S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. San Diego has not seen the large scale immigration blitzes we've seen in other cities , but enforcement efforts have led to thousands of arrests over the past year. We hear more about how community members in San Diego are monitoring immigration enforcement. Then a new investigation from KPBS found fare evasion to be increasing in San Diego's North County. Plus , a conversation with the radio voice of San Diego FC as they get ready for their home opener this weekend. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. San Diego hasn't been hit with a high profile immigration crackdown like we've seen in other cities like LA , Chicago or Minneapolis. But that doesn't mean Ice enforcement isn't happening here. Federal agents arrested at least 5000 people in San Diego last year , according to federal data. That's around 20 people per day. In response , volunteers are organizing community patrols to watch out for ice in immigrant neighborhoods. KPBS recently joined them for a ride. Gustavo Solis joins me for more to talk about it. He's KPBS investigative border reporter. Hey , Gustavo. Hello. Welcome back to roundtable. So you met up with some volunteers early one morning recently to join them for one of these community patrols. Tell us more about the group.
S2: Yeah , the group is Union del barrio , and they've been blowing up this year. They do patrols not just in San Diego , but orange and L.A. counties as well. They've been doing this work for years now , and the patrols are pretty straightforward. You get up crack of dawn and you drive around different immigrant neighborhoods. They are trained to look for vehicles that are most likely to be ice undercover cars like new ish cars , clean tinted windows , funny looking license plates , obviously lights. And they're trained that if they see and verify that it is an Ice agent , they get out of their car , they get megaphones and start just kind of blowing up their spot. Hey , ice is here. People in the community know that ISIS in the building. If you don't want to leave , stay indoors , that kind of thing.
S1: So , you know , you climb into the car and you're off on this patrol. What did you see ? What happened next ? What happened next ? Nothing.
S2: It was. It was quiet.
S1: It was a quiet morning. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. It was at least where we were. We were in , uh , Logan Heights that morning. It was one of four patrols. So there were patrols in Oceanside , Escondido and Vista as well. But that kind of the intro hinted at it. Right ? Enforcement. Ice enforcement in San Diego has been relatively quiet , relatively under the radar. Um , no big deployment , occupation style operations like in other cities. So if you're not paying attention to the day in , day out , you're going to think maybe San Diego's not being impacted. But then you take a step back and you look at the data and there's thousands of people arrested in the last year. So what we saw kind of reflected that. It was quite a few close calls , but nothing really happened that morning , which is a good thing for the people of that community.
S1: So one of the organizers , we spoke with , Benjamin Prado , you know , tell us more about him and what's motivating him to take part in these community patrols.
S2: I mean , he's been doing this for years. Years , years , years , um , love for his community and what he views and not just him , but a lot of folks in this space , a lot of people who are immigrants themselves or children of immigrants or just friends. They view Ice as an occupying force , and they view these community patrols as protecting people , particularly when when you understand the fact that upwards of 70% of people arrested by Ice do not have a criminal record. They're mostly focused on that 70%. Right. These are our neighbors , our co-workers , our teachers. Let's protect them. And that's kind of the mentality he has. And we have I mean , we were with him for an hour. So we have a lot of good audio with him. But here's a little clip that we got from the trip.
S3: This type of work is not for the faint of heart. It is really people who are committed and dedicated.
S1: So yeah , we hear a little of his words there.
S2: So any listener can go to their YouTube page and look and see what those interactions look like. I do know in LA it's more frequent than here in San Diego. In San Diego , some of the interactions. I mean , they they range. Sometimes they will see a vehicle parked. They will confirm that as ice , they will start kind of blowing up their spot. The vehicle will simply drive away. Other times Ice agents get out of the car and there's a verbal confrontation there. Sometimes they just document the the arrest , detention. Right. And that's something that I mean stressed right. They are trained to notify verify , confirm not obstruct. They don't get in between a federal law enforcement and their target , but they do document as much as possible. And that's kind of where they stay in their lane.
S1: And you know , I think this year to start off the year we've seen an escalation. We've seen , you know , violence out of Minneapolis. Right. Um , yeah.
S2: Yeah. The the amount of intimidation , fear tactics. I mean , in Minnesota , you mentioned two people died. Two US citizens died who they themselves would describe as doing observation type work , the similar work that people like me are doing. And after they were killed by Ice agents , administration officials called them domestic terrorists. And that happened in Minneapolis. But the people doing that work in San Diego. They're paying attention to that. They're hearing those words and they're wondering , could they say that about me ? So we have talked to people who say they are afraid.
