Leila Rahimi is set to co-host Wednesdays with Dan Bernstein on WSCR-AM, a move said to be ‘in the works’ before Dan McNeil’s firing
Leila Rahimi, whose NBC Sports Chicago job was eliminated in a budget purge last month, is getting at least a part-time gig at WSCR-AM 670.
Following guest appearances since her TV exit, Rahimi will co-host Dan Bernstein’s 9 a.m-noon show on The Score on Wednesdays, beginning this week.
“I can’t thank you enough for the kind words, conversation, understanding and support this last several weeks,” Rahimi tweeted Wednesday. “It means so much. Let’s have some fun today!”
Her debut comes a day after Score parent Entercom Communications on Tuesday dumped afternoon co-host Dan McNeil in response to what Entercom’s regional president called a “degrading and humiliating” tweet about what ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor wore on “Monday Night Football.”
Jay Zawaski, Bernstein’s producer, announced via Twitter Rahimi’s weekly role on Tuesday night, acknowledging it was a “weird time to announce it, but it’s been in the works for a while.”
At the time she was let go by NBC Sports Chicago, Rahimi was host of its “Baseball Night in Chicago” program as well as White Sox pregame and postgame coverage.
Rahimi joined the channel in 2015 and was part of NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage team two years ago in South Korea. Before coming to Chicago, she worked for MLB Network and in Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Philadelphia and Austin, Texas.
Whether the weekly arrangement with WSCR will lead to a full-time job remains to be seen. The radio station made its own cuts this year. Among those let go in April were Connor McKnight, who had been Bernstein’s full-time co-host, and Julie DiCaro.
On the day the ax fell at NBC Sports Chicago six weeks ago, WSCR noon-2 p.m. host Laurence Holmes — also a victim of the NBCSCH cuts — made an on-air pitch to hire Rahimi.
“She’s incredible and I really thought (she) and Ozzie (Guillen) were building something special on the postgame,” Holmes said. “She is an extremely talented broadcaster, and any media organization that brings Leila Rahimi in is going to be better off for it because she’s that good.”
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