Doris Burke’s overnight success story spans 27 years.
She stumbled into broadcasting at her alma mater, Providence, where she played and later coached. Wanting to start a family, she left coaching just as Providence started putting women’s games on the radio. They asked Burke whether she wanted to give it a try and she did, eventually becoming the women’s basketball play-by-play radio voice.
Over the years, Burke has bounced between assignments for Westwood One Radio, CBS Sports, ESPN and MSG Network, among others.
Colleagues at ESPN credit Burke with taking on any and all assignments, striving to hone her craft. Rece Davis, anchor of ESPN’s college football and basketball “GameDay” shows, remembers Burke calling him years ago after finding out she would be hosting studio shows. She asked Davis if she could shadow him when he hosted a Bristol-based football studio show with Mark May and Lou Holtz. Burke stayed the entire day, studying how the analysts and anchor worked together.
When it comes to disparities in the field, Burke said she continues to be concerned about compensation for female sportscasters. It’s an issue she’s dealt with head on.
“Sometimes, I’ve had to go in and have that scary conversation of, ‘Hey, can you look at my compensation?’” she told SportsBusiness Journal. “Happened once when I was starting a contract and I had to go in and say, ‘I know I just signed the deal, but my job changed and can I ask for a raise?’ Who, man or woman, wouldn’t have some trepidation about that?”
The result? “I got a raise pretty quickly,” Burke said.
Erik Spanberg writes for the Charlotte Business Journal, an affiliated publication.