S1: Other organizations , you know , other organizations have been focusing on documenting courthouse arrests , kind of looking at the , you know , the legal process and how that's , you know , being impacted by this , you know , mass deportation push. Tell me about that effort and the impact it's having.
S2: Right. Community patrols out in the streets. And these like court observers in the federal courthouse downtown in San Diego that began in the spring as a direct response to this ice tactic of arresting people as they showed up to immigration court hearings , and more recently , has been arresting people as they show up to ice check ins or even their green card appointments. I think it's a similar motivation to what I mentioned about Benjamin Prado , right ? The folks who are attending court are , almost by definition , not the quote unquote bad hombres , worst of the worst hardened criminals. If they're going to court , they're doing it the right way. They're following the process. They have a hearing date and they're showing up to it. So the idea that you would detain those people and separate them from their communities is particularly galling to , to these volunteers. So that's what they do. I mean , the there's a couple of different groups in the court. There's detention , resistance and faith. Faith is the group I've spent most of the time with , although I do talk to the resistance folks regularly. Faith. They just show up there , look for people going through the system , say , hey , we're here for you. If you want us , we can just pray over you. If you want more , we can go to your hearings with you. We can notify your family if anything happens to you. They just kind of provide those kinds of services. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So , you know , one of the volunteers you spoke with from that group , Faith , is Reverend Paige Blair Huber. Tell us more about her. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. She's amazing. I mean , she's been going there very , very regularly. Part of this broader community that's made up of almost exclusively volunteers. And almost all of them are retired women who go to church. They call them , I can't say their nickname on on radio. I've been told it's not appropriate , but they're basically like the older church ladies. Um , and she , she comes at it from a place of faith. Right ? God compels her to go there and be a witness , because what she is hearing and seeing , it doesn't match with her , with her ethics. But. And we'll play a clip from her. She was saying how it Before they go in , they pray for for everybody , including the Ice agents in there , including the court workers in there who are sometimes rude to them. They're praying for everyone just to kind of lower the tension a little bit , and we can hear a little bit from her.
S4: We know we are citizens. We know we are clergy and laypeople who are here called by God to be love in this place , and we pray for everyone in this building.
S2: And that was what she told me after I asked her specifically about the domestic terrorism comments. Right. What do you think when you hear this and you know that they know who they are , they know why they are there. They know that label shouldn't apply to them.
S1: You know , you mentioned Faith , the group , but you're also talking about just , you know , their the power of their faith. And I think there's a lot of reasons that drive maybe drive people to activism or to want to , you know , volunteer. But one of those is for many people , religion. I'm wondering , how else have you seen that show up in these community patrols and these these group efforts , um , around immigration enforcement.
S2: All sorts of ways. Um , I mean , we've done a story about the role of the Catholic Church locally here , specifically Our Lady of Guadalupe. They recently opened a migrant services shelter. And that , I mean , I spoke to the priests who are quarterbacking that effort , and they said , yes , it's part of our faith tradition to serve our community , their church community , their parish is made up of mostly immigrant families who tell them , hey , I , I may not come to church next month because I'm afraid of ice coming by. So what is a pastor to do but protect their flock ? Right. That's kind of how they view their role in the community.
S1: Yet another organizer. You spoke with , Rommel Diaz. Um , he left Chile more than 40 years ago , um , to to escape an authoritarian rule there. Yeah. Um , you know , tell us more about what he had to say and what you took from from his message ? Yeah.
S2: He was a really interesting person. I met him the same morning I was riding around with Benjamin Prado. I just loved his accent. He has a South American accent , which makes his Spanish almost poetic. But that experience. Right. The idea of he left his family , left Chile 40 years ago because of Pinochet , an authoritarian. I asked him about the domestic terrorism comments , and he said that strategy that Trump is using , it reminds him of what the South American dictator was using , right ? Criminalizing a certain group of people and then using that criminalization to justify oppression against that group of people. I think we have a clip from him , too. I'm happy to translate afterwards.
S5: Nuevos no tenemos miedo. Obviamente tenemos miedo. Pero lo hacemos no el miedo. No nos Paradise.
