blog

September 7, 2009 

I’ve always had bittersweet emotions about Labor Day weekend. On one hand, it signifies the end of summer-- the last chance to exchange the hustle and bustle of Manhattan for tranquil ocean views from the front porch of my beach house. On the other hand, that grueling dead period between the awarding of the Lombardi Trophy and Week 1 is finally over and FOOTBALL IS BACK! 

This year is particularly exciting for me because I’m taking on a new challenge at ESPN. Starting next Monday, I’ll be joining The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio in New York for what will be my first full-time studio gig! (Click here if you wanna check it out). The show airs during afternoon drive-time, so it’s the cornerstone of the station’s programming (Mon-Fri from 2-7pm), and with Michael Kay’s following as the voice of the New York Yankees and the expertise of radio vet Don LaGreca, I’ll be joining an awesome team I hope to help make even stronger (plus our engineer, Joey Salvia, who does all the parodies, is a total riot). I’ll be co-hosting, doing interviews and handling all the SportsCenter updates and breaking news, but I’ll also be contributing content to the ESPN NY website when it launches next year. The regional sites are one of “The Worldwide Leader’s” high-priority initiatives (the Chicago website’s gotten crazy traffic and I believe the Boston site is going live next week), so I’m psyched to have the opportunity to work on that, too! 

The deal has been in the works for several months. In making the switch from TV sideline reporting to studio hosting last year, I had a blast doing fill-in work for NFL Live, Outside the Lines and some of our other shows… but I quickly realized in order to truly hone that skills-set, I needed to be hosting on a more regular basis. TMKS show not only enables me to do that, but I actually get to work out of a studio that’s less than 30 blocks from my apartment… woo hoo! I was thrilled the bosses in Bristol gave the move their blessing, because I really wanted to stay with the company. It just keeps so many doors open for cross-platform opportunities, whether it’s TV, radio, print or the ever-evolving world in cyberspace.