Sacramento radio station 990 KATD in Pittsburg has a signal that covers the greater Sacramento area one of the most powerful AM signals in Sacramento (image from 1010 KIQI San Francisco/990 KATD Pittsburg Multi Cultural Broadcasting)
A’s 2025: Sacramento Twice as Hispanic as Oakland
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
Recent data shows Sacramento’s Hispanic population grew by 22 percent during the past two years. Approximately 378,000 Hispanics live in Sacramento; one of four in the State’s Capital are Hispanics. The area surrounding Sacramento is also rich in Hispanic culture.
In Stockton (just 48 miles from Sacramento), 43.13% of the total population is Hispanic, or about 150,000 people. Between these two historic cities, there are over 528,000 Hispanics.
A recent Census showed that Oakland lists 141,623 Hispanics. Hispanics are over-represented in the Sacramento, California area’s farming, fishing, and forestry industries; Stanislaus County, in particular, has a family farm that grows traditional Mexican food staples.
California leads the way, followed by Texas and Florida, with the largest Hispanic populations in the United States. These states have a significant impact on the nation’s demographics. As of July 1, 2023, the Hispanic population in the United States was 65.3 million, 19.5%.
This makes Hispanics the most significant racial or ethnic minority in the country. México is the only country in the world with more Spanish-speaking people than the United States of America.
According to Forbes, the Hispanic media market in the United States is large and growing, with a high rate of digital video penetration. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the US, and their buying power is in the trillions of dollars.
This past season, 2025 (the last one for the A’s at Oakland), a young bilingual family was given a tour of the Press Box at the Coliseum. One of the people visiting our A’s Spanish Broadcast booth noticed a decal on the door that read KIQI 1010AM San Francisco/ KATD 990AM Sacramento and said something to the fact, “You guys are ready for Sacramento, I see.”
Not really; these Multicultural Radio stations have been the Spanish radio station(s)for the Oakland A’s for years; they did not make this decal because they announced they were moving to Sacramento. I thought this was a good story since the KATD signal in Sacramento is intense and covers the Sacramento Valley and beyond, while the KIQI signal is based in San Francisco and covers the Bay Area.
In this social media world of Sports, Spanish is heard not only on AM/FM radio but anywhere on the internet; most network shows on television are also available via SAP.
SAP on television stands for “Secondary Audio Programming,” which refers to an additional audio track that can be broadcast alongside the primary audio, often used for alternative language options. Many professional sports teams in MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and other leagues take advantage of the SAP Channel, offering Spanish-speaking fans a way to listen in Spanish while they watch the game live.
Many Hispanics are proficient in both English and Spanish. However, Hispanics in the US often prefer to listen to shows in Spanish because it connects them deeply to their culture and heritage, providing a sense of identity and allowing them to engage with content that accurately reflects their lived experiences, including language nuances and cultural references that might be lost in translation to English, for many, Spanish is a way to stay connected to their family origin and traditions, even if they are fluent in English as well.
An Oakland A’s baseball player of the past, non-Hispanic, told me that when they were on the road and when the game was at night, he loved to listen to the Spanish-speaking soap operas in the mornings at the hotel room; he told me he learned some Spanish by doing that.
This past October 12, 2024, yours truly and Carlos Ramírez of COMCAST called the game on Los Tiburones Night in San José via the SAP NBCSCA plus @SharksAudioNet in Spanish. I have participated in this one-game production for the San José Sharks for six years, always on Hispanic Night with the Sharks.
This production has always been professional. The Sharks have shown leadership on this special night. I have received great responses from people who follow the Sharks. Some wanted the schedule for more games in Spanish. And yes, Goal still Gooooooool en Español.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
