In the 1940s,
540 AM was home to
KFMB San Diego. When KFMB moved up the dial to 760 kHz, the government broadcast authorities in the U.S. and Mexico reserved 540 kHz for a Mexico-based radio station. However, for a few years in the 1980s, there was a U.S.-licensed radio station at this frequency, KSHO in
Hesperia, California, and later
KNNZ in
Costa Mesa, California. It was not until May 13, 1991 that the concession was awarded for
XETIN-AM, which was originally licensed as a 5,000-watt
daytimer and owned by Víctor Manuel Moreno Torres. Ultimately, a Mexican concessionaire took over operation of XETIN for Los Angeles radio station owner
Saul Levine. In 1995, XETIN became an
all-news station branded as "K-News",
simulcast with AM 1260 KNNS (now
KMZT) in
Beverly Hills and AM 540 KNNZ (now
1650 KFOX) in
Costa Mesa. The three stations attempted to compete with
CBS Radio-owned
KNX 1070 and
Westinghouse Broadcasting's
KFWB 980, both highly rated all-news operations. The all-news format was discontinued two years later. The station became
XEBACH-AM in 1997, and aired a
classical music format. The format flip was spurred by San Diego's original classical station, KFSD, moving from full-powered
94.1 FM to a lower-power suburban station,
92.1 FM in
Escondido. A year later, KNNZ moved to 1650 AM, leaving XESURF as the only station in the region broadcasting on AM 540. In June 2000, XEBACH became
XEJAZZ-AM with a
jazz format relayed from
KJAZ (1260 AM) in Los Angeles. The format did not last long, and XEJAZZ promptly became XEBACH again in May 2001. In March 2002, motivated by low ratings and the move of the San Diego Opera to
KPBS-FM 89.5, Levine opted to flip formats, and the station was relaunched with an
adult standards format known as "The Surf", which aired on newly rechristened
XESURF-AM and on
KSUR (1260 AM) in Los Angeles. The station spent much of the mid-2000s simulcasting that standards format until February 2004, then
oldies until February 2005, and then adult standards again until October 2006. In October 2006, the station ended its simulcast and flipped to a
country music format. Although San Diego had country music on
KSON-FM 97.3 and
KUSS 95.7, Saul Levine sought to fill the void created when
KZLA-FM 93.9 in Los Angeles dropped the country music format. The XESURF signal reaches
Orange County, which Levine called "the center of country music listening." When
KKGO and the country music format moved to 105.1 FM in February 2007, the format was still simulcast on XESURF. In May 2007, the station split from the simulcast to air
classic country music as "540 The Zoo." On November 27, 2007, XESURF changed formats yet again, to a
news/talk format simulcast from
KGIL (1260 AM). After KGIL dropped the talk format on August 27, 2009, XESURF temporarily carried an oldies format until changing to Spanish-language programming that September. In March 2010, the concession was transferred to a Mexican company named Radio Rys, S.A. de C.V. It is owned by members of the Alonso Coratella family, which also holds the Mexican concessions for
Entravision Communications's three Mexican stations, including
XHAS-TDT and
XHDTV-TDT in the Tijuana area. ==Notes==