The D.C.-to-Bristol pipeline has been a plentiful one for ESPN in recent years. The latest anchor to make the 330-mile move north is NBC Washington’s Dianna Russini, who will leave her current post in early June and begin at ESPN later this summer.
Russini joins a wave of talent that’s migrated from the D.C. market to ESPN, including Lindsay Czarniak (Russini’s predecessor at News4 WRC), Hakem Dermish, Britt McHenry and the recently departed Bram Weinstein. According to the Washington Post‘s Dan Steinberg, Russini will be an anchor on SportsCenter, in addition to other duties.
During her two years in Washington, Russini covered the Redskins aggressively, often breaking stories about the team and general NFL news on her Twitter account. Could that also mean she does some NFL reporting for ESPN? (Russini was also a sideline reporter for the Seahawks during 18 months in Seattle with CSN Northwest.)
“That was a result of building relationships,” she told Steinberg. “When you have relationships with people and you’re given news, it’s like what are you going to do? I didn’t want to not put it out, and in an era of Twitter it’s almost easier to put it out yourself, so I went for it. And it’s really cool to see on the ESPN scroll, ‘NBC Washington is reporting…'”
Additionally, Russini explained that it was important to her to keep the role of a local sports anchor significant — “being tenacious, sometimes asking uncomfortable questions to players and coaches to get the best answers” — something that you don’t necessarily see in big media markets anymore.
This is an incredible city with smart fans that care about their teams. I will miss EVERY PERSON at NBC4. They are #1 in DC for a reason.
— Dianna Marie Russini (@NBCdianna) May 18, 2015
In Russini’s view, the fierce competition on the Redskins and NFL beat in D.C. and succeeding under those circumstances is likely a key reason why so many reporters and anchors eventually find their way to ESPN.
It seems like it would be kind of a shame to keep Russini exclusively behind the SportsCenter anchor desk when she’s capable of chasing down a story. (Though ESPN obviously has the NFL blanketed with its corps of reporters, insiders and analysts.) Of course, plenty of reporters parlayed their hard work into anchor positions. And it’s not like anchoring ESPN’s flagship show is a low-profile gig either.
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