Veteran broadcasters L.A. Williams (left) and Ray Tsosie pose for a photo in the broadcast booth at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
This week, the Raider Nation welcomed KTNN 660, the Voice of the Navajo Nation, to broadcast their 11th Raider game to their audience in the four-corners of the Southwest. Transmitting the play-by-play action is no easy feat as there are few words in the Navajo language that can accurately describe exactly what's happening in an NFL football game.
"For example, we don't have a word for 'Touchdown' so we say the player's crossed the bonus line," play-by-play announcer L.A. Williams said.
"Our broadcast, in the Navajo language has a lot of humor," Williams said. We bring ourselves into the huddle, into the game and the minds of the players. We share how the fans respond; overall from the beginning of the tailgate party to the end of the celebration."
Williams and analyst Ray Tsosie translate the action on the field to their listeners in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah; an audience Tsosie describes as the size of Virginia.
In addition to Raiders games, the KTNN crew has covered the Super Bowl, the NBA's Phoenix Suns and the Winter Olympics.
KTNN, "The Voice of the Navajo Nation," broadcasts a 50,000-watt clear channel signal from its Window Rock, Ariz. studio that reaches the entire western United States and Northern Mexico.
