Bonnie Lynn Bernstein (born August 16, 1970) is an American sports

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and executive. She has been named one of the most accomplished female sportscasters in history by the American Sportscasters Association. Bernstein is Vice President, Content and Brand Development, of

Campus Insiders Campus Insiders was a college sports website and internet television service. It was owned by a joint venture between IMG College and Silver Chalice. The service was oriented towards live streaming of U.S. college sports, streaming live and replay ...

, as well as the on-air "face" of the network. Additionally, she freelances for ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and indepen ...

'',

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

espnW ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

and

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

and serves as a guest commentator on several news networks, including

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and

FOX News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

Biography

Early life and education

Bernstein was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and grew up in

Howell, New Jersey Howell Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is the largest municipality in the county by total area, comprised of about . It is located in the New York metropolitan area and has been a steadily gro ...

. She was salutatorian of her class at Howell High School, where she is a member of the school’s hall of fame. She attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where she graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

with a degree in

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

. She was a four-time

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

, receiving the Thomas M. Fields award for excellence in academics and athletics. Bernstein maintains close ties to her alma mater, serving on the Board of Visitors for the

Philip Merrill College of Journalism The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a journalism school located at the University of Maryland, College Park. The college was founded in 1947 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 550 undergra ...

at the University of Maryland and the advisory board for the Povich Center for Sports Journalism. She also hosts ''TerpVision'', a quarterly television program showcasing the University and its notable alumni.

Early career

Bernstein spent three years climbing the local broadcast ladder, launching her career as the news and sports director at WXJN-FM radio in

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

. She transitioned to television at

WMDT-TV WMDT (channel 47) is a television station in Salisbury, Maryland, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. It is the flagship television property of locally based Marquee Broadcasting, and has common ownership with low-power Azte ...

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

as the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate's weekend news anchor, then became

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

's first-ever female weekday sports anchor at

affiliate

KRNV-TV KRNV-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner ...

ESPN

Bernstein first joined ESPN in 1995 as its Chicago Bureau Chief, where she covered

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

' record-setting championship run (1996–98). She also served as a correspondent for ''

Sunday NFL Countdown ''Sunday NFL Countdown'' (officially ''Sunday NFL Countdown presented by Snickers'') is an American pregame television program that covers the NFL action for that week. The show airs on ESPN in the United States and TSN in Canada from 10 a.m. to ...

'' and '' College GameDay'' and filed reports for ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television show, television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of United States, American cable television, cable and satellite television television network, network ESPN. The show ...

'' during the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

post-season and the

NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

CBS Sports

Bernstein joined

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

in 1998 as the lead sideline reporter for the

NCAA Men's Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

s and feature reporter for ''

The NFL Today ''The NFL Today'' is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ''NFL on CBS'' brand. The program features commentary on the latest new ...

''. She transitioned to sideline reporting for the ''

NFL on CBS The ''NFL on CBS'' is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts sinc ...

''. She worked with the

Verne Lundquist Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster. Biography Early life and career Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran U ...

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

and

Dan Dierdorf Daniel Lee Dierdorf (born June 29, 1949) is an American sportscaster and former football offensive tackle. A native of Canton, Ohio, Dierdorf played college football for the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1970 and was selected as a consen ...

crew until 2003, when she was promoted to the lead crew of

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has anchor ...

and

Phil Simms Phillip Martin Simms (born November 3, 1955) is an American former football quarterback who spent his entire 15-year professional career playing for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a television sport ...

. Bernstein covered

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

XXXV 35 or XXXV may refer to: * 35 (number), the natural number following 34 and preceding 36 * one of the years 35 BC, AD 35, 1935, 2035 * ''XXXV'' (album), a 2002 album by Fairport Convention * ''35xxxv'', a 2015 album by One Ok Rock * "35" (song), ...

and

XXXVIII 38 (thirty-eight) is the natural number following 37 (number), 37 and preceding 39 (number), 39. In mathematics *38! − 1 yields which is the 16th factorial prime. *There is no answer to the equation Euler's totient function, φ(''x'') = 38, ma ...

for the network and during Super Bowl XXXVIII, she became the first correspondent ever to cover the game for both network television and network radio, filing reports for

and

Westwood One Radio Westwood may refer to: Companies and brands *Westwood, Baillie, 19th-century engineering and shipbuilding company, London *Westwood One (1976–2011), a former American radio network based in New York City *Westwood One, an American radio and medi ...

. Upon signing with CBS/Westwood One Radio in 2001, Bernstein often pulled "double duty" during the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

season, covering a Sunday game for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' for radio. During the 2003

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Men's Basketball Championship, Bernstein was involved in an incident with

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

basketball coach Roy Williams. After the Jayhawks narrowly lost to Syracuse, Bernstein, during her post-game interview, inquired about the North Carolina vacancy to which Williams had been linked. Williams, visibly perturbed, suggested a producer forced Bernstein to ask the question, and said, "I could give a shit about North Carolina right now. I've got thirteen kids in that locker room that I love." Williams later apologized for his on-air profanity and accepted the North Carolina job one week later. Responding to the incident, CBS Sports President Sean McManus said, "Bonnie's questions were appropriate. They had to be asked, and her performance was totally professional." In addition to her NFL and college basketball duties, Bernstein also hosted the

NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship The NCAA women's gymnastics championships are an annual gymnastics competition to determine the best collegiate women's gymnastics team in the country. Unlike most NCAA sports, the women's gymnastics championship is not separated into divisions a ...

and CBS' Emmy-nominated anthology series, ''Championships of the NCAA'', and served as a studio host for ''CBS SportsDesk'' and ''At The Half'', CBS Sports' college basketball halftime studio show. Bernstein also covered

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

and

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

for the network and has hosted the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and the Hambletonian.

