Ode To A Broadcasting Legend

Ode To A Broadcasting Legend
Question: Who is the only living professional
Major League Baseball broadcaster older
than legendary Los Angeles Dodgers
voice Vin Scully? Answer: Rafeal “Felo”
Ramirez. Recently, veteran Spanish
language sportscaster Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
shared with us the fascinating story of
Ramirez’ career that has spanned more than
six decades. With the 2012 baseball season
just around the corner, we are pleased
that Amaury agreed to share his memories
about Ramirez’ storied career with our NTS
MediaOnline Weekly readers.
March 23, 2012
road with the Marlins during the regular season. I recently spoke with
Felo over the phone and he told me in Spanish, “Just imagine -- a new
ball park in Miami! I am very excited to be part of this. This is history.”
I used to listen to Felo when I was a little boy living in Havana, Cuba
when he called the games for the old Cuban Winter League that included
Habana, Almendares, Cienfuegos and Mariano. They were the four
teams that played until 1960 when Fidel Castro abolished professional
sports on the island and named himself and Cuba as Marxist-Leninist.
Felo was the inspiration for me to get into the broadcasting business.
Ultimately I was lucky enough -- and I have written about this before
-- to live my very own ‘Only in America’ story.
AMAURY PI-GONZALEZ
According to records, Rafael “Felo” Ramírez was born in Bayamo,
Cuba in 1921. He recently began another season behind the
microphone, broadcasting Miami Marlins games from their spring
training home in Jupiter, FL. Felo has been the Spanish voice of the
Florida Marlins -- now the Miami Marlins -- since their inaugural
year in 1993, when they were first established as an expansion
franchise in baseball’s National League.
As the 2012 season opens, Felo (short for Rafael in Spanish) will be
broadcasting from a brand new booth at the beautiful new Marlins
Stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl -- now the Little Havana
section of Miami. Felo is 91 years young. He enters the ninth decade
of his life as part of a new era for the team, with a new ballpark, a new
name and a new manager, Ozzie Guillén. Felo also still travels on the
After being raised in Cuba, listening to Felo working the play-by-play
for the Cuban League, the Caribbean World Series and the Major League
World Series with other legends like Buck Canel, I had the privilege
of working with Felo during the 1998 National League Championship
Series (Braves vs. Padres) on a network of some 200 radio stations in the
United States and Latin America. The next year I worked with another
friend, the legendary Jaime Jarrin -- the 50-year ‘Spanish Voice of the
Dodgers’ -- during the NLCS between the Braves and Mets.
For a kid born in Cuba who breathed, ate and played baseball since my
father Joaquin took me to a Cuban League game in the mid 1950’s, it
was one of my dreams to meet and to work with Felo. Think about it
this way. You were a kid born in the United States and you have been
listening to Vin Scully since you could walk. Then one day there you are
sitting next to him and working the postseason with him. Would it get
any better than that?
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March 23, 2012
Page 2
Sports Byline USA adds Sun Broadcast Group’s daily update on the
gaming world, Got Game, to the network’s roster of programming that
airs on a reported 200 affiliates nationwide, as well as on AFRN, CRN
Digital Radio and SiriusXM … Congrats to the MarketWatch Radio
Network, on being the only radio organization to receive an award at this
year’s Society of American Business Editors and Writers Conference
in Indianapolis. The network won for it’s ongoing reporting on the
frantic reactions and gyrations on Wall Street following the historic S&P
downgrade of ‘Uncle Sam’ last summer … Talk Shows USA’s syndicated
weekend Money Pit Home Improvement Show adds KVI/Seattle; WLTTWNTB/Wilmington, NC; WAMT/Orlando; KSNM/Las Cruces; and
KSOO/Sioux Falls … Independently syndicated Malcolm Out Loud’s
Out Loud News feature adds new affiliates WLOB/Portland and WGBB/
Freeport, NY.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Clear Channel Media
Holdings CEO Bob Pittman is among the members of a group that has
made a $20 million ownership investment in Major League Baseball’s
New York Mets … Entercom Sports/Talker 610 Sports Radio (KCSP/
Kansas City) debuted a new lineup this week featuring all live and local
programming from 6am-6pm weekdays. Check out the new schedule
HERE … Beasley Broadcasting names Rafe D’Amico to serve as
National Sales Manager for the company’s five-station Las Vegas cluster,
including News/Talk KDWN. D’Amico also handles national sales
chores for Beasley-owned stations in Philadelphia and Wilmington,
DE … WTMJ/Milwaukee kicks of it’s 20th annual Teddy Bear Patrol
Campaign. Since 1993 the Journal Broadcast Group News/Talker has
collected some 98,000 new teddy bears that have been donated to local
law enforcement and fire officials, who in turn use them to help comfort
kids in crisis situations … Clear Channel Media & Entertainment
names Radhas Subramanyam as EVP/Sales and Marketing Research.
