KWKW to join ESPN team for major push of sports en Espanol.

Since 1962, KWKW-AM (1330) has built a small but loyal following of Spanish-speaking sports fans who follow the Dodgers, Lakers and a sports-talk show hosted by the popular Rolando "El Veloz" Gonzalez.

KWKW still wants to hold onto its loyal audience. But the Lotus Communications Co.-owned station is no longer thinking small. In teaming up with one of the best-known brands in sports media, ESPN, the station is giving Gonzalez and other programming a national audience as the flagship station of a new Spanish-language sports radio network.

ESPN Deportes radio is scheduled to launch Oct. 1 in about a dozen U.S. markets with large Hispanic populations. Walt Disney Co., which owns ESPN, wants to expand ESPN Deportes into additional markets and sees it as part of a growing Spanish-language sports media portfolio operated by ESPN.

ESPN Deportes will be the first Spanish-language sports radio network in the United States, but its launch coincides with that of a competitor: XM Satellite Radio's all-sports Spanish-language channel, which is scheduled to debut later this summer. XM Satellite Radio already has a channel broadcasting Major League Baseball play-by-play in Spanish.

ESPN and L.A.-based Lotus, which stands to profit from the success of ESPN Deportes, say the Spanish-language radio market has grown and matured to the point where an all-sports network is viable.

"It's clear that with sports on the radio we have a population that's growing and that has a strong affinity for sports," said Traug Keller, vice president and general manager of ESPN Deportes.

"If you own the third or fourth AM station in a major Hispanic market in the United States, this is a great play. Right now we're talking about a niche product but with strong growth potential," Keller said.

Rich history, poor ratings

KWKW started out in 1942 as the first Spanish-language radio station in the United States. It was bought by Lotus Communications and converted to a sports format 20 years later, becoming the first (and so far only) station to broadcast sports in Spanish around the clock. Along the way it picked up broadcast rights for the Lakers, Dodgers, Los Angeles Avengers arena football, the Chivas USA soccer team and the National Football League.

But broadcasting to a niche within a niche has not garnered large audiences. In the spring ratings released by Arbitron Co., KWKW posted a 0.3 percent audience share--well behind the leading Spanish-language station, KSCA-FM (101.9), with a 4.3 rating; and the two local sports stations, KLAC-AM (570) and KSPN-AM (710), both of which had 0.6 ratings.

Jim Kalmenson, executive vice president of Lotus and general manager of KWKW, said the ESPN brand and new ESPN-produced programming should lift the ratings. When ESPN Deportes launches nationally, KWKW will call itself ESPN 1330 Deportes.

"It will be a gargantuan expansion of resources available to produce sports radio here in Los Angeles," Kalmenson said.

"ESPN allocates marketing dollars for things such as billboards that are much greater than something a single station like ours could afford. People have a great respect for the brand. We were sports, but ESPN really defines our niche in an extremely competitive market."

As the flagship for ESPN Deportes, Gonzalez will get a national stage as one of the network's signature broadcasters, although he will need to engage the different tastes of Spanish-speaking fans around the country. "Obviously there's a huge interest in Dominican baseball on the East Coast and Mexican soccer out West," said Keller.

ESPN also will produce two programs in its home studios in Connecticut that will air on KWKW and nationally. Kalmenson was reluctant to discuss changes in the programming lineup.

Lotus also stands to share in the revenue of ESPN Desportes, although the national network will be owned and operated by ESPN. Keller and Kalmenson declined to discuss terms of the agreement by which Lotus will profit from the success of ESPN Deportes.

Lotus Communications was founded by Kalmenson's father Howard and remains in family hands. The broadcaster owns 25 radio stations in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas--12 broadcasting in English, 12 in Spanish and one in Farsi. The company also recently acquired three television stations in Phoenix, Tampa and Houston.

"It's the right time," said Luis Villarreal, vice president of Hispanic formats for McVay Media, a radio consultancy. "The success of it really depends on the route they take. If they're just going to take ESPN Radio and translate, I don't think it's going to succeed. On the other hand, there is a huge upside to them to target the traditional sports that first- and second-generation Hispanics follow. Nobody does that very well."

Rochelle Newman-Carrasco, chief executive of L.A.-based Hispanic advertising agency Enlace Communications, said the new network likely will attract bilingual listeners who currently follow baseball and soccer in English but would like a Spanish-language option. "Regardless of how acculturated you are, you want to listen to it in the language of the sport," she said.