8/31/2007 University of Arkansas press release

Fayetteville, Arkansas

The University of Arkansas, in association with the Arkansas Razorback Sports network (ARSN), has announced the formation of a Hispanic radio network for the 2007 football season. The network will carry the six Fayettevile home games this season, beginning with the season opener Saturday against Troy.

ESPN Deportes 1580AM in Fort Smith and La Maquina KYNG 1590 in Springdale will air the Razorback football broadcasts. Carlos Chicas and Jose Lopez will provide the play-by-play coverage. The broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to kick-off and will have a 15 minute post-game show.

We are very excited to get this network up and going, “said Matt Shanklin, associate athletic director of marketing. “The Hispanic market is a large and growing market in Arkansas with more and more Razorback fans. With players such as Alex Tejada, Jose Valdez and others, this network is a logical extension of our program into the community.

Chicas and Lopez provided the play-by-play for some Razorback baseball games last spring and have broadcast Lady Razorback games. Chicas and Lopez are hosts of Univision’s “Razorback in Espanol” which highlights Latino Razorback student-athletes and promotes Razorbacks to the Latino community. Chicas has also announced Kansas City Wizards MLS soccer games.

“ARSN and the University of Arkansas are very thankful to Bill Pharis of the Ft. Smith Radio group and Joe Conway of Cumulus Broadcasting for all their help in making this network a reality,” said Shanklin. “Just as our baseball network grew from a handful of stations in 1992 to over 25 today, we hope Hispanic ARSN will realize a similar growth.