Linda Cohn
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Linda Cohn (born ) is an American sportscaster. She anchors
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 ...
's ''
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 ...
''.


Early life and education

Cohn grew up in a Jewish family on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. As a child, she would watch sports on TV with her father, who is a huge sports fan. When she was 15, her mother found a hockey league where she could play with boys, although the boys were eight or nine years old. As a teenager, Cohn demonstrated talent at
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
as a goaltender, making her high school's boys team. Although she didn't make her high school hockey team as a junior, she ended up making the team as a senior. After graduating from
Newfield High School Newfield High School is a public high school in Selden, New York, United States. It is located north of Middle Country Road (Route 25) on Marshall Drive. History and overview As suburban growth spread into central Suffolk county in the 1950s, ...
in Selden, Cohn attended
SUNY Oswego State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York. SUN ...
, where she was the goalie for the women's ice hockey team. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in arts and communications in 1981. Cohn was inducted to the Oswego State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.


Career


Early years

Cohn debuted as a sports anchor for the Patchogue, New York-based
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
WALK-AM (also WALK-FM) in 1981 and worked there for four years. After leaving that station in 1984, she worked as a sports anchor for four other New York area radio stations until 1987, including a brief stint as an update person at
WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...
in New York City.


1987–1991

In 1987, Cohn made sportscasting history by becoming the first full-time U.S. female sports anchor on a national radio network when she was hired by
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 ...
. She anchored WABC TalkRadio from 1987–89. In 1988, Cohn got her first television break, after being hired by what was at the time one of ESPN's top competitors,
SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...
. In 1989, she hosted a call-in radio sports show in New York. Cohn was a reporter at the SportsChannel America Network before being hired by
KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown section of Downtown Seattle, and its ...
in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
to work as a sports anchor there.


ESPN (1992–present)

Cohn returned to the East Coast in 1992, when she was hired by ESPN to work on ''
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 ...
''. She anchored her first SportsCenter on July 11, 1992, with Chris Myers. She has also been featured in many of the show's ''
This Is SportsCenter This is ''SportsCenter'' is a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their ''SportsCenter'' sports news show that debuted in 1995, based on the show's opening tagline. The ads are presented in a deadpan mockumentary styl ...
'' commercials. Despite her success, Cohn was almost fired in 1994 because the network argued that she wasn't showing her love for sports on TV. The company gave her six months to improve and hired a video coach to help her out. In addition to her work as a sports journalist, Cohn made a name for herself as a prognosticator during the 1997 NCAA basketball tournament. Her bracket that year for ESPN accurately predicted 15th-seeded
Coppin State University Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...
’s shocking victory over
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
in the first round, to this day one of the greatest upsets in the tournament's history. In 2005, Cohn signed a contract extension with ESPN, which added play-by-play for WNBA telecasts to her duties. On June 20, 2008, ESPN announced that Cohn would be a regular anchor for the new morning block of ''SportsCenter'', which launched on August 11 that year. She was to have been the co-anchor, alongside
Steve Berthiaume Steve Berthiaume () is an American television sportscaster who serves as the play-by-play broadcast announcer for the Arizona Diamondbacks and is a former anchor on ESPN and a former sportscaster for SportsNet New York (SNY). He is married to ...
, of the first three hours of the block, from 6 to 9 a.m. ET on weekdays. Several weeks later, however, ESPN announced that the new ''SportsCenter'' morning block would be scaled back from nine to six hours. She hosted her 5,000th edition of ''SportsCenter'' on February 21, 2016, a record for ''SportsCenter'' anchors. Cohn continues to regularly anchor ''SportsCenter'' from 1–3 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. She is also the host of the podcast "Listen Closely to Linda Cohn". Cohn has reported, commentated, interviewed, written, and called play-by-play throughout her career at ESPN. Since 2016, she has co-hosted ''SportsCenter'' from Los Angeles on weekends with
Neil Everett Neil Everett Morfitt (born ) is an American sportscaster for ESPN. He is the co-anchor of the West Coast edition of '' SportsCenter'' alongside Stan Verrett. Early life and education Everett was born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Spokane, W ...
. The network suspended Cohn for saying in an April 2017 radio interview that left-wing bias at the network had contributed to a loss of subscribers. In mid-July 2018, ESPN issued a press release announcing that Cohn had "signed a new deal to remain with the company for years to come." The contract included continued anchor duties on ''SportsCenter'' and increased ice hockey coverage''.'' Executive Vice President
Norby Williamson Norby Williamson (born 1963) is an American executive and television producer. He is the Executive Senior Vice President of Studio and Event Production for ESPN. Since October 2005, Williamson has overseen all studio shows as well as all live spor ...
noted that in her 26 years with the network, Cohn had "hosted more ''SportsCenter''s than anyone else." The deal says she will continue as primary host of '' In the Crease'' on ESPN+ as it expands to five nights a week during the NHL season and will contribute hockey-related interviews and features to ''SportsCenter'' and other ESPN platforms.


Author

In 2008, Cohn released her memoir, ''Cohn-Head: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys' Club'', in which she recounts her passion for sports and her experiences working on ''
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 ...
''. It is a tell-all about her rise to the top of a male-dominated sportscasting world.


Personal life

Cohn has two children with her ex-husband Stew Kaufman. The couple divorced in 2008. In 2014, Cohn was named one of the 25 most influential women in sports. She is an avid fan of the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
,
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
,
New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
, and
New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
.


References


External links


Linda Cohn ESPN BioLinda Cohn.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn, Linda American women's ice hockey players American television sports announcers 20th-century American Jews College football announcers Living people ESPN people National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Television personalities from New York City People from Suffolk County, New York State University of New York at Oswego alumni Women's National Basketball Association announcers Women sports announcers 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)