Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports Announces Lesley Visser to Join NFL Monday Night Football Broadcast Team

Business Wire, June 26, 2001

Sports & Business Editors, Football Writers & Columnists

NEW YORK--(BW SportsWire)--June 26, 2001

Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports announced today that Lesley Visser has joined the all-pro Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports NFL Monday Night Football broadcast team of Howard David and Boomer Esiason for selected games during the 2001-2002 NFL Monday Night Football season.

Visser, a pioneer among women sports journalists, will become the first woman in the broadcast booth for a Monday Night Football game when the defending Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens host the Minnesota Vikings on September 17, 2001 at 8:45 p.m. ET. Visser will again join Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports' broadcast team when the Dallas Cowboys host the Washington Redskins on October 15, 2001 at 8:45 p.m. ET.

"Last season Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports broke new ground by putting three broadcasters in the booth for Monday nights," said Westwood One President and CEO Joel Hollander. "Response from critics and listeners has been extraordinary. This year Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports is proud to make radio history again by adding Lesley to our Monday Night Football broadcast team."

"I am so excited about this opportunity to bring 25 years of print and television experience to the radio booth," said Visser. "Howard now has two opinionated lefties to deal with."

Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports' 15th consecutive season of NFL Monday Night Football coverage begins Monday, September 10, 2001 when the defending NFC Champion New York Giants travel to Denver to take on the Denver Broncos at 8:45 p.m. ET. Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports coverage will continue for 15 consecutive Mondays, culminating on Monday, December 17th at 8:45 p.m. ET as the defending NFC Western Conference Champion New Orleans Saints host the St. Louis Rams.

Visser began her sports journalism career in 1974 at the Boston Globe, and two years later became the first female NFL beat writer when she was assigned to the New England Patriots. She joined CBS Sports in 1984 and became full-time with the network in 1987. Visser was a regular on CBS Television's "The NFL Today," and became the first woman to host the post-game presentation ceremony at the Super Bowl in 1992. After spending nearly seven years reporting for ABC Sports and ESPN, Visser returned to CBS Television in August of 2000 as a regular contributor to "The NFL Today," and CBS Television's coverage of college basketball and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. She currently also contributes to HBO Sports' "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" as a reporter.

Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports is the leader in radio sports broadcasting. Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports' impressive lineup of sports coverage includes the NFL, Super Bowl, Notre Dame Football, NCAA Football and Basketball, the NHL, the Olympics, HBO Boxing, the Wimbledon Championships, the U.S. Open Golf Tournament, the Master's Golf Tournament and Showtime Boxing.

Westwood One (NYSE:WON) provides over 150 news, sports, music, talk, entertainment programs, features, live events and 24/7 Formats. Through its subsidiaries, Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Services, Westwood One provides local content to the radio and TV industries including news, sports, weather, traffic, video news services and other information. SmartRoute Systems manages traffic information centers for state and local departments of transportation, and markets traffic and travel content to wireless, Internet, in-vehicle navigation systems and voice portal customers. Westwood One serves more than 7,700 radio stations. Westwood One is managed by Infinity Broadcasting Corporation.