S2: So there he is saying I don't want to say we're not afraid , because obviously we are afraid , but we are not going to let that fear paralyze us. And then after that , he told me that since the killing of particularly Renee Nicole Goode , they've gotten a lot of more interest , more phone calls from volunteers who do want to help out. So the impact of that is kind of twofold , right ? It's almost like a double edged sword. There's more fear. There's some people who don't want to be more involved anymore or are hesitant to be involved. And there's other group of people that see that and they're galvanized. They feel compelled to step up and do more.
S1: You know , on that , I mean , as you're reporting emphasizes , San Diego hasn't yet seen this , you know , major immigration blitz like in Minneapolis. But I'm wondering how volunteers you've spoken with are preparing for that possibility.
S2: It's tough to say , because we're in year one and folks in this space have been doing it , you know , different kinds of immigrant related activism. Even before Trump took office , there were issues with asylum seekers when Biden was in office and restrictions to asylum. Um , a lot of them migrant drop offs , right ? They've been working for a long time. They're tired , burned out , got very little help. Um , but they're doing it because they have to. So I it's tough to say how they will do. I mean , I imagine the infrastructure is there , the support networks , the mutual aid organizations , there's new volunteer groups popping up , and they have relatively good coordination between them. But there's not a lot of help from the city , county or state , or definitely not as much as there is needed. If we were to have a occupation style deployment over here. So it's difficult to say. I mean , I think they'll do the best they can and the community will come together like it has in the past , but I don't think we will know until we see it.
S1: And there are no , you know , plans of that right now that we know of. Right. It's more just. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. No , no publicly announced plans. Um , we don't know what they're planning behind the scenes , but we do know they have over $100 billion and they are recruiting a lot. So presumably this year it is. I mean , they're going to go to more cities. So we'll see. And they are specifically targeting Democrat run cities , Democrat run states , which we are one of them. So.
S1: You know , switching gears real quick , before we let you go , Gustavo , I want to talk about something that's happening. You know , right now , today , public officials will , you know , attempt an oversight visit to the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
S2: The inspection is happening right now , and it is relatively historic in California. The county health officials are using a relatively new part of the county health and safety code , the same code that they use to inspect restaurants and give them their A or B rating. They're using that to go and inspect the privately run federal immigration detention center , the first county in the state to do that. So that's something I'm going to be looking at actually , After I get off the radio here , I'm going to go talk to the county and see what they found and what are the implications of that. But it comes after. This inspection comes amid a growing public backlash over the rising death toll in Ice detention centers. 32 people died in Ice custody last year. It was the most since 2004 , and so far this year , already eight people have died in Ice custody , which would be on pace to surpass that near-record number.
S1: Well , you can follow this and all of Gustavo's recent reporting , including a story on Ice Watchers on our website , KPBS. I've been speaking with Gustavo Solis. He's investigative reporter reporter here at KPBS. Gustavo , thanks as always.
S2: Thank you.
S1: Up next , what's behind an increase in fare evasion on North County buses and trains ? This is KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Our daily commutes are often habitual. We get up in the morning , maybe grab a coffee , head out the door. If they include riding public transit , that means we get on the bus or train at the usual stop and we pay our fare well. In recent years , more riders have been avoiding those fares in San Diego's North County. That trend tracks with increased concerns about safety on public transit. KPBS reporter Elaine Alfaro joins me now to talk more about her latest investigation into public transit in San Diego's North County. Lainey , welcome back to roundtable.
S6: Hey , Andrew , thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you back. So you , along with some help from KPBS investigative reporter Scott Rod , looked into rising fare evasion on North County Transit. Tell us more about what you found for sure.
S6: Yeah , to start off , I mean , North County Transit , it includes , you know , the buses , the the trains , which includes , you know , the coaster and the sprinter. Um , and so basically what we were looking at is fare evasion and kind of how it's changed over the years. And what we found is in recent years , more than a third of Costa riders in more than half of sprinter riders were fare evaders. Um , you know , some of these people , these evaders would get caught by staff who were on the trains , you know , checking tickets. Um , but basically , if they're found to not pay the fare and they're told , you know , please pay the fare. Um , right now , due to district policy , they don't really have to.
S1: And you mentioned the policy there , and they kind of I think they call it inform , not enforce at this point in North County Transit. But what do we know about the reasons behind this trend that you found ? Yeah.
