With the New York Islanders opening up a home playoff series for the first time since doing it in 1988 against the New Jersey Devils, MSG Networks host/reporter Shannon Hogan is plenty excited that it’s happening as she wraps up her fifth season in her current role. The effusive mom-to-be was also happy to share who some of her favorite fellow female broadcasters are.
Katie Couric
“I felt like she was a real person. My mom watched The Today Show. I just connected. I liked that she showed some humor. She just felt like a real person to me.”
Jennifer Hammond
“When I first moved to Detroit, I will never forget doing an interview with Jimmy Howard. I was working on a story that was going to be a feature, and this woman comes blazing in the room and sticks her mic in his face and asks a question. I remember looking at her like, ‘Come on. What are you doing?’ Afterwards, she pulled me aside and said she was so sorry. She said she was Jennifer Hammond, and she was racing to make a deadline and didn’t realize I was doing a feature. She said we had so much to catch up on, and I had to call her. She just blew in and blew out. She was at the Fox station in Detroit, and I think she’s been there more than 20 years now. She’s one of my closest friends. She was one of the first women to be on that line—to travel and consistently be at a local station. She taught me that it was the more the merrier. It wasn’t that you had to be the ‘token woman’ at a press conference, in a room or at a station. There was plenty of room for all of us and that it shouldn’t be competitive. With Jen, it was a welcome.”
Sam Ryan
“I will never forget the first time the Detroit Tigers were in the playoffs, and Sam Ryan was covering for the MLB Network. She came up to me and introduced herself. She said she watched me and knew my work. We’ve kept in touch for years. When she would come into Detroit to cover games and then when she moved to New York, she was a great resource. She was a huge champion of MSG, the Islanders and the work here. It was a tough decision to leave Michigan—my family was there. But she said I was going to love it. She’s from Long Island. We also became fast friends. She was also another one who was a champion for women and making sure that we can all do a good job, there are plenty of jobs for all of us and it doesn’t have to be one woman at one station.”
Linda Cohn
“Linda Cohn. She is so amazing. I remember the first time I met her, I thought she was a huge star. She is the most normal person. She just wants to talk hockey. She’s so accessible and such a great role model for people and someone I’ve really gotten to know.”
