Diablos' and Diamondbacks' Spanish Broadcasts Land in Juarez

Published on January 23, 2004 under Texas League (TL1)
El Paso Diablos News Release


EL PASO, Texas – The El Paso Diablos and Arizona Diamondbacks will have a new radio home for Spanish-speaking baseball fans in the greater El Paso/Juarez market in 2004. The Diablos have reached an agreement with XEF-AM "Linea Deportiva" 1420 in Juarez that will allow area fans to listen to 108 selected Diablos' games this year. The deal also calls for 101 Diamondbacks' games to air on the all-Spanish, all-sports station.

"Our goal is to cover all sports in Spanish for the El Paso/Juarez area, and this is a giant step for us in that direction," says Victor Apodaca, General Sales Manager for Universal Broadcasting, Inc., the group that represents Linea Deportiva in El Paso. "We are also very much looking forward to working with the professionals in the front offices of the Diablos and the Diamondbacks."

All 70 Diablos' home games and 38 road games will air on XEF, with Miguel Flores entering his sixth season as El Paso's Spanish play-by-play voice. The airing of the 38 road games, all against Western Division foes, represents the first time since 1997 that Diablos' road games will air in Spanish. "This agreement," says Flores, "is a genuine step forward for the extension of the Diablos' family into the Juarez community."

"Aligning with an all-sports station is a natural fit for us," says Matt Hicks, the Diablos' Director of Broadcasting. "That, plus the fact that XEF was able to clear time for the addition of some selected road games helped to seal our decision. XEF has a terrific signal and we think fans on both sides of the border will benefit from this move."

Linea Deportiva is also planning an hour-long show devoted to the Diablos and professional baseball in general, to air on a weekly basis in the mid-to-late afternoon period. Details on the show will be released at a later date.

The first Diablos' game to air on XEF will be the season opener April 8th against the Round Rock Express. The initial broadcast in the package, though, will be the Diamondbacks' season opener against the Colorado Rockies on April 6th.

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Texas League Stories from January 23, 2004


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