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Spanish Sports Starts on 1050 in New York Today
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Live soccer, Dominican baseball and New York Jets games are among the big
selling points when ESPN turns its 1050 AM dial position in New York into
Spanish-language sports.
ESPN Deportes Radio Nueva York is
launching this afternoon with an intro by Mike Greenberg from ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” and a welcome show
with ESPN Deportes Radio’s personalities. Two hours later, the station goes
right into live soccer, with three World Cup Qualifier games.
ESPN Deportes Radio, owned by Disney, began in 2005 and now
has 45 affiliates; but this is a big move into the nation’s largest radio
market (the company promoted it by, among other things, sending tabletop clock/radios with iPod docks to journalists today). The organization says its Deportes format now can reach close to 80 percent of
U.S. Hispanics. This New York format change on 50 kW WEPN(AM) at 1050 kHz had been announced earlier, and the English-language
sports format on that frequency has moved to the FM dial.
The station has an agreement to carry Spanish-language coverage of the New
York Jets (the other kind of football) for three years. Clemson Smith Muñiz is
lead announcer. Content will also feature broadcast of CONMEBOL South American World Cup Qualifiers, CONCACAF World Cup
qualifiers, Mexican First Division soccer, U.S. National Team friendlies, Major
League Baseball and Major League Soccer. The station also will feature local radio
programs devoted to New York Hispanic sports fans.
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