S6: So we interviewed the CEO of the transit district. His name is Sean Donaghy , and he talked about how kind of he's seen a perspective shift about what people think they can get away with on public transit and other researchers that we interviewed touched on this. But , you know , looking specifically at the North County Transit District a few years back , they rolled out this inform not enforce policy , which basically says , you know , out of concern for district employee safety , uh , the train attendants and operators can ask fare evaders to pay their fair. But , um , basically , the employee doesn't have to enforce it , um , with the hopes of hopefully de-escalating a situation where a fair evader , a person who didn't pay their fair , um , would get upset and maybe escalate the situation.
S1: You mentioned Sean Donaghy , his concerns over employee safety. And that leads to the focus of your second story in this series on North County Transit , and how it's been changing over the last few years.
S6: Those tripled in recent years about I want to say 2018 was the earliest year we were able to get data on the number of assaults. There were about 50. Um , last year , the district reported 157 assaults in their forms of public transportation and at stations. Wow.
S1: Wow. So a pretty , pretty significant increase there. I mean , you spoke to some experts here on public transit. What did they have to say again about , you know , what the reasons are ? I think a lot of this times out with the pandemic and changes around ridership during that time.
S6: Right , right. Yeah. Researchers we spoke with mentioned that , you know , that this isn't we showed them the data. They said this isn't a North County specific issue. This is happening kind of across the country , that crime and assaults are a problem that public transit agencies are facing. I spoke with one researcher , Yuko Nakanishi , and she studies safety and security on public transit.
S7: Crime is still a problem in transit , and experts believe that there's been a post-pandemic shift for the worse. Agencies are facing new or worsening security hurdles.
S1:
S6: And those are called code compliance inspectors. The district also has contracts with the sheriff's office and a private security company. And between those two , the sheriffs are able to issue citations for fare evasion or other crimes. They can respond and make sure people are , you know , protected if there is a situation. Um , they're this private security company. Kind of works like the code compliance inspectors , where they also are just there as a presence to make sure rules are being followed , educate people , make reports , those sorts of things.
S1:
S6: You know , one of the researchers we spoke with mentioned the importance of education , engineering and enforcement. So education is what North County Transit District is prioritizing by letting people know , hey , this is the fare. Please pay it. Um , engineering would be like kind of what you see on a at the Bart in Northern California or in New York City in the subway having turnstiles or gates. So , um , just creating infrastructure to ensure that people pay their fares. And then we can look locally to San Diego County here , the Metropolitan Transit System , MTS. They actually upped enforcement last year. And Union-Tribune reporting actually kind of found that after they rolled out this kind of increased enforcement approach to fares. The district saw nearly half $1 million increase per month from fare.
S1: So obviously , you know , this drop in in people paying fares , you know , is having an impact on the bottom line for North County Transit. What has that impact been and how is it likely to show up for riders in the coming years ? Right.
S6: Yeah. So , you know , after the pandemic , obviously ridership kind of fell off nationwide , including here in North County Transit District. And so since then , you know , ridership has started to come back. They haven't reached pre-pandemic levels of ridership. And so as we were looking at fare revenues compared to operating costs in North County's , um , budget , we found that fare revenues covered actually less than 8% of operating costs last fiscal year , and that's down from 22% about a decade ago. So those are kind of big numbers. And so there are questions about , you know , how how is the district going to be operational in the future with these kind of dwindling revenues ? Um , so those are those are questions we still have. I know that the district is considering whether they want to increase fares , the cost of fares. And so they've mainly been citing , like the inflation that the district is facing with operating as their main reason for wanting to increase fares. But there are questions about whether the dwindling revenue from fares is also part of that.
S1: So you kind of dug into a lot of ridership data here to kind of unveil this , you know , this story around North County Transit. I just wanted to pull back the curtain a little bit. You know , now , on what led you to want to investigate public transit and what's happening in North County.
S6: We got a tip from our KPBS investigations tip line. A person reached out , you know , mentioning some concerns that they had about North County Transit District. And so , uh , you know , we monitor our tip line , and any time we see something that kind of flags our attention , we take it and we start kind of doing our own research and saying , you know , is there a story here ? And so after we got that tip , we started looking into that. And obviously , you know , transit is something that impacts a lot of people. And so the the broader impact of what we're seeing from fare evasion and assaults , as we were continuing to to dig into the data , really showed us that there is a story here.