Subramanyam was most recently a SVP at The Nielsen Company … The
Seattle Seahawks ink a multi-year extension to keep Alpha Broadcasting
Sports/Talker KGME/ The Game as the team’s exclusive Portland, OR
radio flagship … Former WWNC/Ashville talker Matt Mittan returns
to the air after a five month hiatus. Mittan and co-host Agnes Cheek can
now be heard on crosstown WZGM where their Take A Stand program
airs weekdays from noon-3pm.
Check out a rare network Talk opportunity for an experienced Producer/
Booker. Work from where you are! No relocation required. Must have
3-5 years experience with successful large market talk show(s) and top
talent. Strong national contacts a must. Web/Social Media savvy a plus.
Email your resume and cover letter to Kipper McGee HERE … Veteran
talker Mark Williams is available for last minute or vacation fill-in work
via ISDN. Reach him via email anytime HERE … Got a gig open? Looking
for your next challenge? Email details and your contact info HERE and
we’ll post it free of charge as a service to the Talk media industry.
Buckley Broadcasting pacts with TuneIn to provide streaming mobile access
for all of the company’s radio stations, including flagship New York City
News/Talker WOR … eMarketer.com reports that a survey by Men’s Health
magazine and Gfk Roper found that men not only check online for the best
prices on products and services in traditionally male categories, such as auto
and tech, but they also do a significant amount of online comparing of prices
in more female sectors like health/wellness and food/cooking. eMarketers
also says that over half of the men surveyed read reviews of products and
services and even ‘liked’ a Facebook page from a brand in one of the top
product categories. Learn more HERE … Get BREAKING NEWS alerts
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one-click links to both at www.NTSMediaOnline.com.
SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK
FOX Sports Radio hosts Vic “The Brick” Jacobs and Steve Hartmann
recently hosted a show live from a SoCal Hooters restaurant, where they
grabbed this souvenir moment with the Hooters Girls that’s guaranteed to
cause both hosts a little trouble at home!
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March 23, 2012
Page 3
Just as Cuban-born Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso was the only player in
modern history to play in five different decades -- from the 1940’s until
1980 -- Rafael Ramírez is the Miñoso of the broadcast booth. Believe it
or not, Felo has been broadcasting for over 60 years (although not all in
the Major Leagues). He has been broadcasting baseball even longer than
the legendary Vin Scully, and is also six years older than Scully. This is
a claim that only Felo Ramirez can make. Felo is in Cooperstown as a
winner of the Ford C. Frick broadcasters award, has been inducted into
the Cuban Sports Hall of Fame and The Hispanic Heritage Baseball
Hall of Fame, just to mention a few of his many awards.
‘‘
Felo was the inspiration
for me to get into the broadcasting
business. He is the Minnie Miñoso
of the broadcast booth.
’’
The 2012 season for the Miami Marlins will begin a new era of Major
League Baseball in that city. The old stadium where they played was a
stadium built for the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. It was almost outside
of Miami, all the way up on 199th street. The new park is in a perfect
location, right in the heart of Miami, one of the most Hispanic cities in
the country. And Felo is cranking up his throat even as we speak to call
another season of Miami Marlins baseball in Spanish.
Que Dios te bendiga Felo! (God Bless you Felo!)
Amaury Pi-González has over 34 years of experience as a
sportscaster. Since 2011 he has served as the Spanish language playby-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. His baseball
broadcasting resume also includes his ongoing role with the Oakland A’s
as well as stints with the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants. He
also served as the first-ever Spanish language broadcaster for the NBA
Golden State Warriors. Amaury was inducted into the Cuban Sports Hall
of Fame in 2004 and has also been named a member of the Heritage
Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame. You can learn more about him at
www.amaurypigonzalez.com.
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