WEBVTT - Sportscaster Linda Cohn Talks Sports Television

0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.400
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.760
<v Speaker 2>Well in the historical time coming up for ESPN that

0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:13.720
<v Speaker 2>we would definitely want to spend some time talking about

0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:20.200
<v Speaker 2>Linda Cone Joints, a sports center anchor for ESPN, retiring

0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.919
<v Speaker 2>after thirty four years from ESPN. Linda, thank you so

0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.040
<v Speaker 2>much for joining us. I guess I'd love to just

0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:31.720
<v Speaker 2>get a sense, since you've seen everything in sports television,

0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:33.800
<v Speaker 2>for better or worse, how.

0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:34.519
<v Speaker 1>Has it changed.

0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:39.239
<v Speaker 2>How has sports television changed because ESPN changed everything.

0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.680
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me. Paul and

0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.720
<v Speaker 3>Scarlett really appreciate it. Yeah, it's been a fun time

0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.440
<v Speaker 3>for me. The big shows, the final shows or this Friday,

0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.040
<v Speaker 3>and so I.

0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.720
<v Speaker 1>Have seen everything, and most of it's been for the great.

0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:58.960
<v Speaker 1>You know. I like telling this story. You know, I

0:00:59.000 --> 0:00:59.400
<v Speaker 1>started in.

0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.560
<v Speaker 3>Nineteen ninety to July nineteen ninety two, for those who

0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.880
<v Speaker 3>can do the math, thirty four years and when they

0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.400
<v Speaker 3>first instituted the Institute of the bottom line that ticker

0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:15.000
<v Speaker 3>at the bottom before that, you know, telling the scores

0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.280
<v Speaker 3>before we gave them the information. I share this story

0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.200
<v Speaker 3>because many of us on camera A sports and our

0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.520
<v Speaker 3>anchors were horrified about this because we really cared about

0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:30.920
<v Speaker 3>our writing and telling a story, setting up the highlight

0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.119
<v Speaker 3>of the game you're about to see, but you're giving

0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:36.160
<v Speaker 3>away the score.

0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.560
<v Speaker 1>And this was I don't even know what year this was,

0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.280
<v Speaker 1>might have been late nineties or whatever.

0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.840
<v Speaker 3>But it was it was like, you know, spidlight zone

0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.440
<v Speaker 3>ish for us, you know what I mean. And it

0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.240
<v Speaker 3>was like we thought there was a talent meeting and

0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.200
<v Speaker 3>all of us like stood up and made our case how.

0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:54.280
<v Speaker 1>Awful this would be.

0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.240
<v Speaker 3>Of course we didn't get our way, and then it

0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.320
<v Speaker 3>turned out to be again one of these things. If

0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.280
<v Speaker 3>we don't see, you know, what's wrong with the TV,

0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.920
<v Speaker 3>there's no bottom line that tells us a store before

0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.280
<v Speaker 3>we talk about it. So that's always the first thing

0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.200
<v Speaker 3>that jumps up. But then technically all the stuff we

0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.480
<v Speaker 3>see when we watch live football get any kind of

0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.359
<v Speaker 3>sporting event, making it easy to.

0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:19.560
<v Speaker 1>Watch and all this.

0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.440
<v Speaker 3>But for Sports Center, ESPN, yes, we were always ahead

0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.680
<v Speaker 3>of it. And I'm really proud that I, you know,

0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:28.360
<v Speaker 3>I played a you know, small part of it.

0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.280
<v Speaker 1>With my colleagues from the Golden era.

0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.080
<v Speaker 4>I feel like you played an instrumental part of it,

0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.120
<v Speaker 4>not a small part of it. And the fact that

0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.120
<v Speaker 4>Scarlet the fact that you started in radio. That's near

0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.400
<v Speaker 4>and dear to our hearts. Of course, because we're talking

0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.480
<v Speaker 4>to you on radio right now. Just give us a

0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.200
<v Speaker 4>little bit of background about you, because I'm intrigued by

0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.960
<v Speaker 4>the fact that you played hockey as a teenager with

0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.639
<v Speaker 4>the boys and against the boys. How much did that

0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.880
<v Speaker 4>factor into your wanting to go into sports broadcasting.

