Rosenthal: "Los Bulls" games to air in Spanish on WRTO-FM


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Posted by Bud on September 15, 2009 at 16:07:51:

From Phil Rosenthal on his blog today:


.........
Chicago Bulls to air games in Spanish on WRTO-FM

Becoming the latest local pro sports team to court Spanish-speaking fans, the Chicago Bulls have entered into a partnership with Univision's WRTO-AM 1220 to air 21 home games this season.

The first Spanish-language broadcast will be Nov. 7, when the Charlotte Bobcats visit the United Center. Other initiatives targeting Chicago's Hispanic community include two games in which the team will wear its Los Bulls jerseys and the continued availability of Spanish content on the team's Bulls.com Web site.

Omar Ramos (left in photo), afternoon drive host for Univision' WPPN-FM 106.7, will call play-by-play with Ozzie Guillen, Jr. (right in photo), the son of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, as analyst. The two have done WRTO's White Sox radio broadcasts for the past four seasons.

The move makes perfect sense in that Hispanics are a fast-growing population group in the United States, passing African-Americans as the nation's largest minority segment in recent years. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that, as of mid-2008, the nation's population included almost 47 million Hispanics, or about 15.4 percent of the total, while African-Americans accounted for about 12.8 percent.

"The Chicago Bulls have a great many fans in Chicago's Hispanic community, and we want to reach out and extend to them the opportunity to listen to our games in Spanish," Steve Schanwald, the Bulls' executive vice president of business operations, said in the announcement.

Besides the Bulls and White Sox, WRTO this season carried some Chicago Cubs games and is the flagship station of pro soccer's Chicago Fire. Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. owns the Cubs.
"Univision Radio is excited about our new partnership with the Chicago Bulls," Jerry Ryan, senior vice president of Univision Radio, said in a statement. "We're looking forward to broadcasting these games in Spanish, to help build both the brands of the Bulls and the NBA, to the Chicago Hispanic community."

Bulls games will continue to be available in English on WMVP-AM 1000, and the team's regional network of stations.

The Bulls' WRTO broadcast schedule for the 2009-10 season is as follows, with all broadcasts set for 7 p.m.:

Sat., Nov. 7 Charlotte
Sat., Nov. 14 Philadelphia.
Wed., Dec. 2 Detroit
Tues., Dec. 8 New Jersey
Sat., Dec 12 Boston
Tues., Dec. 15 Los Angeles Lakers
Thurs., Dec. 17 New York
Sat., Jan. 9 Minnesota
Mon., Jan. 11 Detroit
Fri., Jan. 15 Washington
Tues., Feb. 2 Los Angeles Clippers
Sat., Feb. 6 Miami
Wed., Feb. 10 Orlando
Tues., Feb. 16 New York
Sat., Feb. 20 Philadelphia
Fri., Feb. 26 Portland
Sat., March 6 Dallas
Tues., March 9 Utah
Fri., March 19 Cleveland
Mon., March 22 Houston
Thurs., March 25 Miami

Chicago Bulls photo of Ramos and Guillen by Bill Smith.

Posted at 11:38:58 AM


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