Courtney Cox Stays True to Herself on WEEI

Sports fans in the city of Boston have witnessed a number of triumphs since the turn of the century, embracing the positions that their favorite teams found themselves in for a prolonged stretch. For example, the New England Patriots garnered six Super Bowl championships on the strength of 17 playoff appearances in that period, establishing itself as a preeminent, dominant force in the National Football League. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox broke an 86-year championship drought and then proceeded to earn three more World Series titles. There have evidently been victories to celebrate in recent years, and Courtney Cox has maximized the opportunities she has had to communicate with the fanbase and give her opinions and insights.

Awareness and experience of fandom in the area has provided Cox with a clear understanding of the marketplace and WEEI. As a co-host of The Greg Hill Show in morning drive, she is part of an enthusiastic assemblage of on-air talents that inform and entertain their audience through a blend of enthusiasm, wittiness and revelry. Cox always wanted to be part of a personality-driven talk show and convey her genuine persona to the consumers, but she never foresaw it occurring through radio. When she hosted an hour with Greg Hill and Jermaine Wiggins as part of her audition, she could evince a strong connection with the city of Boston.

“I want to do a show that’s going to make people smile hopefully; make people happy [and] have fun, but also get good interviews,” Cox said. “We talk to legends on that show, and it’s in the middle of probably the most fun four hours that I get to have in my day, so how can you beat that? It’s the perfect fit for the type of life; for the type of career that I want.”

Cox is approaching her third year with WEEI, which represents her first full-time job in the sports radio format. Reaching a decision to leave her job in sports television was difficult, especially after she had completed a radio internship while in college that she remembers was enjoyable but also an indication that radio was not for her.

Prior to the one-hour audition, Cox felt terrified and did not sleep, sentiments that were quickly alleviated as soon as she took the air. Despite minimal familiarity in working with Hill or Wiggins, she knew who they were and felt accepted and respected from the onset. Nonetheless, there were challenges in successfully assimilating into the Boston radio landscape within a three-person hosting format.

“I think that if anything, it taught me to be assertive much quicker than it would be if I was in a two-person show and able to just have a conversation,” Cox said. “I’m also with Wiggy, who is very loud and boisterous, and Greg is the same way, so I had to figure out my lane and how to stay in it but also make sure that I’m not just a passenger; that I can step into the topics and make sure my voice is heard.”

The variety offered on The Greg Hill Show is something Cox finds seldom executed for a sports radio program, but it represents a value proposition that has helped sustain the WEEI morning show and lead to consistent success. On a daily basis, she and her colleagues work to present an entertaining product that refrains from negativity and results in sanguinity and optimism leading into the day.

“There’s enough stress in the world,” Cox said. “I think the morning drive slot is for you to wake up, get a little bit of information for what’s going on in the world when it comes to sports, and for our show elsewhere, and feel like you can take on the rest of your day with a smile.”

When Cox joined the cheerleading team at Boston College in her freshman year, senior captain Molly McGrath recognized her interest in sports broadcasting. McGrath, who is now a college football reporter at ESPN, took the initiative to meet with the school athletic director and create her own student-reporter role at the school.

As McGrath was nearing her graduation, she recognized that Cox was taking many of the same classes and encouraged her to audition to take over the show she had launched, which was called Eagle Eye View. Cox ended up landing the role and balanced it with in-game hosting and assisting with other athletic department endeavors. Through it all, she continued cheerleading until her senior year and was named a team captain.

“I think cheerleading helps young women and men figure out how to go through anything with a smile on their face, which is always helpful, especially when you’re in a live situation,” Cox said. “I think we all misspeak; we all fumble our words and you have the cheerleading background where you could be falling on a hardwood court in front of hundreds of people and kind of get up with a smile on your face and shake it off and move on.”

As a senior in college, Cox focused on her reporting and began working with Dirty Water Television where she covered several events around Boston to encapsulate the fan experience. Dirty Water Media content aired on New England Sports Network (NESN) over the weekends, an advantage that ultimately lended to a substantive demo reel supplementing her job search.

After her graduation, Cox moved to Charlotte, N.C. where she began working in a dual role as a host and production assistant for the ACC Digital Network. The platform was in its early stages and running out of an uptown warehouse building, and she was the only woman at the network. One of the directors and camera operators at the network took time to work with Cox after work on her standups and providing her with honest feedback so she would survive her early years in the business.

“Staying within the conference was super helpful because I knew so much when it came to [Boston College],” Cox said, “and when I was cheerleading, I got to travel to a lot of the other schools in the conference, so I felt like I knew a lot of people once I started there.”

While she enjoyed the opportunity with the ACC Digital Network, Cox missed her family and considered a move back to the Boston area. She discovered that Major League Lacrosse and New Balance were backing a new venture called the LAX Sports Network and learned that she could host longer-form shows containing interviews. On the day she visited the studios, Cox accepted the job offer and broadened her lacrosse knowledge and versatility.

Cox remembers affirming to her parents that she wanted to work at NESN, and the aspiration ultimately manifested itself when she was hired at the regional sports network as a host and reporter. The role for which she was hired was split between two other women, and while they were all seeking the same opportunities, they became and remain close friends. In her five years with NESN, Cox had the chance to cover various marquee events such as the Super Bowl, World Series and Stanley Cup Final.

“I think a lot of people from the outside would see that as such a competition and maybe setting women up for failure when it comes to mean girl mentality, and I keep saying, ‘I’m so lucky,’ but I truly am,” Cox said. “Boston, I think, has such an unbelievable group of women that work in sports that are all super supportive of one another, so that helped.”

