Is It Time to <i> Rock Alrededor del Reloj?</i> : Pop Music: Organizers hope to attract 18,000 Sunday to the Sports Arena for L.A.’s first major Spanish-language rock concert.

Has the time finally arrived for an arena-sized festival of Spanish-language rock ‘n’ roll to succeed in a region of more than 3 million Latinos?

The organizers of a 10-hour Festival de Rock en Espanol concert Sunday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena hope so.

Felix Mejorado, a Mexican-born singer who has fronted a Los Angeles-based rock band for more than a decade, likes to think the event will open a new era for the Spanish-language audience and groups such as his.

“Our main goal is to unite all the rock ‘n’ rollers from around the world,” said Mejorado, who is one of the event’s three chief organizers and the leader of Feel-IX, one of the nine bands on the festival bill.

The event, which is set to run from 1 to 11 p.m., will feature bands from Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Los Angeles. The groups--also including El Tri, Caifanes, Alejandra Guzman, Kenny y Los Electricos, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Laureano Brizuela, Los Hombres “G” and L.A. Mixers-- play a wide range of rock styles.

Tickets for the event are $25, with $1 from each ticket going to the AIDS Health Care Foundation, which provides services to Latinos with AIDS.

Organizers hope that the festival will not only reach the Latino population in the Los Angeles area, but others as well. As of midweek, only an estimated 1,700 tickets had been sold, but promoters said they expect to sell the bulk of the 18,000 tickets Sunday.

“We’d like to see the different aspects of the Hispanic community come together: Argentines, Central Americans, Chicanos,” said Fred Dominguez, another festival organizer. “It could really knock down barriers.”

Added organizer Jorge Luis Rodriguez: “This is our little Woodstock.”

But can this first-of-its-kind festival achieve its lofty goals?

Less ambitious Rock en Espanol concerts in the Los Angeles area have been beset by organizational problems and there is some concern expressed by industry observers about this one as well, but the organizers are optimistic. They point out that individual rock groups from Spain and Latin America--including Soda Stereo and Miguel Mateos--have toured the United States in recent years and sold out mid-sized venues.

There is also clearly an audience for older, more mainstream Latino performers--such as as Jose Jose and Emmanuel--who headline 6,000-seat venues such as the Greek Theatre and the Universal Amphitheatre. Latin-accented rappers Kid Frost and Mellow Man Ace have also built a following among younger music fans. And Los Lobos has won a national audience.

Lee Ballinger, associate editor of “Rock and Roll Confidential,” an industry newsletter focusing on social issues, believes the music industry has been slow in attempting to tap the potential Spanish-language rock audience: “I think Latin rock has the potential to play in a variety of ways the same role that black music has played historically over the past 40 years . . . where people come together by liking the same music.

“I would certainly hope that if this show does well both artistically and attendance-wise, it would make people in the industry re-think the limits of the potential of Latin rock.”

But most observers stress the importance of radio airplay.

At this point, the only station in Los Angeles that plays Rock en Espanol is Spanish-language station KLVE-FM (107.5) and then only in small doses, such as on a syndicated Sunday night program.

“The movement has grown since last year as far as sales but we have a long way to go still because it’s not getting the (radio) rotation that we need to really blow this market out,” said Mike Missile, director of marketing for Rock en Espanol at BMG Records. “The bilingual rappers--they’re really blowing it out. That’s because they’re getting rotation on the radio.”

Ballinger doesn’t believe the language is as big a hurdle with Rock en Espanol as is generally perceived.

“The bands I’ve heard make perfect sense musically to my ears, which are pretty mainstream,” he said. “As far as the language, I think Mellow Man Ace and Kid Frost show that that’s not a barrier. There’s so much popular rock ‘n’ roll that nobody knows the words to, so why would they care if the words are in Spanish?”

Efrain Osorio), producer of “Tu Musica,” a Spanish-language music video show on KMEX-TV Channel 34 in Los Angeles, is also optimistic. “Kids write us and say they like to hear music in their own language,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear George Michael or Madonna. It’s just that they want to have the best of both worlds.”