America Trends Podcast
EP 657 Women’s Basketball is Moving from a Cause to Cool
A must hear and read for anyone interested in women’s basketball
As podcasters go, I don’t generally insert myself into the story line like so many others do. To me, it’s about the guest, their book or their expertise. In the case of this story, I was right in the middle of helping to elevate women’s basketball in America to new heights. As the chief programming executive at Connecticut Public Television for a quarter of a century, one of the achievements I’m most proud of was bringing UConn Women’s basketball to our airwaves in 1994 and developing a franchise that would become the most successful ongoing local PBS project of all time, whether measured in viewers, membership response or underwriting. It was an absolutely amazing 17 year run. ESPN, another Connecticut media outlet, saw our success and, in a sense, the rest is history. What we point out today in this podcast is how that story continues to evolve with the women’s game getting bigger and with more media exposure on both the collegiate and professional level. Kate Fagan, a former ESPNer, along with curator Seimone Augustus and illustrator, Sophia Chang, should be rightly proud of their stunning book, “Hoop Muses: An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s)Game.” I truly enjoyed talking with her. Listen in. You will enjoy it, too.