ESPN Deportes Radio

ESPN Deportes Radio was an American Spanish language sports radio network created and produced by Disney-owned ESPN. Programming included call-in talk shows and commentary from hosts about a full range of sporting events, including soccer, American football, baseball and boxing.

ESPN Deportes Radio
TypeRadio network
Country
United States
SloganSolo deportes, solo en español
Ownership
OwnerESPN, Inc.
(Disney 80%/Hearst 20%)
History
Launch dateOctober 5, 2005 (2005-10-05)
ClosedSeptember 8, 2019 (2019-09-08)
Replaced byUnanimo Deportes
(in some markets)
Coverage
AvailabilityNational, through regional affiliates and satellite radio
Links
WebsiteESPN Deportes Radio

The network had stations in 15 states in the United States (Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington). It was also available terrestrially in Puerto Rico and in northern Mexico (by spillover radio signals) and was available nationally in the US on Sirius XM Radio on Channel 149.

The network shut down on September 8, 2019.

Programming

ESPN Deportes Radio featured sports news and talk in Spanish, with a special emphasis on soccer. Popular personalities on the network included Jorge Ramos, Fernando Alvarez, Hernan Pereyra, José del Valle, Kenneth Garay, Rafael Ramos Villagrana, Elmer Polanco, Armando Talavera Broderick Zerpa, Giovanni Scavia, Jairo Moncada, Noe Vazquez, Diego Cora, Miguel Mannella, Humberto Carrera, José Francisco Rivera, Oscar Restrepo, Alberto "Mono" Gambetta, David Lopez, Miguel Angel Cebreros, Dionisio Estrada, Bernardo Pilatti, Guillermo Celis, Renato Bermudez, Alvaro Riet, Omar Orlando Salazar, David Faitelson, Carlos Arratia and Luis Escobar.

ESPN Deportes as well as its English counterpart ESPN Radio were retained by Disney in the sale of ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting, then to Cumulus Media. The network was flagshipped at WMYM in Miami, Florida, which was not owned by Disney (it sold the station, then a Radio Disney outlet, in 2015) but had been operated by Disney for several years before that.[1]

Discontinuation of service

On June 11, 2019, ESPN announced that it would be discontinuing the ESPN Deportes Radio network on September 8, 2019, citing consumer habits within the demographic skewing towards digital platforms, the lack of a cohesive sports culture among the United States' various Spanish-speaking communities, and the cost, expense and complications of running a full-time radio network. ESPN plans to convert some of the network's programming to podcasts. 10 full-time employees and 25 part-time employees would be laid off as a result of the closures.[2][1]

Most stations became affiliates of rival Spanish-language sports network TUDN Radio and the newly launched Unanimo Deportes radio network (which is run by ESPN Deportes alumnus Lino García and also based at WMYM), while WEPN in New York City switched to the national English-language ESPN Radio feed, and the remaining affiliates switched to different formats. [3][4]

Event broadcasts
Soccer
Other

References
  1. Fybush, Scott (June 17, 2019). "¡Adios, ESPN Deportes Radio!". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  2. "35 To Lose Jobs As ESPN Shuts Down Deportes Radio". Radio Ink. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
  3. Jacobson, Adam. "For Spanish-language Sports, It's 'Unanimo'", Radio & Television Business Report. September 3, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  4. "Adios Deportes, Hola UNANIMO", Radio Ink. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
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