Nationals to begin broadcasting all games in Spanish starting Friday

Nats fans get Spanish broadcasts

By: Jim Williams

The Examiner

When I spoke to team president Stan Kasten just before the start of this season the one thing from a broadcasting standpoint that he was upset about was he was unable to do a radio deal for the Nationals fans in Spanish.

Well Kasten has gotten his wish and so have the many Nationals fans that wanted the games in Spanish.

Starting Friday night against the Orioles the first ever Nationals broadcast in Spanish on WHFZ 1390AM. The team has partnered with Spanish Beisbol Network who also produces the radio broadcast of the for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. 

Starting Friday night with the game against the Orioles and for the rest of this season and beyond the Nationals will have a Spanish language broadcast team and a radio network.

“The Washington Nationals are excited to bring Spanish language broadcasts to our fan base,” said Nationals Team President Stan Kasten. “We continue to find ways to provide our Hispanic fans with complete, up-to-date coverage of their favorite team.”

The team will have the Spanish broadcast team of Angel Castillo, Carlos Guillen and Luciano Rodriguez, doing the game. The flagship station will be WZHF 1390AM, a Spanish format radio station reaching the District, Northern Virginia and parts of Montgomery County, Maryland; and MLB Radio. Saturday games will also be broadcast on WMET 1160AM, a multi-cultural format station covering Washington D.C, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Select Nationals games will be broadcast on XM Radio Channel 174, MLB en Español. All broadcasts will begin on the hour prior to each game’s announced starting time.

The team was one a few Major League Baseball teams that has a Spanish language website losnacionales.com which launched on April 7, 2008.

The Nationals join a growing number of teams that have both English and Spanish language radio broadcasts.