0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.600
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and thanks Scarlett for saying that. Yeah. First, I

0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:00.800
<v Speaker 1>don't want to forget to say this.

0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.840
<v Speaker 3>How you know young women like yourself, All these women

0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:06.919
<v Speaker 3>have reached out to me that are in the business,

0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.639
<v Speaker 3>and that is like, I'm really proud of that professional

0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.720
<v Speaker 3>legacy of inspiring all these young women who are in kindergarten,

0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.000
<v Speaker 3>first grade, second grade watching the sports in early years

0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:22.040
<v Speaker 3>before they jumped on the boss, realizing that they too

0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.640
<v Speaker 3>could do it if they saw a woman up there

0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:26.919
<v Speaker 3>telling them about what happened in the game.

0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:27.320
<v Speaker 1>Right.

0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.640
<v Speaker 3>So, I'm really professionally a most proud of that the most. So,

0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.240
<v Speaker 3>getting back to the hockey thing, I was a kid

0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.160
<v Speaker 3>with very low self esteem. I wore very thick glasses.

0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.119
<v Speaker 3>Now the glasses are not as thick, thank god.

0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:45.600
<v Speaker 1>But I love sports, watched it with my dad sports.

0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.160
<v Speaker 3>Gave me something to look forward to. That's how I

0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.560
<v Speaker 3>always phrase it, because I didn't really have a lot

0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:52.600
<v Speaker 3>of friends. I mean, I mean I listened to the

0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.720
<v Speaker 3>Carpenters growing up. I love depressing stuff. It was awful,

0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.040
<v Speaker 3>It wasn't you know, I don't worry no what you

0:03:59.240 --> 0:03:59.760
<v Speaker 3>email before?

0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, exactly exactly, Scarlet.

0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.720
<v Speaker 3>So anyway, you know, then then I started playing street

0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.800
<v Speaker 3>hockey with the boys, and I realized, you know, I'm

0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:12.920
<v Speaker 3>really good at this goalie thing. And what I loved

0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.880
<v Speaker 3>about that position is that I could determine here's this girl,

0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.080
<v Speaker 3>low self esteem, shy as a wallflower, you know, just

0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.600
<v Speaker 3>kind of melted into the wall and playing goalie, realizing

0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.720
<v Speaker 3>that I was good at it, and I got contact lenses,

0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.000
<v Speaker 3>by the way, that helped my vision, and you know,

0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.880
<v Speaker 3>and then I was like, wow, people are noticing me.

0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.200
<v Speaker 3>And it wasn't like a you know, conceited kind of way,

0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:40.960
<v Speaker 3>but I felt like I was, Wow, I'm helping people,

0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.159
<v Speaker 3>I'm winning games, I'm making the safe at the right time.

0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:48.280
<v Speaker 1>I'm suddenly like somebody. And so I rode that.

0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.719
<v Speaker 3>Emotion and I added that to just my love of

0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.840
<v Speaker 3>sports and my sports teams and watching the games with

0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:54.400
<v Speaker 3>my dad.

0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:55.680
<v Speaker 1>But being a goalie.

0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.359
<v Speaker 3>I liked telling this story too, because I don't think

0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.200
<v Speaker 3>I ever would of had this career in broadcasting and

0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.560
<v Speaker 3>then onto ESPN, you know, because I start out in radio,

0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.040
<v Speaker 3>like you said, in New York, working seven days a week.

0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:10.080
<v Speaker 1>Loved it.

0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:15.039
<v Speaker 3>Then I you know, hosting three hour solo sports talk shows.

0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:16.800
<v Speaker 3>It's it's the best thing people don't get and that

0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.920
<v Speaker 3>has made me a better sports center anchor.

0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:19.520
<v Speaker 1>Oh, by the.

0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:24.280
<v Speaker 3>Way, so about getting back to the goalie story quickly.

0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.640
<v Speaker 3>You know, when I was playing with the boys when

0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.560
<v Speaker 3>I first started, my mom found a league on Long Island.

0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.680
<v Speaker 1>That you know, I was fourteen. I wanted to play

0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:33.360
<v Speaker 1>ice hockey.

0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.200
<v Speaker 3>I learned to skate with forty pounds of goalie equipment

0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:36.560
<v Speaker 3>on me.

0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:37.960
<v Speaker 1>And I played.

