There was a time not long ago when
Spanish radio stations would buy the
rights to carry Major League Baseball
games. Today the trend is for the
teams to run their own spanish
radio broadcast.

Amaury Pi-GonzálezThe Los Angeles Dodgers were the first Major
League team to see the benefits of producing
their own broadcast of their games in Spanish.
Hiring their announcers and then contracting
with station(s)to put the games on the air.
The Dodgers have been broadcasting their
games in Spanish for over 40 years. When
the Dodgers began reaching to the Hispanic
market of the greater Los Angeles area, Hispanics
were just “another minority”. Today that has
drastically changed and Hispanics are “the”
largest and fastest growing minority accross
the United States.

The Dodgers realized that by keeping the rights,
they kept 100% of inventory (as far as sales
are concerned) but also the quality of the broadcast
making it more effective and productive to reach
their target market.

The trend today is for the teams do run the show,
sales,productions,promotions and all involved
with the Hispanic market. That makes much more
husiness sense and since most teams already
have their marketing departments set in
“promotion mode”all they have to do is
just merge their Spanish speaking production
into their organization, therefore becoming much more effective. But beware ! just because you have somebody at your office with a spanish
surname that doesn’t mean that person can
speak or write spanish. You must hire “qualified”
bilingual men and women. One station long time
ago had a receptionist translate copy for my
broadcast. I could have found a 4th grader
that could have done a better job..and for free !

Let me just give you a very simple example
(I do not have an MBA but I have a MCS,
Masters In Common Sense)
– I remember when a spanish radio station
would be asked to provide copy of promotions
in spanish language for our spanish broadcast
They(radio station) were not quick enough, sometimes they would have to fax it or e-mail
the copy and we never got it on our broadcast.
Some radio stations have D.J’S that during the
baseball games they become coordinators,
playing the commercials in-between innings,
they are paid by the station not the team
therefore they could care less about the
baseball, some are irresponsible and that
hurts the baseball production.
If the team runs the show, you have this
information right there at the park, if the
tem runs the show they can hire a person
to be the baseball coordinator at studio
to run the appropiate spots.
My point: the team runs the show – they do have
the personnel while some radio stations simply
do not. The team runs the show they have
control of what goes on.
All of above, of course, assuming the team
is involved and really want to produce this
professionally. Of course is possible for a
team to hire the wrong people also.

We can all agree that if you hire the right people
you have much more of a chance to make your
operation profitable that if you hire people that
are not really up-to-the-task.
Does that makes too much common sense ?
Well… somepeople say that ‘common sense
is not common anymore’.

Baseball is very different., I was always puzzled
how a team can missmage and pay a player
$6 or $7 million a year to hit below the Mendoza line
but do not want to produce spanish broadcast which
for much much less would give the team not
only great PR but get them involved in something
positive with the community.

There is no doubt the trend has been for the
teams to run their spanish broadcasts and
spanish programs, but if you do not, then
you must find producers that can (and there
are some)that could do a very good job in
this regard. Today there are a few here
in the West Coast as well in the East that
know what they are doing and run their
operations very professionally and do have
a marketing plan. But I have always maintained
that If the team wants to produce spanish
broadcast they have much more resources
at their disposal.

One spanish radio station owner many many
years ago told me: “Amaury, how come they
cannot give us more tickets…they are not selling
out the stadium?” I remember I told him:
Mr________if we use that logic then that
restaurant accross the street that has only
2 people eating there should invite everybody
walking the street to walk in and eat for Free !
Baseball is a business, we all know that but
some people want to make money and they
go about the wrong way. I have seen these
with my own two healthy eyes for many many
years. But things are changing.

By-the-way I also once worked for a guy that
after you met him he would tell you he had
an MBA and how much education he got and
all that great stuff —(to make a long story
short)— he bounced checks and I had to take
him to the California Labor Board, he declared
bankrupcy. He could easily have joined another guys with MBA serving 10 to 20 in State.

