If you were to walk into a post-game locker room, attend a player press conference or even flip on ESPN, there’s a good chance that you’ll see mostly men covering each scene. Truth is, there just aren’t that many women working in the sports field, which is why it took this long to profile one in the Pipe DREAM JOB column. So when a woman like Jenna Wolfe makes her presence felt in the locker room or on the air as a reporter, well, it’s one small step for Jenna, one giant leap for prospects like myself.
“I loved being the minority,” said Wolfe, a former reporter for WABC-New York and the Madison Square Garden network, who embraced the chance to be one of the few female reporters in the industry. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t faced adversity in a field so heavily dominated by men.
“If anything, some of the writers were a little put off by a whole wave of women raining on their parade,” said Wolfe, who claims the athletes were indifferent to women reporting in the clubhouse or locker room.
But that didn’t stop Wolfe, a 1996 Binghamton University graduate, from progressing in the field as a sports news reporter and anchor on ABC. From the time she attended school at Binghamton, Wolfe wasn’t the typical college student.
“I guess I would have to say I sacrificed a little of a social life in college,” said Wolfe, who spent the majority of her mornings, nights and weekends interning at WICZ-TV. “Personally, for me it was never work.” Her resume includes internships at NBC’s “The Today Show” and “Dateline,” as well as “20/20 Primetime.”
“If anyone asks me for any advice, it is [interning], networking, making contacts, showing your face. That’s what paved my way,” said Wolfe, whose path didn’t start that far away from Binghamton’s campus.
When Wolfe graduated from Binghamton, she wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do, but working in sports was not in her foreseeable future. She was prepared to begin searching for a reporting job when her WICZ news director contacted her five days before graduation.
“He said, ‘I don’t have a news reporter job opening for you, I have a sports reporter job,’” she said.
Wolfe was told that as soon as a news position opened, it would be hers, but the position was a break she never would have expected. Wolfe found her niche as a sports reporter and she committed herself fully to the job after subscribing to Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest. She eventually moved on to work as a sports anchor at WUHF-TV in Rochester and WPHL-TV in Philadelphia before landing in New York City on the MSG Network.
“I never knew it was for me,” she said of working in sports. “Right away, I knew this is what I wanted to do.”
As a reporter covering major teams in New York, Wolfe found herself bumping elbows with close to 75 media reporters at a time, a far cry from the small handful she dealt with at smaller markets like Binghamton. But covering a large market like New York meant dealing with potential superstars, some of whom have large egos and volatile mouths. When the Yankees signed Gary Sheffield in 2003 for example, that was cause for a celebration for Wolfe and other reporters.
“You think less in terms of game results and more in terms of issues and personalities,” she said of reporting. “We want issues and we want crazy people, and we want the Gary Sheffields.”
While Wolfe didn’t plan on working in sports, she admits that was her only real way to establish herself in a competitive field.
“In this business it’s so hard to get in,” said Wolfe. “It’s very subjective, a news director will pop your tape in and he’ll know within three seconds if you’ve made the cut. He may be looking for a blonde.”
But for one news director earlier this year, Wolfe had the exact look that he was seeking. This time the job wasn’t in sports, but to work on a national scale as a news correspondent on “The Today Show.”
“I covered every event and interviewed every athlete I wanted to interview,” Wolfe said. “I never thought I would have left sports until ‘The Today Show’ came calling.”
Within the last three weeks, Wolfe has not just reported for the NBC morning show, but has hosted the weekend editions. She was recently flown to Butterball University to do a feature story on how to make a turkey, and to Orlando, where she reported on what is called “Dinner in the Sky,” in which people are literally hoisted in air to eat. Next week Wolfe will cover a story on what it takes to fly a blimp.
“Best job in the world, literally,” said Wolfe, who couldn’t help but express her enthusiasm for her work.
But while she is relatively young in the field, Wolfe did have a somewhat long road to finally get to the position she holds today.
“I would make people know that the first couple of years are never that glamorous,” said Wolfe, who made $14,000 a year at her first job in Binghamton. “We all suffered and struggled a little bit; the whole process of going from the 140 [people in the field] and weeding out the people who don’t have the drive to stay in the business.”
Since her debut on NBC in August, Wolfe is already making her presence felt at “The Today Show.” Could she be the next replacement for Meredith Vieira?
“It would be great to fill in for Meredith,” admitted Wolfe. But if that never happens, she is completely satisfied with where her career path has led her.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to say that where you are right now is where you want to be tomorrow,” she said.
Right now, Wolfe is enjoying today in every way.
Published Dec. 4, 2007 in Binghamton University's "Pipe Dream" Newspaper.
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