sports journalism – Kat Cornetta

andy_rooney When I was in sixth grade, one of my teachers at the since departed Fredrick Douglass Middle School (yes, I went to Douglass and was not shot once) assigned us the stereotypical, “Who I Admire” essay. I initially started writing an essay about my favorite actress, Gail Edwards, an obscure actress who played Six’s Mom on Blossom, Danny Tanner’s short-lived fiancee on Full House, and a waitress in my favorite obscure 1980s sitcom, It’s a Living. I wrote a draft, which was passable, but I could not truly pinpoint why I truly admired her. In fact, I didn’t admire her – she just happened to be the one common thread besides “poor taste” between all of my favorite television shows.

In sixth grade, we had to submit our drafts before our final essay was due, and thus I turned in this first draft about Edwards. Then, despite getting the go ahead to work on a final copy, I changed my topic one Sunday night while watching 60 Minutes with my Grandfather.

I would write my essay about how much I admired Andy Rooney.

Dear 98.5 The Sports Hub,

You were quite the topic of conversation on Tuesday, appearing literally out of nowhere with the sudden morning announcement of the demise of WBCN. With your August 13th arrival, Boston will be home to four sports radio stations – fitting really, given that Boston is the capital of obsessive sport fandom.

Before you go around stealing talent from the existing three stations (which you are already rumoured to be doing), let’s talk about one aspect of Boston Sports Radio that no one ever mentions:

Where are the women?

Yes, there is a woman, Jayme Parker, who does WEEI’s Sports Flashes on occasion. And WEEI.com recently hired a recent BU grad to host it’s morning video clip segment and do brief sound bites. Yes, many of the upper administrators calling the shots on WEEI and ESPN890, like Julie Kahn (Vice President of Entercom Radio New England) and Jessamy Tang (General Manager of 890ESPN), are some strong-willed and successful females. But besides that, Boston sports radio is all male dominated.

In 2009, when one of the most consistent and coveted football analysts/hosts of the past decade is female (Suzy Kolber), and when the Red Sox beat writer for the largest newspaper in Boston is female (the Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin), and when our regional sports television network host is female (NESN’s Kathryn Tappen), why are females largely absent from manning the microphones in Boston’s sports radio scene?

Tag: sports journalism

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