Can Merloni and Fauria return to calling their show OMF again? The duo introduced their new partner today. It is Meghan Ottolini of The Boston Herald and NBC Sports Boston.
Ottolini isn’t new to WEEI. She has been a part-time and fill-in host at the station since the beginning of 2021. The Boston Globe reports that the promotion at WEEI means she will resign her position at The Herald.
“I’m thrilled to join WEEI and work alongside Lou [Merloni] and Christian [Fauria] delivering premier sports talk coverage in the best sports city in the country,” said Ottolini. “This opportunity is such a privilege and I look forward to having a lot of fun in this next chapter of my career.”
Christian Fauria and Lou Merloni have been a duo since August of last year. That is when Glenn Ordway announced his retirement as a full-time member of the WEEI staff.
Ottolini won’t just contribute content on air. She is also set to write for WEEI.com and create other digital content for the brand as well.
“Meghan is a rising star in this industry and we are very excited to have her join ‘Merloni & Fauria’ each afternoon, said Mike Thomas, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Boston. “Writing is a passion of Meghan’s and she will be able to continue to do that for our station’s website, enabling her to create can’t miss content for Boston sports fans – both on air and online.”
The move now gives the station a female presence in both drive-time slots. Courtney Cox was added to The Greg Hill Show last summer. Ottolini said that she definitely recognizes the industry making progress when it comes to finding roles for talented women.
“It’s no secret that there aren’t a lot of women in this space,’’ Ottolini told The Boston Globe. “But I think sports media overall has done a great job in trying to bring different perspectives and voices and trying to leverage people into positions where they have more of a platform.
“No shots at anybody, but the traditional thing when I came out of grad school [she got her master’s degree in journalism at Boston University] was that you would go be a sideline reporter, and maybe you will be on a studio show one day. And now you see what people like Doris Burke are doing.”
