February 16 was a historic day for WICR. For the first time in WICR’s history, there was an all-female broadcast.
WICR General Manager Scott Uecker says he’s extremely proud of the young women who stepped forward and that this accomplishment needs to be recognized.
“We certainly are going to celebrate this. I’m so proud of the young women who did this. I’m proud of the young women who conceive this idea who understood its importance and then followed through to provide a quality radio broadcast,” Uecker said.
According to Uecker, this broadcast will motivate his future students who want to work in the sports industry. He hopes that with more female representation, it can be the new norm for sports.
“I think it did set a tone that our program is very accepting and encouraging when it comes to women going into a profession that maybe there’s not a lot of representation, “Uecker said. “So maybe we can provide that representation. And over the next decade or two, we can make it be a much more diverse field.”
Junior communication major Maddie Fisher served as one of the color commentators for the game. She considers it a great honor to be a part of history.
“I think overall it was a really good game. I just loved the girls that I worked with, with Genesis on the sideline, Leticia and I as color commentators and Giselle is just an incredible play-by-play announcer. We had an amazing board operator, Frankie, back keeping us on the air,” Fisher said. “I just think that it could not have been more perfect as smooth and sound as professional as it did.”
According to Zippia, only 21% of people working in sports media are women, while 79 % are men. Fisher hopes the broadcast can serve as a blueprint for the next generation of female broadcasters.
“I hope this becomes a tradition for not only WICR but for UIndy TV as well. It’s something that we can continue to strive to continue to push the envelope and continue to punch at the punching bag that is women stereotypes in sports broadcasting,” Fisher said.