MIAMI, Florida — Florida International University, or FIU, is bringing English and Spanish together within its sports broadcasts through a new partnership with La Poderosa 990 AM.
The university announced September 29 that the station will become the flagship radio home for football, men’s basketball and baseball, extending coverage across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Football broadcasts begin October 7 against New Mexico State. The station will carry the remaining home and road football games, with pregame and postgame coverage. Home men’s basketball follows in November, and home baseball coverage begins when that season opens in February.
Tony Calatayud will handle play-by-play, Anthony Calatayud will provide color commentary and Chambi Campos will serve as analyst. The station’s online stream will also carry the coverage.
FIU describes the presentation as Spanglish: English and Spanish combined throughout the call rather than two separate broadcasts. The university believes the arrangement represents a historic first in college athletics broadcasting; RNN has not independently established that claim.
The partnership also includes year-round interviews, ticket promotions and other programming support.
The RNN question: Can a broadcast that sounds like the community’s everyday conversations reach listeners that traditional single-language presentations miss?