Texas Rangers change radio flagships

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Fresh from winning the American League Championship (but losing the World Series) the Texas Rangers have announced a new radio deal. The team’s English and Spanish broadcasts are both getting new flagship stations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market.


The new deal will move the Rangers to ESPN’s O&O stations for the next four years. The English flagship will be KESN-FM and the Spanish flagship will be KZMP-AM, both all sports stations. Certain English broadcasts will move to Salem Communications’ KSKY -AM (a conservative talk station) because of potential conflicts on KESN, which is also the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.

“We are very pleased to enter into this long-term radio agreement with ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Our partnership with ESPN will be an important element as we expand the Rangers brand locally, regionally and nationally. We look forward to a long and productive relationship,” said Rangers managing partner and CEO Chuck Greenberg.

“The Texas Rangers and ESPN are two great brands which belong together, and we are honored to be the new radio home for the team,” said Pete Dits, Vice President and General Manager of ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth.

The Rangers’ broadcasts in English had been on CBS Radio’s KRLD-AM since 1995, with a majority of their games also being broadcast on KRLD-FM over the past two years. Univision’s KFLC-AM had been the flagship for the Spanish broadcasts.

The Rangers Radio Network will continue to provide coverage through a number of stations throughout Texas and the Southwest, the team noted.

Eric Nadel begins his 33rd season of broadcasting Rangers baseball and will make the move to the new English flagship. He will be joined by Dave Barnett, who is in his third season on the Rangers radio broadcasts.

Eleno Ornelas will provide the Spanish radio broadcasts for the 12th straight season.

The Rangers are coming off the best season in franchise history. After winning 90 games and the AL West title for the first time since 1999, the Rangers won their first playoff series – the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers then beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS in six games, securing the club’s first American League pennant at home in front of a record crowd of more than 50,000. Strangely, the team news release ends there, somehow omitting the 2010 World Series, where the Rangers were beaten in five games by the San Francisco Giants.