S1:
S6: I think what was most striking to me is as we were requesting some of this information in this data , uh , at least when it comes to fare evasion and the amount of , you know , checks that the the district makes to make sure people are paying their fares , the district wasn't able to provide data prior to 2021 , and that was kind of a challenge for us to figure out , you know , well , what is the trend here ? And so we kind of had to find our own way to get that data kind of separate of the district. So we ended up doing a deep dive into board documents , going back to , I want to say , 2010 , 2011. And that's kind of how we were able to compare trends based on documents we found on the North County Transit District website and what the district was able to provide for us. So that was one interesting , like , I guess curveball we noticed. But I guess as far as like what struck me most about the data we were able to get , I was just shocked that , you know , um , around 2011 , you know , fare evasion was around 1 or 2%. And now a little bit more than a decade later , we're in , you know , 30% , 50% that or more than a third. I'm saying things wrong. I was shocked that we're at this point where you know , about a third of Costa riders and more than half of sprinter riders are evading the fare. Those comparisons were just striking to me.
S1: Yeah , very significant jumps there. And I mean , one , you know , particularly interesting part of your reporting is you did speak to some , you know , researchers around transportation. Among them was Philip Plott. She's a researcher , senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation in Washington , D.C.. And here's a little of what he had to say.
S8: You feel like , uh , like a sucker if you're paying and other people aren't , you feel like there's a sense of lawlessness. And I think that's not a good feeling for people to have in the system.
S1: So there are just these big questions. As you noted , this is not just impacting North County , right ? This is happening to cities all across the country. So I'm just wondering , you know , what questions that reporting on this story is brought up for you about just the overall future of of public transit.
S6: I think that's the big question. You know , what is the future ? Researchers we've talked with , you know , mentioned. Is there an option for , uh , free public transit in the future that comes with its own challenges of how do we pay for that ? And so I think we are kind of in a spot where transit agencies are asking themselves , how do we keep maintaining this very essential service to the public ? Um , but also given the fact that they have to , you know , maintain the cost of paying for rails and for the fuel and , and for the employees. So I'm left with more questions moving forward about where things are going in our transit in the US and and abroad. We talked to one researcher and France , who is also kind of looking at public transit in the in Europe. And so I think there are a lot of questions about the future for public transit. And so , yeah , more questions than answers I think. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Same with me. I mean , as you mentioned earlier , Um , you know , a lot of our public transportation in our region is kind of like an honor system. You mentioned New York City. I mean , there you have turnstiles. You have to kind of go through these things here. It's it's much more accessible in a way. But I imagine that brings up challenges with fare evasion. So we'll look for more follow up stories hopefully from you on that end. I've been speaking with Elaine Alfaro. She is an investigative reporter and KPBS East County reporter. Lainey , thanks so much for being here.
S6: Thanks for having me.
S1: Coming up , Major League Soccer San Diego FC had a memorable first season. We take a look at how the team's shaping up for its sophomore run. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. San Diego FC did not end up winning the MLS championship in 2025 , but by making it all the way to the Western Conference finals in just their first season. The team the team came far closer than anyone expected , including at guest. I'd guess my next guest , whose voice you may recognize.
S9: Who looked to center and find that cross in connection over there with Anders Dreyer in front of the six as well as Alicante. Now they're going to play a short. Luca de la Torres getting the feed is Chucky Lozano. Chucky on approach. Chucky delivers into the box. Dangerous. And it's going to be a goal. Go ! El capitan. El capitan. Wow.
S1: Wow. You can just feel the excitement there. That's. Adrian Garcia marquez. He is the radio voice for San Diego FC. We wanted to have him on to talk more about San Diego CFCs. You know , as they get set for their home opener this weekend. And to hear more about his own journey growing up in San Diego and becoming a renowned sports broadcaster. Adrian , welcome to roundtable.
S10: Hi , Andrew. Thank you very much for having me. It's , you know , just a privilege to be on. I'm a big fan of always have been of anything PBS , KPBS. So when you guys called , of course I'm going to take the call. And of course , when we're going to talk about San Diego FC , I'm all in. So thank you for having me.
S1: Oh , we really appreciate you joining us. I mean , last season was very memorable. We heard a taste of it there. What did you know ? When did you first recognize that. You know , the first season was going to be so special.