0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.040
<v Speaker 3>They didn't let me play with fourteen year old boys.

0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.239
<v Speaker 3>That I had to play with eight year old boys back.

0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.080
<v Speaker 1>In the day. It was you know, I'm dating myself,

0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:45.000
<v Speaker 1>but you can just google me.

0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:50.279
<v Speaker 3>I mean it was nineteen seventy, nineteen seventy, like mid seventies,

0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.680
<v Speaker 3>five seventy six, this kind of time. And so I

0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.159
<v Speaker 3>heard the moms like I read the moms whispering well,

0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.479
<v Speaker 3>what is that a girl in it? I see a

0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.880
<v Speaker 3>ponytail out of behind her mask, all this kind of

0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.560
<v Speaker 3>and I had to block out the noise. I had

0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.160
<v Speaker 3>to block out the critics. I had to block out

0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.279
<v Speaker 3>the people who are like, what is she doing here?

0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.839
<v Speaker 3>Type of type of verbiage, type of words that I

0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.960
<v Speaker 3>heard and overheard, and man, if that doesn't prepare you for,

0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.440
<v Speaker 3>you know, breaking into the boys club like I did.

0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.000
<v Speaker 3>And I wrote a book years ago called Conehead, and

0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.360
<v Speaker 3>I kind of put that tagline on it.

0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:27.960
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what does. Because that I learned to

0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:29.000
<v Speaker 1>block out the noise.

0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.000
<v Speaker 3>I had my moments, I had my days, I had

0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.880
<v Speaker 3>my crying episodes.

0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.000
<v Speaker 1>In ladies rooms, in various workplaces. I'm only human.

0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.720
<v Speaker 3>But you know what, you just believe in yourself and

0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.359
<v Speaker 3>you get enough validation to keep going right. You know,

0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:48.400
<v Speaker 3>we always need a little extra validation like okay, this that,

0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.640
<v Speaker 3>But you you know, it's just when I look back,

0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:53.400
<v Speaker 3>it's been a great, great ride.

0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.200
<v Speaker 2>And now, Linda, I mean, your business, the business of

0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:01.920
<v Speaker 2>sports cable TV now it's streaming, it's changing again. But yeah,

0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.000
<v Speaker 2>what do you think the future is of ESPN and

0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:06.400
<v Speaker 2>this new world we're in?

0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.120
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I don't have that crystal ball.

0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.640
<v Speaker 3>I just know that, you know, full disclosure, I'm glad

0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.080
<v Speaker 3>I'm not starting out on the business now. It would

0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.920
<v Speaker 3>be very things have changed, would be very challenging. We

0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.240
<v Speaker 3>know about AI, we know about all that. I'm not

0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.320
<v Speaker 3>saying they're gonna take the I don't know. I'm not

0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.560
<v Speaker 3>gonna take this, but not gonna see robots and sports

0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.760
<v Speaker 3>that or chairs. But I'm not sure what we're gonna see.

0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.880
<v Speaker 3>On one hand, streaming is exciting. On one hand, AI

0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.120
<v Speaker 3>is exciting. But you know, kudos to ESPN and with

0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.520
<v Speaker 3>all these super in the last five six, seven years,

0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.680
<v Speaker 3>as you guys have witnessed, it's really jumped leaps and

0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.120
<v Speaker 3>bounds with all these technical changes and adjustments you have

0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.840
<v Speaker 3>to make, and the competition what I love about when

0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.680
<v Speaker 3>I broke in and then, you know, probably the first

0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.000
<v Speaker 3>twenty five of the thirty four years, maybe the first

0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.920
<v Speaker 3>twenty eight of the thirty four years, you know, there

0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.360
<v Speaker 3>wasn't a lot of super competition to ESPN, right and

0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.760
<v Speaker 3>especially the early days. That was a big thrill for

0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.360
<v Speaker 3>all of us that we were the only game in town,

0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.160
<v Speaker 3>like meaning that's all you could turn to to see

0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.760
<v Speaker 3>anything there was, you know, no internet, blah blah blah.

0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:19.280
<v Speaker 1>So how all of.

0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.440
<v Speaker 3>These changes going to affect ESPN? Honestly, guys, I don't.

0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.280
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, but I will be watching.

