Héctor Lozano is well into his third decade as the Spanish-language voice of sports in Chicago. And the last three years, since joining Telemundo Chicago (WSNS) as sports anchor/reporter for Noticiero Telemundo Chicago, have been among his happiest.
Broadcaster of the Year: Adam Symson, Scripps
Station Group of the Year: CBS Stations
GM of the Year, Markets 1-25: Kyle Grimes, WCVB Boston
GM of the Year, Markets 26-50: Adam Chase, WTKR-WGNT Norfolk (Va.)
GM of the Year, Markets 51-Plus: Katie Pickman, KGMB-KHNL-KFVE Honolulu
News Director of the Year: Allison Smith, KCCI Des Moines (Iowa)
Multiplatform Broadcaster of the Year: Tegna
Unsung Hero of the Year: Phil Brooks, KRIS Corpus Christi (Tex.)
News Anchor of the Year: David Ono, KABC Los Angeles
Meteorologist of the Year: Pete Delkus, WFAA Dallas
Lozano spent 25 years at Univision Chicago (WGBO). After he was laid off, he called WMAQ-WSNS’s then-general manager, David Doebler, and got a quick offer to join the team in 2021.
“I was out of a job for like two hours,” Lozano said, demonstrating the mix of skill and luck that has helped the Mexico-born, Chicago-raised former soccer player, B+C”s Sports Anchor of the Year, build a broadcasting career wholly in his adopted hometown. “Obviously, I’m very fortunate.”
Kevin Cross, president and GM of WMAQ-WSNS and NBC Sports Chicago since mid-2021, has seen Lozano’s role expand to also include doing sports at WMAQ and calling Chicago White Sox games in Spanish on NBC Sports Chicago Plus. His co-host for those games (eight in 2023) is former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
“One of the things I’ve always liked about Hector is his versatility,” said Cross, who has been in the Chicago media since the 1990s. “I mean, here’s the person who does your nightly updates in your news, who you can have go and do play-by-play for three hours for a White Sox broadcast. That’s what makes him special.”
Lozano said he loves doing sports for the NBC Chicago “triopoly,” even when the local pro teams aren’t winning. The key, he said, is “you have to make it exciting. And when you have a passion for what you do, which I think I have, even if you have to report on the losses, you do it. And you have to project the pain that you feel as well.”
