Meghan Ottolini will make history and break ground when she officially becomes part of WEEI’s afternoon drive time show with Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria Wednesday afternoon. But she isn’t thinking much about it.
Ottolini will be the first woman in that time slot full-time on sports radio in Boston and a rare woman to hold such a position in either Boston or any major market. The importance of that isn’t lost on her, but it won’t mean much if she, her show and WEEI aren’t successful.
“I want a listener to come to the show and feel like they’re connecting with us and connecting with me not because I’m a woman or where I’m from, just for what we’re putting out there conversation-wise. It is pretty clear that there are not many women in full-time sports radio talk shows all over the country. That’s not something I’ve ever been uncomfortable with. I don’t really actively think about that. It’s my everyday life.
“There’s enough pressure going into being on an afternoon drive program and making a career switch from working at a newspaper to a radio station. All of that is way more front of mind for me than whether I’m going to be one of the only women doing this,” she continued. “I don’t want to downplay it, because its a huge opportunity and I’m very grateful and excited to do that. But it’s the practicalities of relaunching this show with Lou and Christian that’s taking up space in my mind.”
According to Boston.com, Merloni and Fauria finished sixth in the afternoon drive slot locally with a 4.2 share, well behind The Sports Hub’s Felger and Mazz (21.6). WEEI has long been searching for a combination to energize their numbers with Glenn Ordway, Michael Holley, Dale Arnold, Jerry Thornton and Mike Salk all moving in and out of the rotation. Ottolini joins Merloni, a former Red Sox infielder and Framingham native, and Fauria, who played tight end for the Patriots.
The Maryland native brings a unique background as a college athlete and a journalist. Ottolini, 34, played lacrosse at George Washington. She spent the last five years at the Boston Herald, where she’s worked in news and sports writing as well as producing multimedia journalism packages. Since earning her master’s degree at Boston University, New England has become home.
“I have been here for 11 years now and it feels like my home. I definitely feel a really strong connection to the community after working as a reporter for over five years and doing things beyond sports,” she said. “I spent a lot of times in different courts and knocking on doors in different towns in the eastern side of the state.
“Hopefully, I understand the people who will be calling into our show and their different perspectives,” she continued. “I don’t know if I’ve become a full-blown New Englander, but I certainly love and respect the community, not just from my work, but just from living here for over a decade.”
Her profile began to expand in 2020. In September, she became the co-host of NBC Sports Boston’s “Quick Slants” show on the Patriots and NFL. Two months later she began working as a fill-in host on WEEI and impressed the brass enough that she was hired as a part-time host, sending her further down a path she’d only briefly considered to that point.
“It was definitely something I was interested in,” Ottolini said. “When WEEI approached me about doing fill-in stuff, it was something I got excited about. I went into it being pretty unsure of what I was doing at the beginning. As I gained confidence in the different roles I was put in, I got increasingly excited about the idea of being able to do it full-time.”
Still, radio is a notoriously volatile industry with limited job security. Ottolini said changing careers wasn’t something she took lightly.
“Taking this role, I’ve had a lot of conversations with (WEEI executives) Mike Thomas and Ken Laird. I feel like I’m in really good hands with the direction they’re taking the station,” she said. “That was a big deal for me when deciding whether or not to move forward with this career change. I feel like the management at the station is in really good hands right now.”
Ottolini liked their desire to have her simply be authentic on the air.
“I can only try to be myself. I’m not trying to perform. What I realized is I’m not going to be for everybody. But as long as I’m for some people and connecting with some people strongly, that’s what matters to me,” she said. “If somebody disagrees with me, I totally welcome that.”
Including with her co-hosts.
“We find new ways to disagree every day on the show. I’m not going to manufacture that,” she said. “If Lou or Christian say one thing, I’m not going to take the other side just to make it interesting.”
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