the Beijing Platform for Action and other international instruments promoting women’s right to communicate. The CRT officially authorized the restart of XHCDMX-FM 106.1’s operations on January 15, 2026.
This decision comes after the CRT determined that María Eugenia Chávez Fonseca, representing Salud Integral para la Mujer (SIPAM), unilaterally renounced the concession title for 106.1 FM in October 2024 without the necessary authorization. The concession had been granted to the Alliance for the Human Right of Women to Communicate A.C. in 2017.
Violeta Radio, Mexico’s first feminist social community radio, officially launched on 106.1 FM on February 28, 2018. It operated on FM and online from June 2018 until its cessation in October 2024.
Challenging Media Inequality
Violeta Radio emerged in a media landscape where sexism is prevalent. In Mexico City, for example, only 82 out of 530 hours of weekly news broadcasts feature women. This context positions Violeta Radio as a crucial platform for gender equality.
The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) for Latin America, in its December 2025 report, revealed that women’s presence in media had decreased by six percentage points since 2020, now standing at only 26%. The report also highlighted a decline in content challenging gender stereotypes, from 12% to 8%, while content reinforcing macho ideas and traditional representations of women increased.
Key findings from the GMMP report on media representation:
- Only 11% of news stories across print, radio, television, and websites feature women as central figures.
- Women-centric news is concentrated on specific topics like gender violence (100% representation), though this topic constitutes only 1% of media agendas and is not covered by any female journalists.
- In economic news, 100% of protagonists are men.
- In political news, only 14% of protagonists are women, with men accounting for 86%.
Regarding the presence of female reporters and journalists, inequality persists:
- Print media shows a balance of 50% women and 50% men.
- Radio features 21% women and 79% men.
- Television has 25% women and 75% men.
A Commitment to Stereotype-Free Content
During the project’s initial launch, Lucía Lagunes Huerta, then director of Comunicación e Información de la Mujer A.C. (CIMAC) and a partner in the Alliance, emphasized the station’s mission: “Violeta Radio is a radio that promotes content free of gender stereotypes and sexism and that encourages the participation of women in the direction, operation, conduction, and creation of content.”
Aimée Vega Montiel, director of the Alliance, noted that Violeta Radio is a direct outcome of the 2013 constitutional reform on telecommunications and broadcasting, which allowed the Alliance to secure the country’s first feminist social community use concession.
The Unilateral Act and Legal Victory
On October 14, 2024, María Eugenia Chávez Fonseca, without the Alliance Assembly’s approval, submitted a resignation of the 106.1 FM concession to the then-Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT). The Alliance publicly denounced this act on October 23, 2024, stating it was a unilateral action by SIPAM, carried out without the knowledge of the Alliance’s partners.
The Alliance for the Human Right of Women to Communicate A.C. reiterated its social and ethical commitment, affirming that Violeta Radio was born in 2017 out of the necessity for a radio space that produced and disseminated content based on the rights of women and girls, from a feminist perspective, free of sexist, discriminatory, and violent stereotypes.
Following a legal process, the Alliance successfully challenged the unilateral renunciation. The Federal Judiciary granted them Amparo and Protection of Justice, leading to the CRT’s notification for the resumption of operations on 106.1 FM in Mexico City.
The Alliance for the Human Right of Women to Communicate confirmed that the radio project will continue, underscoring its commitment to the human right of women to communicate. During the legal dispute, feminist radio production continued online through Cimacnoticias and Cimacradio digital platforms, ensuring the continuous work of the women operating, producing, creating, and managing the radio.
Source: https://cimacnoticias.com.mx/2026/01/22/cdmx-volvera-a-tener-radio-feminista/
