New York, NY. Mobile: 646.261.5542. Email: abrarob@me.com
TV & Radio
Television Commentator/Anchor - ESPN Int. (Latin America) & ESPN Deportes (US) - May 1994 - Present
- Spanish language commentator: NBA & WNBA basketball, NFL football, NHL hockey, international soccer, Cronómetro, Fútbol Picante and Juego Cruzado.
- Spanish language play-by-play: NHL hockey, NFL football, NBA & WNBA basketball, MLS soccer, boxing, bowling, billiards and college and professional lacrosse.
- Spanish language co-anchor/writer for SportsCenter. Re-write, adapt script and voiceover highlights and reports.
- Spanish language anchor/writer for NBA Action, WNBA Action, NHL PowerWeek, NFL Blast, NFL Films Presents and ESPN This Week (ESPN Int.). NFL PrimeTime (ESPN Deportes & ESPN Dos).
- English language voiceover for Spanish League soccer (play-by-play), and boxing (commentator).
- Co-host for weekend morning sports talk show on ESPN Deportes Radio.
Radio/TV Play-by Play/Analyst - New York Knicks - May 1996 - Present
- Provide Spanish language commentary/play-by play of Knicks basketball games for WADO 1280AM in NY and via SAP on MSG.
Television Voiceover/HBO Sports - August 2001 - Present
- Spanish language translation, narration and voiceover for Hard Knocks, 24/7, Real Sports and HBO Boxing.
Radio Play-by Play/Analyst - Army Football - September 2005 - Present
- Provide Spanish language commentary/play-by play of Army Football on WKDM 1380 in NY
Radio Play-byPlay/Analyst - NFL/Westwood One/Univisión Radio - November 2003-January 2009
- Provided Spanish language commentary on national radio broadcasts of NFL regular season and playoff games.
Radio Play-by Play/Analyst - New York Jets - September 2005 - December 2005
- Provided Spanish language commentary/play-by play of NY Jets football on WADO 1280AM in NY.
Television Commentator/ABC Network (Via SAP)- October 1998 - Present
- Spanish language analyst: Monday Night Football,
Spanish language play-by-play: Super Bowl XXXVII, NFL Wildcard playoffs, BCS (College Football),
MLS soccer, US National Team soccer, NBA basketball and NHL hockey.
Television Commentator/FOX 5 NY (Via SAP)- January 1996 - October 1998
- Spanish language analyst for NFL football and NHL hockey.
Television Analyst -Euroleague Basketball/NBA-TV - March 2003 - March 2004
- English language commentary for Euroleague basketball games.
Television Commentator Sports Anchor - WNJU-TV Canal 47, NY-NJ - 1998-2002
- Spanish language commentator: New York Knicks Basketball and New York CityHawks Arena Football.
Replacement sports anchor Noticiero 47.
Narrator - “Major League Baseball’s Memorable Moments” - October 2002
- Spanish language narration of the Commemorative DVD of the national pastime.
Bi-lingual Disk Jockey and Producer - WFM Radio (Mexico City) July 1986 - October 1987
- Co-Starred in a weekly Top-40 style show called W-Tops on Mexico City’s number one pop FM station.
Co-wrote and edited the 90 minute show that had a unique bi-lingual format.
Produced an oldies show called “Golden Years” which featured retrospectives on the pioneers of Rock & Roll.
Radio Analyst - New York Arrows (Indoor Soccer) - November 1978 - April 1979
- Provided English language commentary and analysis during the inaugural season of the New York Arrows
indoor soccer team. Hosted halftime and postgame shows. Games aired on WGLI-AM, Long Island.
Cinema
Narrator, Script Writer - “Todos los Corazones del Mundo” (Sports Target Media) - June 1996
- Exclusive Spanish language narration of the “Official Movie of the World Cup USA94.”
Adapted the English language script to Spanish (Two Billion Hearts - English title).
TV Commercials
Digiorno's Pizza (Soccer announcer) 2010-2011
Sprint (Juan's friend) - Sep. 2009
NFL Hispanic Youth PSA (Narrator) - Sep. 2005
NBA League Pass & All Star Jam - Sep. 2004 - Sep. 2008
ABC Network - All (over 200) sports and news promos in Spanish - 1999 - 2003
el diario-LA PRENSA - “Concurso de $10 mil dólares” - June 1996. ESPNdos. Narrator - May 1997
Radio Commercials
Heineken (Soccer announcer) - Aug 2009.
