Barrett Media Leila Rahimi story - is it factually correct?
Posted by Media Reader on July 27, 2025, 12:23 pm
This Leila Rahimi story says: "For all the history that The Score has delivered to sports fans over the years, the station made its own history in April when it elevated Rahimi as the brand’s first full-time female lead sports radio host in the city’s history." But is it factually correct? I don't think so, I know Julie Swieca was the first at WSCR in the 2000s, and aren't there any other women "in the city’s history" as this story claims?
There may have been other female hosts at the Score, but were they full time hosts or fill ins? Also did any of them host in the prime spots like morning drive, midday, or afternoon drive? If it was an evening shift, how often was it preempted by a live sports game broadcast, which makes that shift more like part time. Finally if a female did host in the prime slots, was she the LEAD host or the second banana or even the third wheel?
Re: Barrett Media Leila Rahimi story - is it factually correct?
Julie Swieca was an update anchor and occasional host at 670 AM The SCORE when WSCR was up the radio dial at 820 AM & 1160 AM before settling in at 670 AM in 2000. Swieca is no longer in sports talk radio to my knowledge. If I'm not mistaken, Swieca has transitioned from sports talk to cooking. A far cry from taking calls from Andrew in Dunning to complain about the Bears' offense live on the radio. I made up that name just to give an example of an average sports talk radio caller.
The SCORE did have another Julie on their payroll, and that's Julie DiCaro. She also did sports updates as well as host a weekend sports talk host with Maggie Hendricks, circa 2019. BOTH DiCaro & Hendricks were laid off in 2020 as a result of budget cuts at WSCR's parent company Audacy due to the pandemic.
As for Peggy Kusinski (Correct spelling), I do remember when WMVP initially became ESPN Radio 1000 AM in 1998, she did host a weekend show called "The Point After". That was long before Kusinski joined NBC 5 and left the station to start up "Peggy & Dionne", a weekend sports talk show that currently airs on ESPN 1000 with ABC 7 weekend sports anchor Dionne Miller.
As for Leila Rahimi, we still don't know why she left NBC 5 last October. I don't think NBC 5 bosses and Rahimi have fully stated why she left her duties as the station's lead sports anchor. Ruthie Polinsky left NBC 5 shortly thereafter and she's now at CHSN.
In the nation's 3rd largest media market, there still aren't that many women doing sports on either TV or radio. That much I do know.
Re: Barrett Media Leila Rahimi story - is it factually correct?
Basically the Barrett Media article IS correct. Rahim is the first female full time lead host ( not anchor or reporter) of a sports talk station where she was hired to be a full-time weekday daytime host. Others have mentioned the Julie's, but they hosted weekend shows and did other duties during the week.
on July 27, 2025, 12:23 pm