S10: You know , it's , uh. It's interesting. Uh , you know , we've talked about this many , many times now. You know , in the off season , especially with Darren Smith. You know , my my coach , broadcaster , they're my my co-pilot. Uh , and it was surreal from the first night. I know that first night. Uh , he and I , we were , you know , so-called building the plane in the air. So there was so many moving parts when it came to San Diego FC , when the broadcasting end of it kind of came through. Sebastian Moruya , who's a visionary. He , uh , he had a lot on his plate. They had so much going on with the marketing , as you guys were able to tell , trying to build this team basically in just over 100 days and have this franchise up and running and ready when everything else had fallen through for MLS , they awarded the franchise to San Diego. So it was exemplary as to how they went about it and how Tom Penn came into the fold with Mohammed Mansour and the whole group , the entire , you know , the ownership group from the top , uh , you know , uh , everybody there , Cody and company there with the Saquon , Ben , the Kumeyaay Nation , everything came together so fast , in such a special fashion that it did not surprise me. That night. One match day one , something special happened. Magic emerged when San Diego FC go into the house of the reigning champion Galaxy and go in the winningest side in MLS history , and you go into House of Beckham. You know , Landon Bridge. You like to mess around all the different things. You know the Cobi Cabana , all the names that it's earned there in Carson because of who they are , who the galaxy is. And you go into their house match day one and not only do you beat them , but do you you beat them convincingly. You beat them with a little bit of that magic that we were going to see the rest of the season. When it comes to Andres Dryer , we were we knew we were in for something special. And as I said , we were building the plane in the air. We literally got on the air about 30 , 35 minutes before. As you know , in broadcasting , there's no way you should be getting on the air barely 30 , 35 minutes before. But there were just so many complications leading into that first night to get the broadcast up and running. And we did. And boy , did we lift some magic. And with Frontera is making the run up to Carson. It just felt magical from day one , and it just continued all the way out through throughout the season.
S1: Yeah , you mentioned , you know , the supporter , you know , the supporter groups there. I mean , how quickly did did you kind of get a sense that the team was not only , I don't know , kind of clicking , you know , on the field , but also with fans and with the larger San Diego , Tijuana community.
S10: You know , we kind of knew that that that would happen. I mean , San Diego has always been a hotbed for football. Soccer has been one of the major sports , and obviously in the region , we've supplied some of the best soccer players on planet Earth , especially for the United States , United States related football , anything. Guys that train here build here , uh , right there on the border. Kids , men and women , boys and girls growing up into this ecosystem that we understood. San Diego was ready for football a long , long time ago when it came to MLS. It's just , you know , patience is the cornerstone of wisdom and and the patience kind of paid off for the city of San Diego. So we knew that the supporter groups , they were going to be not ready. There are going to be more than ready. So when you combine them all in and there's this great show that we were able to do last year called Behind the Flow , and I invite people to check it out when you get a chance , wherever you get your podcast. We did it with this group. Um , they're based in London. Um , and they're called Message Herd. And we started to go and just dive deep. Right. Go full Barbara Walters , full PBS. I mean , just go deep into what it is that became San Diego FC and what you saw from the beginning , from those very , very first , uh , instances of , okay , what do we do here ? How are we going to do it ? How is this going to build up ? You saw it already happening. You saw the build. Just kind of like it was going to become something special , something magical. So for us that were part of this and and part of the broadcast , it was no surprise that the team had the success that it had in year one. It has just been like I said , it's continued ever since , but we understood the way the team was built , the way the team was formed , that the success was going to follow because a lot of successful people at the top were running the operation. And as things got into the flow state of Florida , pun intended. We'd cover all of that on this show behind the flow. And and we would dive really , really deep into what it is that San Diego FC is. And one of my favorite episodes is how did you bring Frontera ISD together ? How did all of those supporter groups come together in the end ? This dormant giant of a football city that is San Diego waiting , and how do you bring it all together ? And boy , did they do it. And they did it beautifully. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And in that podcast , I mean , you really kind of tell the full story of that , what it is to build the team in that first season. But I want to , you know , take a minute and talk about your own story a little bit. You know , just to start , though , for those who may not really know , what is the job of a play by play announcer.
