ESPN’s Suzy Kolber talks about her big break that got her to the Worldwide Leader

Suzy Kolber is an established presence at ESPN. She’s a host on ESPN’s NFL Live and the on-location host for Monday Night Countdown which airs prior to each Monday Night Football game. As with many national announcers, she needed that big break to make it to the Worldwide Leader.

Speaking with Adweek’s TV Newser, Kolber discussed how she hoping to get a job on-air in television after being a producer. She said she was up for a weekend sports anchor gig in West Palm Beach, FL and was up against Craig Minervini, who is now with Fox Sports Florida, and was selected. It was there she was noticed by ESPN who were passing through the market while on vacation.

And as she was getting calls from other markets, Kolber said she wanted to test the waters, “One of the networks that called was CNN, and I interviewed with CNN, but I had always really loved ESPN and I sent a tape.”

She also interviewed at ESPN and said the interview went well, but hadn’t heard back from the Worldwide Leader. “I really loved the guys at CNN and they offered me the job, I had verbally accepted the job,” Kolber said. “And then Al Jaffe who’s the talent coordinator (at ESPN) called me and said, ‘Alright, we really like you. We want you to come back for your audition and move forward with this.'”

Kolber said that she told Jaffe about accepting the job at CNN and there was silence on his end and he said, “You didn’t sign anything, did you?” She had not and the rest is history. Kolber went on to be one of the original anchors at ESPN2 along with Keith Olbermann and Stuart Scott.

How things might have been had she decided to go to Atlanta and be part of CNN’s sports department. So it goes to show how one decision can either make or break a career. You can see Kolber’s entire story below.

[TV Newser]