Islanders to Host Second Annual Women's Broadcast on WRHU Airwaves

When the New York Islanders hit on the ice on Tuesday to host the Buffalo Sabres, an all-female radio crew will be behind the boards in-studio.
For the second consecutive year, WRHU 88.7FM Radio Hofstra University will put together an all-female team to celebrate International Women's Day. Eight female staffers will be working on the Islanders broadcast in Hofstra's studios on Tuesday night to produce, engineer, cut highlights and deliver live sports updates.

"Women in sports in general are super underrepresented," said Maddie Perkins, who regularly runs the audio boards as an engineer. "And when you get into sports broadcasting, there are even fewer in tech and engineering. The ability to work on a crew that's all women and that are all working to break that glass ceiling show that we have a place in these industries is really empowering."
Student producers, engineers and anchors communicate with Islanders Radio Play-by-Play Broadcaster Chris King and Radio Color Commentator Greg Picker from the studio to coordinate live game coverage for the Islanders. WRHU distributes the feed across the Islanders Radio Network, which includes ESPN Radio, LI News Radio, Sirius XM and NHL.com. WRHU staffers are busy editing audio, handling the technical aspects of the broadcast and timing out commercial breaks throughout the game.
"From a personal standpoint, there's no difference whether it's guys or girls that are working back in the studio," said King. "But I know it's very special when you can have that all-female crew."

Between 40-50 WRHU staffers consistently take advantage of the opportunity of helping in-studio for Islanders radio broadcasts. A rotating team of at least eight producers, engineers and reporters fill Hofstra's studios for each game. A portion of that number includes female staff members who pitch in on a regular basis - who are usually dispersed throughout games - so it's rare to align an all-female team.
"Oftentimes, I'm the only female on these crews and I don't mind that at all," said Meredith Frank, Lead Producer of the Islanders Radio Network. "But when you have a game like this at the same time every year, I can work to recruit some of our best female engineers, reporters and really help them to hone their skills for this very important broadcast."
Women have been breaking barriers in the field of sports media in recent years, as that trajectory is alive in WRHU's 13-year partnership with the Islanders.
"It's definitely trending upward, there's no doubt about it," King said. "We're 13 years in now and over 1000 broadcasts, I would say in the early days, there weren't too many women. But since we've had the first all-female broadcast last year, it's been climbing and climbing."
The tradition of an all-female broadcast began in 2022, as the initiative made WRHU alumni proud to see the growing number of women involved covering the Islanders.

Within WRHU's studios, women are learning to thrive in sports tech, in part because of exposure to live game coverage with the Islanders. Female broadcast engineers such as Perkins run the boards for radio on a regular basis.
"The message is that anyone can do these jobs," King said. "Even though they've been jobs that have been male-oriented or male dominated in the past... that is certainly no longer the case."
Because of the rare opportunity of the Islanders partnership, young broadcasters at WRHU are able to explore and develop their skills through professional experience prior to graduation.
"When I started putting in the work for sports, I became more and more passionate about it, and then I [realized] this is what I really want to do," said Amelia Bashy, a producer for Tuesday's broadcast. "I love the support. It's just amazing, the environment we've created here and I hope to keep that going."
Although the meaning behind an all-female crew is powerful, it boils down to professionals learning and working together towards a bright feature.
"There's a place for women not only in hockey, but in sports media and in tech," Frank said. "All of that is extremely important."