S10: Wow , that's a great question. You know , that's the first time anybody's ever asked me that , like , just point blank as that question. Um , the job , you know , and I like to tell this part , I guess to answer it right. Tell this story , if you will. I asked Vin Scully , and I've been very , very fortunate man. I've been the luckiest guy on the face of this earth when it comes to broadcasting and that I've , you know , been in these positions , given these opportunities , starting there in San Diego with Mr. David Garcia. May he rest in peace there at the Murph. And I'd sit with him and and just says , things kind of just started to find their flow for me as a play by play announcer. You know , I always would ask the question of what's the key , what do I do , blah , blah , blah. So , so on and so forth in one day. You know , I'm working for the Dodgers at the time. I know boo Dodgers. I hear , uh , they're in San Diego. But hey , I , you know , I'm I'm there. I'm working. I'm the sideline reporter there for Vin Scully. Right. So how am I not going to ask Vin Scully.
S1: A legendary baseball announcer ? Yeah.
S10: So I go , Mr. Scully , if I could borrow a tool from your toolbox as a play by play guy that I need to know as a play by play man , what tool is it ? What should I have in my toolbox ? I may have it , but maybe I don't , you know. And I'm going to learn from the best. I'm going to ask the best. And he just said to me , Adrian , just remember one thing. We're storytellers. We're never the story. And after him saying that , like it confirmed what I already knew , the main job of the play by play is to tell the story , be the storyteller , not the story. Don't really get into , you know , your personal life and what you did with the boys last night and all. That was a nice game. Afterward , we had a cigar and we had a great talk , and we ran into so-and-so and name drop and all this stuff. That's not me , me. It's tell the story. It's , you know , you guys heard on that clip ? I like to dive right into the action. Um , and that's the job of the play by play don't miss a thing because you never know when the moment is going to be that big moment that ends up , you know , being historic. Uh , something some some some play , some something a player does. You have to be ready. And I learned that through the Lakers , especially during those years and getting getting to cover Kobe Bryant who's you know , him and Tony Gwynn are the two greatest athletes I've ever been around in their process and everything that they've ever done and how they did it and why the success following it. Getting to see that and being able to tell that part of the story that made it even more important to me is my job is basically crack on that microphone , tell you every single thing that I see and how I see it. And if I could add a little sprinkle here and a little sprinkle there that is more personal , more of my touch , that's fine , because that's how I've always done it , since I was a crap talking athlete back in the day. And I just carried that into a booth. And that's pretty much the job of the play by play is to tell the story. And the other part is to make the guy next to you better. That's always been a key for me , is to try to always bring out the best of the guy , whoever it is , or woman sitting next to me in that booth. I am not one of those guys where there. This is about me and I want to hear my my , you know , myself here , say my own name. I like to hear what they have to say. And I always kind of present it. I like to believe that I present them a full plate of go ahead and rip it , do what you got to do , and then I'll jump. Jump right back in. That's our job , is to control that air and keep the air clean. But tell the story and let the person whip you. Tell the. Story.
S1: Story. You know , you mentioned the importance of storytelling there. And one thing that's , you know , unique , you know , fairly unique about your work is you broadcast games in English and Spanish. I mean , I think you even go between the two.
S10: The process is the same as far as , you know , getting notes ready. Uh , you know , and I'm , I'm hardcore when it comes to that. Like , I'm , I go full mad science mode. If you were to see some of the charts that I have for different sports. And each sport has its culture. Each sport has its history. Each sport , you know , as , as as youth lingo.
S1: See language.
S10: So there's there's a culture that I like to respect. And in the language that , you know , the way that it's supposed to , kind of not supposed to sound because the sound is just like music. It's whatever you do that's your sound. But the respect for the different sports , the cadences , the you know , you can't call basketball the way you call baseball , obviously , and you can't call football the way you do soccer. So it's kind of like you have to respect the cadence. You have to respect. Again , I guess going back to music , it's like a country music song is going to sound. It's it's still an awesome song. Write. The lyrics are going to be profound , but it's going to sound a little country or it's going to sound bad there. It's going to sound , you know , techno , it's going to sound like rap , you know , whatever it is , it's the same thing when it comes to broadcasting sports. I think it's kind of like you're singing a different type of song. You have to know your audience and then you just have to deliver. And in that case , for me , the method is have my lyrics , have everything done , have all the stories , have my boards , everything ready to rock. So that from that point on it's it's like a rapper. You're just free flowing behind the microphone. And and I love that. I love that feeling. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean I think it's really interesting. You describe it like a musician. Um , you know , you were also born raised in San Diego here. You mentioned doing , you know , you've broadcast for the Chargers and Los Angeles Dodgers. You mentioned so many teams. Lakers.