0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:28.240
<v Speaker 4>They'll be watching as well.

0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.120
<v Speaker 1>We all be as will all be.

0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.240
<v Speaker 4>One question I do have for you, Linda, is that

0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:35.640
<v Speaker 4>you have always said you approach your job as a

0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.120
<v Speaker 4>fan first, because you are not a professional athlete who

0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.560
<v Speaker 4>then transitioned into becoming an on air talent. Now that

0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.400
<v Speaker 4>most of the commentators on live sports are former athletes themselves,

0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:53.000
<v Speaker 4>what do normal people like a Linda Cohne offer that

0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:57.440
<v Speaker 4>you know, a Charles Barkley doesn't. I mean, what can

0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.960
<v Speaker 4>you say? What can you bring to the table to audio?

0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.640
<v Speaker 4>Is that former athletes can't and don't.

0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:05.760
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you're right about your observation with a lot

0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.720
<v Speaker 3>of former athletes have become analysts and that's great. And

0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.840
<v Speaker 3>you know, being in a very lower level a college athlete,

0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.240
<v Speaker 3>you know, I get that, and I always I always

0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.320
<v Speaker 3>been athlete friendly, player friendly, that type of thing.

0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.120
<v Speaker 1>But you know, the young people.

0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.240
<v Speaker 3>The young men and women coming out of college still

0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.640
<v Speaker 3>want to be in the business. There's so many great

0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.880
<v Speaker 3>things that can hone their skills, whether it's YouTube, whether

0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.240
<v Speaker 3>it's TikTok, all these things you know that I didn't

0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.120
<v Speaker 3>have that many of us didn't have. So there are

0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.640
<v Speaker 3>I would I would really concentrate, even though you know

0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.680
<v Speaker 3>AI is there and all that and it's all about

0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:40.520
<v Speaker 3>videos now.

0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:44.680
<v Speaker 1>But the writing, I mean, that is something. The journalistic skill.

0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.640
<v Speaker 3>The writing, you can you can be way ahead of

0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:50.800
<v Speaker 3>the former athletes.

0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:52.120
<v Speaker 1>You can guide them.

0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.679
<v Speaker 3>And the way you speak, you know, the one thing

0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.120
<v Speaker 3>I really had to learn, and thank God goodness for

0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:03.760
<v Speaker 3>radio guys, because I learned to communicate naturally right, not

0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.160
<v Speaker 3>feel like I was reading something, you know, because I

0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.319
<v Speaker 3>start out doing updates and then I started hosting radio

0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.920
<v Speaker 3>shows and then you have suddenly like, okay, be conversational

0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.120
<v Speaker 3>and so that that was.

0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.079
<v Speaker 1>Great and that helped me in TV and that helped

0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.240
<v Speaker 1>me for thirty four years on the Sports Center set.

0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.160
<v Speaker 3>So back to your original question, yes, I mean that's

0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.079
<v Speaker 3>where you could bring it, being conversational. Connecting to the fans. Yes,

0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.880
<v Speaker 3>I say I'm a fan first, because I am. I'm

0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:32.199
<v Speaker 3>just as nuts about my teams than they are the

0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.080
<v Speaker 3>people watching me, and I tried to show that. But

0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:40.400
<v Speaker 3>you can also channel that into Okay, you be smart,

0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.000
<v Speaker 3>you know what you're talking about. Be prepared. You have

0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.080
<v Speaker 3>to be prepared. When I'm prepared, man, my confidence boost

0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.240
<v Speaker 3>when I'm not prepared, right, I mean when I'm not prepared,

0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.760
<v Speaker 3>I'm doing something like I don't know about this assignment.

0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:59.080
<v Speaker 3>I'm getting nervous about it, you know, right, Linda, exactly

0:10:59.120 --> 0:10:59.600
<v Speaker 3>Swallow it.

0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.080
<v Speaker 4>Such a pleasure speaking with you. Congratulations to you thirty

0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.679
<v Speaker 4>four years at ESPN, Lindacne SportsCenter anchor joining us. Really

0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:09.360
<v Speaker 4>really appreciate it. Good luck to you and hope to

0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.720
<v Speaker 4>talk to you again soon. Linda Cone there from Sports Center.

0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:14.760
<v Speaker 4>Incredible career. Awesome