Syracuse Orange: I'd love to see more female representation in local sports talk radio

I’ve been on Twitter/social media now since 2009. I joined mostly to meet more Syracuse Orange fans and be more informed about Syracuse sports. The only reason I keep coming back is the friends I’ve made and the quality of professionals who provide important and informative content despite the growing amount of negativity they likely face.

In the 15 years I’ve been on there, some of my favorite fans and people who cover these sports are women. This isn’t surprising as I grew up playing sports with girls and knew many women who followed Cuse sports as much as me and other guys. Heck, my mom played sports and watched with us even sometimes.

I have noticed that the local TV stations have female representation in their sports departments. The local news website Syracuse.com has women who cover local sports. A couple of the local female sports journalists have a podcast called Orange Zone with a woman producer.

Yet the only time the local sports talk stations seem to have a female host is as a guest or when they air a national show or occasionally in the Newhouse after Noon show on the ESPN Syracuse radio station.

And listen, I’m not trying to sound like I know the business well enough to know everything and I respect the local radio scene for having local options. However, I just find it interesting that the local sports scene has women who cover the sports in depth but don’t have a show on local radio with at least one woman on it. That needs to change.

It's important to have more female representation in the local Syracuse sports radio scene.

I have campaigned in the past that I thought the perfect show would be former NewsChannel 9 sports journalist Alex Sims and former Spectrum News sports reporter Kate Callaway. They had a great chemistry together and both were entrenched in the local sports scene. Now both have moved on as Kate works for Hope for the Warriors, a charity that helps military families, and Alex still dabbles in sports and sports fantasy but is no longer with NewsChannel 9.

Syracuse men’s basketball has had one of the best sports writers in the country covering the team for years for syracuse.com named Donna Ditota. Until a recent move to Minnesota to cover the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, her Syracuse.com co-worker covering the Syracuse football team was Emily Leiker.

The Orange Zone is an award-winning podcast hosted by CNY Central sports director Samantha Croston and CNY Central sports reporter Ashley Wenskoski, with Rachel Culver producing and contributing. Maddie Mustion does a great job on NewsChannel 9 covering local sports stories as well, oftentimes traveling to multiple schools in one day.

TK99 does have Lisa Chelenza most mornings with Gomez in the morning, which often has sports guests on it, and their shows stream on Twitch, too, using the CuseSportsTalk account.

I point these out to say that on top of one of the best journalism schools being located in the area, there are also many qualified professionals who could host a show who happen to be women.

This isn’t just about representation for women in general and women sports fans but also adding different voices and perspectives based on their experiences for fans to hear from and interact with. Many women have the same knowledge and passion for sports, if not more, as any guy.

So maybe now that it’s 2025 and a new year and a new start, local radio stations should start to look to add different voices to their lineups. Please note that this is not meant to attack anyone or call anyone specifically out, especially those on the radio currently or those who own the stations, but simply pointing out something I noticed lacking in the current market.

By the way, as I noted, a market with many local businesses owned by women and many women who purchase sports merchandise and attend games regularly. Syracuse might not be a “big city” but it is one filled with diversity, personality and passionate fans, and I’m just hopeful that one day, sports talk radio will represent that a bit more than it does now.