San Antonio Spurs Spanish play-by-play announcer Paul Castro usually goes through the same
routine on game nights. He starts with an early dinner followed by some prep work and research with engineer Bruno Gonzalez before his game broadcast goes live on San Antonio’s KCOR 1350 AM.
Tonight it all changes as Castro will now go from behind the mic to in front of the camera, as the Spurs start their first of 12 Spurs games that will now be broadcast on Time Warner Cable in San Antonio.
Castro’s signature “uno dos tres” or his translation of goodbye in several languages for a player ejection on his radio broadcast will now be heard on television. For Castro, it’s definitely a transition, especially after 17-plus years of calling Spurs games, which came after three years with the Portland Trail Blazers.
“I’ve spent almost 21 years in radio and along the way I did some TV,” Castro said.
Castro studied television while at Oregon State University, and during his time with the Spurs, he’s observed a good chunk of television broadcasts to pick up a few tips here and there.
“I watch TV to understand how to do it,” Castro said. “I always watched Joel Myers and several of the other broadcasters.”
A little over 21 years ago Castro was starting fresh, and sent in a cassette tape of him discussing a game that was on TV, which eventually landed him his job with the Blazers.
Tonight he starts fresh again, but in doing so, he breaks a streak going back to the mid-90s.
“My streak will end on radio. I missed only one game due to weather,” Castro said. “It’s a bit on the down side, but it’s a new audience and I love that people who listen to me now can watch me.”
While his impressive streak does end, with Jorge Rodriguez taking over radio duties tonight, Castro will still be calling all non-TV games at home and the road on KCOR.
The Los Angeles Clippers, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers started Spanish TV broadcasts last season, and Castro said the Spurs, Fox Sports and Time Warner came to an agreement this year, which makes him one of the very few Spanish NBA TV broadcasters, something he’s very excited to be a part of.
Last year, when Castro was a guest on the Spurscast, he described the thought process of going on air and how even after all these years, it hasn’t lost any of it’s charm.
“It’s fun, it’s exciting. Once you go on air, there’s no going back,” he said. “You just go into it and after all these years, I feel like I get better game-by-game, but it’s exciting. Everything is flowing, there’s excitement, there’s energy and you can’t help, but even though you’re not on the court, you feel like it.”
For Spurs fans watching starting tonight, they’ll get a taste of Castro’s game experience, and he’ll be having just as much fun broadcasting as you will have watching.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’m pretty excited, we’ll see what happens.”
Tonight, Castro will add a new ritual to his game dayroutine, as he posted on Facebook, trying to pick out which tie to wear on air.
In San Antonio, the Spanish broadcast will be on channel 50 and on channel 77 in Austin for Time Warner subscribers.
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