To thousands of rabid fans they are Los Broncos.
When Our Local Heroes open their season Sunday in Miami against the Dolphins, Fernando Sergio launches his 11th season as play-by-play man for the Spanish-language coverage on KBNO 1280-AM. Luke Sandoval is his color man.
KBNO grabbed the games thanks in part to Lee Larsen, then general manager for KOA 850-
AM, home of the Broncos for 36 consecutive seasons.
“Through him, we got together with the Broncos,” recalled Zee Ferrufino, owner and CEO of KBNO. “KOA had the radio rights (and) he was all for it.”
In addition to being the voice of the Broncos games for KBNO, Sergio does “La Voz del Pueblo” on KBNO, “a Tom Martino-type show,” said Ferrufino.
He doesn’t have numbers on how many fans listen to the games on KBNO, but, Ferrufino said, “I read a survey that the most popular sport watched by Hispanics is American football. Far behind was baseball and basketball. Then came soccer.”
The spreading popularity of the game among Latinos has the NFL playing its first regular-season game outside the United States on Oct. 2 when San Francisco meets Arizona at the 114,000-seat Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Meantime, Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 181 kicks off its NFL coverage in Spanish with the Oakland-New England game tonight. Sirius will do 31 games this season, including the Super Bowl.
NFL fundraiser
ESPN and ABC have created a “Monday Night Football” doubleheader Sept. 19 to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.
ABC will cover the New Orleans Saints-New York Giants game at 5:30 p.m., followed by Washington-Dallas on ESPN.
Fundraising efforts will be broadcast during both games.
The NFL season gets underway tonight with the defending champion New England Patriots hosting the Oakland Raiders (7 p.m., KMGH-Channel 7).
Around the dial
Down to a few: The Sacramento Monarchs meet the Houston Comets in Game 2 of the WNBA Western Conference Finals (8:30 tonight, ESPN2). … The Williams sisters did it again. Their matchup at the U.S. Open on Sunday boosted CBS’s ratings to a 15 percent increase over last year. The network carries the Women’s Final at 6 p.m. Saturday and the Men’s Final at 11 a.m. Sunday, both on KCNC-Channel 4. … Benjie Kaze has joined FSN Rocky Mountain as senior coordinating producer of original programming. … College Game of the Day: Notre Dame vs. Michigan (10 a.m. Saturday, Channel 7). … Quotable: “I haven’t seen a new football play since I was in high school. You have just so many holes in a line and you have 11 men playing, and there’s only so many ways you can go through those holes, and those ways have been used for 40, 50 years.” – Red Grange
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