Another plus in 2005,compared to….1985 is that
around 30% of all players in the Major Leagues
today are Hispanics. We hear Mariano Rivera,
Raul Ibañez and many many Hispanic players
doing Public Service Announcements accross
dozens of Hispanic radio stations in the country.
The players are the game, the Hispanic community
can identify with their local Hispanic players
much more than when Fernando Valenzuela
arrived with the Dodgers in 1980 and caused
an instant sensation. When Fernando broke in
with the Dodgers Hispanic players were not
in such quantity as today. The Baltimore Orioles
have two Hall of Fame players in their everyday
lineup, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro,
Sosa is Dominican and Palmeiro was born in
Cuba.

Teams most (repeat) most get their Hispanic
players involved in their Hispanic communities,
they are the GREATEST resources we have.

The Red Sox also have two Hall of Fame
players, Pedro Martínez and Manny Ramírez.
And depending how his career continues maybe
David Ortíz. I know some of you would say that
Ramírez is not a good fielder (we all know that)
but he is such dominant offensive player that
he probably will be in the Hall of Fame in the
future.

Major League teams are realizing that the
power of the Hispanics is here to stay, it is
not going away. Those in decision-making
positions that do not see this are in denial
and should seek therapy inmediately.

It is a fact that some radio stations that broadcast
in Spanish do not have the resources, i.e. sales,
production,talent, to successfully accomplish
the broadcasting of Major League baseball games.

I have seen stations hire their own people and
because of economic reasons sacrifice the quality
of these broadcasts, giving the job to Disc Jockeys
and not really sportscasters, in the short run
it might be good for the stations but overtime
they are not only embarrassed, but because they
did it the wrong way they failed at the end and
therefore, nobody benefits.

Today the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,Florida Marlins,
Houston Astros,New York Mets,Texas Rangers
and San Francisco Giants -among others- have integrated their spanish broadcast.
In some areas there are stations that
specialize 100X100 in Sports,they sell sports,
but those are few and far between these days
of blogs, internet, huge networks,XM radio and
all those things that smaller independent radio
stations(not many left)didn’t have to face 20
years ago.

When I first started in this business I was able
to speak directly to some of the owners-operators
of spanish format radio stations. Today that is
almost impossible. Even Spanish radio is basically
divided into a handfull of networks, these networks
are basically not focused into sports, but music
as well as the ever present morning “schock jocks”
i.e. El Cucuy(you see these ads in buses
and roads accross the country)as well as
El Piolín. Although these personalities are good
at what they do, they are more on the vein of
somekind of spanish speaking Howard Stern,
but not as XXX. Logically these networks see
these as profit centers delivering huge audiences,
while baseball does not delivers such numbers.
You know the type of morning D.J’S, that I
am talking about, meatheads who think they
are funny but are extremely ignorant at times,
some are close to “mental incapacitation”.

Everybody is better served when the Major League
teams integrate their spanish broadcast as part
of their team. Many marketings departments
will sell the English broadcast to big national
adverttisers and then offer that same
sponsor the Hispanic market for an additional
price, thus the team benefits not only in the
Public Relations arena but if is run correctly
it coulb become also profitable.

Even the Minnesota Twins have started doing
selected games in spanish. I think we all agree
that Minneapolis is not considered a “Hispanic”
part of the country. Tony Oliva was part of that.

My all-time favorite story about top people
making decisions was when I first started and
Charles O.Finley was the owner of the A’S.
Carl Finley one day up in the old Press Box
at the Oakland Coliseum(those days parks
didn’t have corporate names) Carl told me
-quote-
“Amaury, I just spoke with Charlie, he told
me that you can go ahead and broadcast
the games in Mexican”.
I smiled and told Carl: “Carl, that is great,
but can you please tell Charlie that Mexican
is not a language but a nationality…ask him
if the English broadcast are done in American
English or The Queens English..or in Irish ?

(Above the Finley story will be on my book, the one I am writing, in more detail, of course)

¡ Adiós muchachos…y muchachas !