What the bizarre, schizoid, previously testosteronian world of sports talk radio is coming to these days is, in fact, Donnellan. In only her second year of national syndication, Donnellan, a.k.a. The Babe, has become the hottest new voice in the airstream. When ESPN Radio launched her on the Fourth of July in 1994 from a tiny studio in Bristol, Conn., fewer than 30 stations signed on-and at their peril. Who would tune in to a woman talking sports? Not only that, this was a woman with attitude who could converse knowingly with male callers and had the, uh, guts to humiliate and hang up on the stupid ones. But today more than 170 stations air Donnellan’s show, which remains the only nationally syndicated radio sports gab hosted by a woman.
ESPN hired Donnellan from a Seattle station where she had increased ratings by 900 percent in her time slot. She had already paid her dues in radio, doing the obligatory traffic reports and weather She landed her first sports-talk gig in Tampa in the early 1980s. An air force brat, her childhood travel took her through 14 schools and from the shores of Tripoli to sports-mad Boston, where she nurtured her fan’s sensibility. Laid up with a bad back, she was broadcasting from her ocean-view condo in Tampa when she off handedly invited her listeners to “spend the afternoon in bed with a fabulous babe.” And so was born a radio name.
There’s no mistaking The Babe, a 5-foot-4, fortyish redhead, for Charles Kuralt. “HONNEEEE, I’M HOOOOME!” bellows the Babe, opening her four-hour, weekday show, echoing Jack Nicholson in “The Shining.” A guy calls: “Virgin, first-time caller. Be gentle, Babe.” “WOO-HAH!” a sound-effects voice roars. Other callers get this stock response from Donnellan: “DOOFUS ALERT! NO IDIOTS ALLOWED! GET A LIFE OUT THERE!” Callers who stammer over a point are likely to get abused, and so are those from Columbus, Ohio (whose fans she ridicules for their harsh treatment of Ohio State football coach John Cooper). The Babe blows up callers with any of 30 sounds, including a pipe cracking a knee-that’s “The Gillooly” – evoking skater Tonya Harding’s first husband.
Those atmospherics aside, Donnellan does her share of serious sports reporting and interviews. She broke the story on the hoekey-strike settlement and bagged a rare interview with former baseball boss Fay Vincent. A Bostoner by upbringing, she mostly loves talking hockey-“for its passion, electricity and speed” – but always has time for any big-name athlete. Her celebrity guests include everybody from Yogi Berra to NBA Commissioner David Stern–a willing foil whose “butt” The Babe threatens to whip in a game of Horse. Many athletes are avid listeners. Bed Sox pitcher Roger Clemens once limo-cd over chicken from his Rhode Island restaurant.
Somehow, this hellzaudiopoppin’ carnival of entertainment, talk and sports-“in that priority,” Donnellan says–works. Surveys show upwards of 200,000 callers try to reach her monthly; she jams in about 200 a day (women rarely call) during her 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST time slot. She is heard in nine of the top 10 markets (she isn’t in New York), a relatively rare accomplishment for such a new show. The Babe’s success enabled the ESPN network to grow from part-time to a seven-day-a-week syndication, says Mark Mason, the network’s general manager. ESPN2 televises her show an hour a day.
Now, Donnellan may be on the way to gaining big national exposure. She was on Conan O’Brien’s TV show and recently signed a reported $225,000 book deal with publisher Judith Regan, the woman who marketed Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern to the best-seller lists. “I’m not kidding myself; I’m lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” Donnellan says, in a burst of modesty.
Feminist peers in the industry were skeptical of The Babe, until-she won them over with a serious speech about sexism in her profession at a “Women in Sports Media” convention this past summer. Says Michelle Kaufman, a sports reporter for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, “The fact men ask her opinions and actually listen to her gives her amazing credibility.” And Donnellan adds, “I’ve done more for women already than most will do in a lifetime.”
And for men? Outside a packed Detroit-area sports bar, a line of bankers and truckers (“my Babe-aholics,” she says) stretches a block to see and talk to The Babe. Inside, a guy in the autograph line finally reaches his quarry. “Babe! This is unbelievable. I got you and Jerry Mathers in the same week. My life is complete! . . . Me and the Beaver?” says the Fabulous One. “I’d say you need to GET a life.” .
