NOLA Radio: KXMG, WFNO Dropping NFL Saints Hispanic Broadcasts

Marco Antonio Garcia

Most New Orleans Saints fans probably have never heard veteran broadcaster Marco Antonio Garcia call a football game on the radio. But for the metro area’s growing Hispanic community, Garcia has been the lone Spanish-language gridiron chronicler for nearly a generation, having called his first NFL season in 1996.

However, according to the NOLA Advocate, fans hoping to follow their beloved “Santos” through Garcia’s broadcasts once again this fall may be in for a disappointment. After almost 20 seasons in the booth, Garcia may be done narrating Saints games, and it’s not clear whether another Spanish broadcaster will be replacing him.

KXMG 107.5 FM and WFNO 830 AM, the radio stations that have carried Garcia’s broadcasts, each have new owners. Educational Media Foundation is acquiring KXMG outright from Sunburst Media for $3.2 million and has flipped the format to its K-Love Christian music format.

Only WFNO is sticking with a Spanish-language format, and it does not appear to have a contract yet to transmit Saints games. Nor is it clear whether the station plans to negotiate one.

Garcia said that by this time of year, he usually has an arrangement in place to broadcast the next season. At age 66, and with no deal in the offing, he has begun to talk about his years covering the Saints in the past tense.

Ironically, Garcia may end his tenure announcing the games in Spanish just as the area’s Hispanic population is taking off — up nearly 80 percent since 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.