S10: Being a kid born and raised between San Diego and Montana. So , you know , the bilingual side of things , right ? So at home , my dad , you know , and my mom , they let us express ourselves however we wanted. But we understood. From my dad , Spanish was the dominant language in the house. And I especially practice. And my brothers , you know , their younger than me. They kind of like let it go by the wayside a little bit , but not me. And it was very important then growing up with that influence of , of , you know , the Mexican athlete , the , the boxing , you know , all of us threw down in the street right there or whatever. It just it was just fun. But it was the boxing , the football , the contact , the the the soccer , the baseball , the all of the multiple sports. And because San Diego was such a beautiful city , especially in the South , you know , where I grew up , which is the Chula Vista and Pearl Beach San Isidro area where we're mixed. We have a lot of African American , Filipino , Samoan , Mexican , you name it. We're we're a mixture. And that's why our , our sports teams are , are as good as they are in the South region because of the complexity of the roster , because of the type of of people that go to the school. In other words , we all come together and we play ball together. So that shapes you for the future. You don't realize it at the time , but it does shape you for the future. In San Diego , being so multi , um , cultural and bilingual and the sports being so important to both sides of the border , it just prepared me for , for what was going to be a broadcasting career. I had no idea. I thought it was going to be a high school history teacher there at Southwest High and coach the baseball team , but that wasn't to be the case. I guess I was meant to go into broadcasting and and , you know , I , I've been very , very fortunate to be able to get into this , but San Diego , California definitely prepared me for this career.
S1: You know , in talking about how you approach games , you mentioned these special moments that happen , you know , in each sport across games. And , you know , when I think of all the great sports calls , many of them are for amazing goals. You know , particularly in Spanish.
S10: In other words , if you're prepared , you have all your notes , you have everything done , and now you're just in the flow of the game. You're letting the game kind of talk to you and you're explaining. You're telling the story as it goes. There will be a moment , though. There they will arrive. You know those game sevens. You know Miggy Rojas , you know , doing what he did for the Dodgers during that World Series. And you know that that this much the game of inches , as Branch Rickey once said , you know and it did become the game of inches for the Blue Jays coming in from third to home. And that made the difference in that World Series. You got to be ready to call whenever those moments are there. So I think for soccer you do get that passionate goal. And I was asked this question. It's funny you say that because , uh , doing games I do League II matches for CBS and Wallace's network , and obviously those games are in English , but it's the game. So one of the first things that I was asked is , are you keeping the goal call the way you guys call it in Spanish , or are you going to do it a little different , or are you going to be more traditional when it comes to the way they do it in English and as you've seen ? And for many fans , you've seen it like , you know , they do a brilliant job across the pond there. You know , when it comes to broadcasting soccer in English , um , you know , but they don't. The emotion of the goal , they let the , the fans kind of filter that emotion in. Um , so it's basically reading the moment , if you will like if , if the fans are giving you that energy , you might not need to ramp up your call. You might just let it breathe in and let the fans do it for you. It's about recognizing the moment when you're living it. And your your responsibility is. Yes. Like you said , some of those calls , one of those might end up being yours. An all timer. And you better have been ready , uh , you know , to properly say the name of the player , uh , describing the moment , the words you want to use. But it's just being able to capture it when you're living it. That's the part that's the challenge and I think every broadcaster lives for it. Be ready when the moment arrives.
S1: Well , I hope we'll have a lot more moments for you to call this season. I've been speaking with Adrian Garcia marquez. He's the play by play radio voice for San Diego FC. Can be heard on San Diego Sports 760 a m. And San Diego FC's first match is coming up Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium at 730. Adrian , thanks so much for joining us today.
S10: Well , thank you for having me. Always a pleasure. And you know where to find me. Let's talk San Diego FC. This year we're getting that MLS Cup. Let's go.
S1: That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. I'm your host , Andrew Bracken Brooke , Ruth's roundtable senior producer. And the show was produced by Ashley Rush. Have a great weekend.
