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Land

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JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

The Sports Report

S he grew up playing with Barbie dolls
and her goal was to make cheer-
: leading squad. When the topic of con-
versation turned to sports, Amy Stone
was not interested.
Now, at 28, Ms. Stone earns her living
via sports.
The West Bloomfield native anchors
the 10 p.m. sports report on the Sports-
Channel, a regional cable network based
in Chicago. She also co-hosts a program
> called "The Schoolyard Jam," a feature
sports show geared toward high-school
students.
On top of her television work, she gives
the morning-show sports report on for-
mer Detroit broad-
caster Steve Dahl's
program on Chicago
all-sports radio station
> WMVP.
"I learned about
sports when I tried out
for the cheerleading
squad," Ms. Stone said.
"When I didn't make it,
I became a statistician
so I could ride the bus
with all my friends
who were cheerlead-
ers. I never thought I
would be doing it for a
living."
Ms. Stone graduat-
ed from the Universi-
ty of Michigan in 1989 with a degree in
communications and film-video studies.
She knew she wanted to work in the tele-
> vision industry but wasn't sure which end
of the business would best suit her — un-
til she began writing scripts for other peo-
ple.

"I thought if they can do it, I can too,"
she said.
Her first job was a $13,000-a-year, six-
month stint in Marquette, Mich., where
she worked as an anchor and a reporter.
Through the grapevine, Ms. Stone
learned about and was subsequently of-
fered a job in Boston, where she began
hosting a morning sports show on the
New England Sports Network.
This was her first 9-to-5 job. She
worked the graveyard shift, from 9 p.m.
until 5 a.m.
Her 15-minute highlights segments
were aired throughout the night, and the
program won her a local Emmy for best
sportscast.
"I got sick of the hours, but it was a fan-
tastic learning experience," Ms. Stone
said.
There was another
downside to her job. It
caused problems with
her social life. Her
boyfriend, who would
eventually become her
husband, left Boston
for a job in Cleveland
and later went to work
in Washington, D.C.
The couple commuted
to see one another. Af-
ter they married, Ms.
Stone moved in with
her husband's mother
because the couple's
employment kept
them in different cities.
Her husband eventually got a job in
Chicago, and Ms. Stone starting sending
out her tapes and resumes. In August
1993, after carrying on a long-distance
relationship for 2 1/2 years, Ms. Stone
landed her present job and finally joined
her husband.

Above: David Schechter reports on the
year's corn harvest in Iowa.

Right: Steve Rudin: Forecasts for Bill
Clinton and the rest of Washington.

Below left: Amy Stone

"I enjoy anchoring and reporting
sports," said Ms. Stone. "I don't
want to report news because so
much of it is negative. I don't want
to talk about rapes and murders."
Ms. Stone describes her job as
fun although "it's not glamorous,
like people think, because we work
all hours.
"I'm always studying and re-
searching so I can be constantly up
on sports. I haven't read a book in
a long time, and I often feel guilty
if I'm not reading Sports Illustrat-
ed. It's part of being a woman in my field.
I enjoy it, but it's establishing credibili-
ty and maintaining it.
"I have to make sure I don't make a
mistake like putting a team in the wrong
division. Fans don't forgive women as
they do men. If (ESPN anchor) Chris
Berman mispronounces a name, people
will forgive him. With a woman, they
tend to remember."
As a female covering professional
sports, the most frequently asked ques-
tions Ms. Stone hears are about being in
the locker room after a game.
"Doctors are professionals and they
don't get excited when they are doing their
jobs," she said. "The same holds true for
female sports reporters. I go in there, get
my job done and get out. It's not the most
comfortable situation seeing naked men,
but you study the carpet and ceiling. It's
something I have to do to get my job done.

I've never had a bad experience."

The Weather Report

weath.erperson typically does not de-
liver the evening's breaking news.
Instead he (or she) is the one who
points out where the jet stream is, what
the wind chill factor will be, and whether
it would be wise to take an umbrella to
work. Typically, this is part of what Steve
Rudin does as a television weatherman.
The Farmington Hills native, who re-
cently took a job at a CBS affiliate in Wash-
ington, D.C., was starting to get accustomed
to his new position when the infamous Bliz-
zard of 1996 hit the East Coast.
Before Mr. Rudin, 24, had time to fully
unpack, he was suddenly delivering Wash-
ington, D.C.'s biggest story. During the

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