Cox was excited to join The Greg Hill Show once she learned she landed the role, but she precipitously realized the impact of the program on the same day of her audition. Following the hour-long appearance, she went to dinner and had people approach her at the bar who had heard her on the air. The entire ordeal resulted in an epiphany in which Cox recognized that she wanted to work in sports radio.

“At NESN, there’s definitely a distance between you and the viewer,” Cox said. “You write your script, you shoot your shows and then people will maybe interact with you on social media or on the website or in person, but not that much.”

Once Cox started working at WEEI on a full-time basis, she ensured that she would not try to be something she is not, instead remaining steadfast to her own characteristics. There is no acting when she takes the air; rather, she is being genuine and forthright with the listeners and allowing them to settle on an opinion for themselves. No matter the topic, consumers can be certain that they are listening to Cox express herself in earnest with no fabrication or embellishment in her delivery or takes.

“I am who I am, and I had to realize that not everybody was going to like that and be okay with that,” Cox said. “I’d rather be disliked for who I am as a person, and who I am, if you meet me out, I’m the same person on air and off air than being liked for something I’m not.”

Hill, Wiggins and Cox work with show producers Chris Curtis and Chris Scheim, both of whom also bring their knowledge and opinions to the airwaves. Cox views herself as the millennial sports fan who can assimilate social media narratives and other opinions that fans who are not technically savvy or present on those platforms would otherwise miss. Combined with Hill’s background in music radio and Wiggins’ experience as a tight end in the National Football League, the program contains a wide array of viewpoints and opinions that intersperse the conversation.

“Once you mix all of that together, that is a recipe for entertainment,” Cox said, “and while it’s unbelievable the success that 98.5 [The Sports Hub] has and a lot of other stations, this is a mix of so many different things that I think nobody can turn their eye from.”

Cox is focused on impacting the lives of listeners and excited for a new season of road shows to commence in April. She views her colleagues at The Greg Hill Show as a family and sometimes forgets that there are people listening.

“I never know what the show’s going to be, and there are days that I laugh so hard that I’m crying,” Cox said. “It’s the coolest thing to be in a moment knowing that it’s a moment that’s going to live on for a very long time on that show, and we get those multiple times a week.”

Cox is one of two women who are part of the weekday prime programming lineup at WEEI and is proud to serve as a role model for aspiring sports media professionals. Meghan Ottolini, who has been a full-time member of the afternoon show since 2022, is someone Cox considers to be a good friend and extremely knowledgeable. Yet there have been various misogynistic commentaries and contentious assertions directed towards Cox while at WEEI.

“It’s hard because I have so many role models that I look up to in the industry,” Cox said, “and while I’m super lucky to work with guys who treat me with respect and don’t talk down to me or don’t treat me any differently than they would their male co-worker, there will always be listeners or social media watchers who try to throw a jab in there just because you’re a woman.”

On this past Friday’s edition of The Greg Hill Show, a caller encouraged Hill and Wiggins to recognize the audience composition of the program and asserted that Cox needs to speak less. Additionally, he believed that the feminization of the program had grown out of control and openly spoke his mind, contextualizing it as a first-world problem. Hill immediately questioned this chauvinistic opinion and a subsequent belief that it is killing him inside, leading everyone to ask the caller what he would ideally like to hear on the radio station.

During the first two years at the station, Cox had a difficult time combating social media backlash as she transitioned from focusing on television to radio. Those in Boston evidently make people aware every time they disagree with something she says, something she recognizes occurs from passion and candor. There are moments where she decides to put someone on blast for perpetuating sexist prejudice through both public comments and private messages, an action she does not usually regret and oftentimes results in an apology.

“Wiggy and Greg were my sounding boards and were so supportive and reassuring with me,” Cox said, “and I’m so lucky that I had because I remember any time I was upset, my mom would say, ‘Go talk to Wiggy; go talk to Greg. They always calm you down,’ and they really did.”

The caller on Friday’s show began most of his answers with an ostensibly crass laugh, and he eventually compared Cox speaking to nails on a chalkboard. Furthermore, he stated that whenever she goes on a rant, he immediately flips the dial to another radio station. Several listeners subsequently called into the show to show their support for Cox and castigate the caller, one of whom prayed that he was not the father of a daughter and encouraged him to start his own ‘boys club’ radio station.

“People have forgotten how to just be kind to one another and people think they can say whatever they want, and that has to change because there are so many people that I see that are unbelievably talented in their roles when it comes to broadcasting that are leaving the industry because of mental health issues, and that’s a big, big issue and something that I’m always stressing whether it’s an athlete or somebody in the industry [or] a coach,” Cox articulated.

“The mental health crisis in the U.S. is only fueled by the hate that some people feel like they can spew, so whether it’s misogyny or just somebody being a jerk, I think me trying to be a role model, I’m going to call out people and say that that’s not right.”

As the show continues, Cox hopes to continue moving up in the ratings and meeting people in the community, affirming that she would do the job for the rest of her life. Through her work at WEEI, she has also become involved with The Greg Hill Foundation, which is geared to immediately assist families whose lives have been impacted by tragedy.

Cox does not perceive inertia or apathy on the program, instead moving forward with a vectorized combination of magnitude and direction towards continued success. Even though it can be unnerving to hear the narrative of radio dying and/or being superseded by podcasts, she regularly hears from listeners and is honored that The Greg Hill Show is part of their livelihood.

“I think that there’s a turn right now where people want that reliable show that they can count on for four hours of their day Monday through Friday to become part of the routine. I know I’m like that,” Cox said. “I get off the show, I listen to the same thing –  I go to the gym, I watch the same thing. We’re all creatures of habit, and to know that we are that habit for a lot of people, that’s exciting.”

Derek Futterman

Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.