Wendy's (Soccer announcer) - July 2009.
Wendy's (Soccer announcer) - June 2008.
McDonald’s (Customer) - June 2005.
TheraFlu (Narrator) - Sep. 2005.
NFL Brand, NFL Shop (Narrator) - Oct. 2005.
Tropicana Orange Juice (Man on the street) - November 1996.
ESPNdos (Narrator) - February 1997
Print Media
Editor in Chief - Fútbol Mundial - May 2002 - Present
- Responsible for hiring writers, assigning stories and all editorial matters. Supervise an editorial staff of five plus a dozen writers who from all over the world. The magazine has a circulation of over one million copies in the top 10 Spanish markets in the US and an audited readership of over 2.8 million.
Managing editor of our other publications; Béisbol Mundial, Boxeo Mundial, Vida Latina and Fútbol Mundial USA (in English).
Assistant to the Publisher - el diario-LA PRENSA - July 1993 - May 1996
- Responsible for redesigning and implementing a computer system and network of more than
160 nodes combining the latest technology in desktop publishing, and business applications.
City Editor - el diario-LA PRENSA - December 1991 - July 1993
- Responsible for coverage of all breaking news locally, nationally and the most important
story of the day, no matter where in the world it might have happened.
Coordinated and supervised a staff of 14 (Six writers, three photographers and five editors).
Responsible for the entire newspaper whenever the Editor-in-Chief was absent.
Instituted an aggressive style in the newspaper, that started from the way we approached the coverage of a story, to the final layout of the page. Part of the design change was accomplished by using bold attractive headlines, that not only informed but also, when possible and appropriate, entertained.
Night Editor - el diario-LA PRENSA - November 1989 - December 1991
- Responsible for reporting all breaking news and sports for the second edition which is the
where the majority of the paper’s circulation lies.
Coordinated and supervised the activities of the evening translators and paginators.
Took a very aggressive approach to the Night Editor duties making several changes nightly filling
el diario-LA PRENSA with fresh news, something the paper was severely lacking at the time.
Sports Editor - el diario-LA PRENSA - April 1983 - June 1986
- Totally reformatted the sports section which relied almost exclusively on day-old wire service
stories and self serving columns by its members.
For the first time in the history of Spanish language newspapers in New York, we began to write game stories
ourselves and focused on our strengths, which was covering the Latino angles of the days’ events while also
covering the other normal aspects which were virtually ignored in the past.
el diario-LA PRENSA offered its readers coverage of the Knicks and Rangers games for the first time.
Aside from editing, I covered and wrote stories and columns about the Knicks, Rangers, Mets, Yankees,
pro football and tennis. Was a beat writer covering the Cosmos until they folded in 1983. Covered the 1986 Soccer World Cup in Mexico, the 1994 U.S.World Cup and the 1994 Knicks run to the finals.
Assistant to the Sports Editor/Reporter - Noticias del Mundo - April 1980 - April 1983
- Responsible for page layout, design and headline writing.
Soccer beat writer covering Cosmos home and away games and all Knick home games.
Co-Proprietor - Aguila o Sol Newspaper - April 1993 - April 1994
- Helped develop the newspaper which served the Mexican community in the Metropolitan Area.
Designed and implemented the production system to layout and output the paper.
Sports Editor. Responsible for selecting, and editing contributors stories as well as writing my own reports.
Internet Media
Editor in Chief - ESPNdeportes.com July 2000 - May 2001
- Designed and was responsible for all editorial matters on the website which was launched in September of 2000, from helping to hire editors, columnists and writers, to implementing coverage style. This included the type of stories and events covered to how headlines and captions were written.
Directed and supervised a staff of eight editors who in turn coordinated over 30 writers, columnists and
translators in five different countries.
Special Skills
- Fluent in both English and Spanish.
High level of experience in all Macintosh computer systems and software. Above average experience in PC systems.
Education
- Brooklyn College, class of 1980, Brooklyn, New York. Major in Radio and Television, Minor in Journalism.