ESPN Deportes Radio

ESPN Deportes Radio

Type	Radio network
Country	United States
Ownership
Owner	ESPN, Inc. (Disney 80%/Hearst 20%)
History
Launch date	October 5, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-10-05)
Closed	September 8, 2019; 4 years ago (2019-09-08)
Replaced by	Unanimo Deportes (in some markets)
Coverage
Availability	National, through regional affiliates and satellite radio
Links
Website	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.

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, Omar Fuentes, Jairo Moncada, Noe Vazquez, Diego Cora, Miguel Mannella, Dairon Esmoriz, 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 or went dark.^[3][4]

Event broadcasts

Soccer

• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• UEFA Super Cup
• Major League Soccer (Viernes de Fútbol, Soccer Sunday, playoffs and MLS Cup)
• CONCACAF Champions League
• International Champions Cup
• CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
• CONCACAF FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
• FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers
• Premier League
• La Liga
• FA Cup
• Copa del Rey
• Supercopa de España

Other

• National Basketball Association
• National Football League (Monday Night Football, Playoffs, Pro Bowl and Super Bowl)
• College Football Playoff
• Major League Baseball (Sunday Night Baseball, Saturday Game of the Week, Major League Baseball All-Star Game, postseason and World Series)
• World Baseball Classic

References

• ESPN Deportes lands its own ‘Dream Job’ - Mary Sutter, Variety, 18 May 2005
• ESPN Deportes Radio to Air 24/7 This Fall - Katy Bachman, Ad Week, 19 May 2005
• ESPN, MRN bringing Spanish-language NASCAR to radio - Michael Smith, Sports Business Journal, 30 October 2006
• ESPN Deportes Radio gets started - Radio and Television Business Report, 20 May 2008

External links

ExecutivesU.S. networks

Streaming	ESPN+ ESPN3 Unnamed ESPN/Fox/WBD sports bundle service
Linear TV	ESPN ESPN2 ESPNU ESPNews Deportes ACC Network SEC Network Longhorn Network
Part-time	ACC Network Xtra ESPN on ABC SEC Network +
Radio	ESPN Radio Deportes Xtra

International

Japan	J Sports (3%)
Latin America	Panregional ESPN (Latin America) Brazil ESPN (Brazil) Caribbean ESPN Caribbean
Netherlands	ESPN (Netherlands)
Oceania	ESPN Australia
Sub-Saharan Africa	ESPN Africa

Co-owned Canadian
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