A fixture on SportsCenter for nearly a quarter of a century, Linda Cohn will reach a milestone with ESPN’s signature news and information program in February.
Cohn, who has hosted more editions of SportsCenter than anyone in the 36-year history of the program, will anchor her 5,000th show on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 8 a.m. ET on ESPN. More than 60,000 SportsCenters have aired since ESPN was launched in September of 1979.
Cohn anchored her first SportsCenter on July 11, 1992, a 2 a.m. program in which she was paired with former ESPN anchor Chris Myers, now with Fox Sports.
“It’s just an amazing journey that I’ve been very fortunate to have been on for 23 years,” said Cohn. “As players and athletes always say, they don’t look at a number or body of work until that body of work is over, that’s how I kind of compare it. I don’t even think about the number.”
Cohn is now most often seen hosting weekend morning editions of SportsCenter (10 a.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday). She also reports from events, as she will do from Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game in Nashville.
During her career at ESPN, the versatile Cohn has hosted, reported, commentated, interviewed, written and called play-by-play. She also has appeared in many of ESPN’s iconic “This Is SportsCenter” commercials. A partial list of events, sports and assignments Cohn has had for ESPN in addition to anchoring 5,000 SportCenters:
Cohn’s early career included both radio and television, starting in local radio in 1981 in Patchogue, N.Y., on her native Long Island. She became the first full-time female sports anchor on a national radio network (ABC) in 1987. Her first TV work was with WLIG-TV on Long Island as a part-time anchor and reporter, and before coming to ESPN, she was a sports anchor/reporter for KIRO-TV in Seattle.
As far as she is concerned, Cohn would like to do many more shows.
“I just figure, hey, I’m going to work each day doing what I love to do,” she said. “There will be plenty of time to look back and say ‘wow, did I really do that many SportsCenters?’”
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Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
