Transcript Sports Writer

Armando Rubio has been the general manager at KTUZ Le Zeta (106.7 FM) for several years and an Oklahoma football fan even longer.

Yet, during that entire time he had never been able to hear a Sooner football in his native Spanish tongue. The wait came to an end Sept. 8 when KTUZ broadcasted the first ever OU football game in Spanish.

"It's really, really big," Rubio said. "The community has been waiting for this game. It has been anxious to hear the game in Spanish."

Although today's game will not be aired on KTUZ, the station is hopeful it can come to a long-term agreement with the University of Oklahoma for future broadcast.

"There are talks planned between the station and the university," Rubio said. "I don't see anything to keep it from happening again. I don't see any roadblocks. But at this point, we really don't know."

The broadcast was made possible by Sooner Sports Properites and KTUZ-FM La Zeta, which is owned by Tyler Media. It also owns and operates KTUZ-TV and T-30 Telemundo.

Rubio said this has always been the plan for the radio station, Tyler media and the University of Oklahoma. But it has taken time for all groups involved to get on the same page.

"I think it all takes time and the planning to make sure everything is going to be done well," Rubio said. "It has taken three or four years of planning. I think we are ready to do it. I think we are going to be doing a good thing."

It was almost a good thing that it took as long as it did to get the Spanish broadcast on air. Because KTUZ had to wait, they were able to make their Spanish premier in one of the most anticipated games of the year with the University of Miami coming to Oklahoma.

T-30 sports director Rene Nava, who did the game's play-by-play in Spanish, knows just how special it was to have the Sooners and Hurricanes as their first game. It was also the first football game Nava has ever called.

"This is my first time and it's the OU/Miami game," Nava said. "Wow. I never think about it until now. It will be a great opportunity for us and for me. Just enjoy the game and tell the people what's going on."

Also, with both Oklahoma and Florida having such large Hispanic populations, it was a natural for their game to be the initial test case.

"The fact that the Miami game is being transmitted into Miami in Spanish to the Miami Spanish community is big," Rubio said. "That is one of the reasons we chose this game. There are a lot of families in Oklahoma that have relatives in Miami. They want to call their cousins, their friends, everybody. Here we are with the Sooners. You guys got the Hurricanes."

From a strictly business standpoint, having a Spanish broadcast makes perfect sense to Oklahoma and KTUZ.