Return to ESPN

In January 2006, Bernstein left CBS to and rejoined ESPN in July as a

field reporter In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for ''

Sunday Night Baseball ''Sunday Night Baseball'' is an exclusive weekly telecast of a Major League Baseball game that airs Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN during the regular season. The games are preceded most weeks by the studio show ''Baseball Tonight: ...

'' on ESPN with

Jon Miller Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997 he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball annou ...

and

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...

and college football reporter for ESPN on ABC. On October 11, 2006, five days after experiencing severe leg pain while covering the Texas-Oklahoma

Red River Rivalry The Oklahoma–Texas football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between border rivals Oklahoma and Texas. The two teams first played each other in 1900, and the rivalry has been renewed annually and uninterrupted since 1929 for a tota ...

, doctors discovered life-threatening blood clots in both of Bernstein's lungs (

pulmonary emboli Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include shortness of breath, chest pain particularly upon breathing ...

) that originated in her left leg (

deep vein thrombosis Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a type of venous thrombosis involving the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs or pelvis. A minority of DVTs occur in the arms. Symptoms can include pain, swelling, redness, and enla ...

). She returned to ESPN and ABC several weeks later, but reduced her travel schedule the following season as a precautionary health measure, shifting focus to studio hosting many of ESPN’s high-profile shows, including ''

NFL Live ''NFL Live'' (stylized as ''NFL Live presented by Autotrader'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American National Football League (NFL) studio show, currently airing Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m ET on sports cable channel ESPN. Formerly know ...

'', ''

Jim Rome Is Burning ''Jim Rome Is Burning'' (originally titled ''Rome Is Burning'' and often abbreviated as ''JRIB'') is a sports conversation and opinion show hosted by Jim Rome. Debuting on May 6, 2003, as ''Rome Is Burning'', it was originally a weekly show in pri ...

'', ''

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play. The primary host of the show is ...

'', '' First Take'' and ''

College Football Live ''College Football Live'' is a show that airs weekdays during the college football season on ESPN or ESPN2, and ESPNU. Its premiere was on Monday, July 23, 2007. Wendi Nix serves as the lead host, and it also features ESPN college football analyst ...

''.

Radio hosting

In September 2009, Bernstein was named co-host and SportsCenter anchor for ''

The Michael Kay Show ''The Michael Kay Show'' is a sports radio talk show airing on the New York City radio station WEPN-FM 98.7 ESPN New York. It is hosted by New York Yankees television play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay, New York Rangers pre and post-game radio ...

'' on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York. She also covered the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and hosted specialty programming during the

2009–10 NFL playoffs The National Football League playoffs for the 2009 season began on January 9, 2010. The postseason tournament concluded with the New Orleans Saints defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, 31–17, on February 7, at Sun Life Stadium i ...

. In July 2010, Bernstein was given her own daily NFL show, ''New York Football Live'', co-hosted by Jets linebacker

Greg Buttle Gregory Ellis Buttle (born June 20, 1954 in Atlantic City, New Jersey) is a retired American football linebacker for the New York Jets. He played college football at Penn State University. He was named a Consensus All-American in 1975. In 20 ...

Campus Insiders

In April 2013, Bernstein was named vice president of Content and Brand Development for Campus Insiders, a digital partnership between Silver Chalice Ventures, founded by

and

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

owner

Jerry Reinsdorf Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the owner of the White So ...

, and

IMG College LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...

, the nation's largest collegiate sports marketing company. Bernstein is also the on-air "face" of the network, hosting a daily studio show during the college football season and NCAA Basketball Championship. Her off-air responsibilities include creating original programming for the network, developing and securing new sponsor partnerships, and designing brand extensions that enhance the reach of CI's digital and social platforms.

Other broadcast work

Bernstein is the only female fill-in host for the award-winning syndicated radio and TV program, ''

'' and appears as a guest commentator on several news networks, including

and

, to discuss prominent sports stories. Outside of sports, Bernstein appeared as a "post-game" reporter on the

Sklar Brothers Farrell Randal "Randy" Sklar and Jason Nathan Sklar (born January 12, 1972), professionally known as the Sklar Brothers, are American identical twin brother comedians and actors best known for hosting the show '' Cheap Seats'', which aired for ...

' 2014 comedy special ''What Are We Talkin' About?''

Outside endeavors

Bernstein's philanthropic efforts focus on two areas: childhood obesity and

awareness. She is a media strategist and national ambassador for ING KiDS ROCK, one of the nation's largest school-based running programs. In 2010, she co-chaired the coalition supporting congressional passage of the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, which raises private funds for childhood obesity initiatives. Bernstein is also the co-national spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis, raising awareness about the disease she was diagnosed with in 2006. Bernstein's hairstyles have been honored by voters at the celebrity hair website Super-Hair.Net with a record 24 "Crown Awards," beginning in 2002 and most recently in 2009.

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Bonnie American television sports announcers American sports radio personalities Howell High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Howell Township, New Jersey Women sports announcers Maryland Terrapins women's gymnasts American television reporters and correspondents Sportspeople from Brooklyn Tennis commentators Major League Baseball broadcasters American horse racing announcers Figure skating commentators College football announcers National Football League announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Gymnastics broadcasters Track and field broadcasters 1970 births Living people Jewish American journalists American women television journalists University of Maryland, College Park alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women