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Nanci Donnellan

The self-described “Fabulous Sports Babe,” Nanci Donnellan, was the first woman to host a sports radio talk show in Tampa Bay. Her “in your face” style began in 1981 at Tampa Bay’s WNSI AM-1380, later with Pinellas Park talkers WPLP and WTKN, and Plant City’s Sportsradio 910 WFNS. When the management of WFNS failed to renew her contract, she shopped her services around. In spite of interest from Miami and Boston, she took an offer in 1991 to do afternoons at KJR in Seattle which was owned by the same corporation as the Seattle Supersonics.

In 1994, Nanci became the first woman to host a national sports radio talk show when she signed with ESPN Radio and, later, the now-defunct Sports Fan Radio Network. At the height of her show’s popularity, she was heard over some 300 stations nationwide. In 1996, she took time to write a book (with Neal Karlen), “A Babe in Boyland,” in which she spoke her mind on men, women, football, strikes, and clueless sports executives.

After her Sports Fan Radio Network program (produced from the studios of WQYK-AM 1010) was cancelled, “The Babe” left radio to battle breast cancer which had been diagnosed in 1998. After surgery, physical therapy, and remaining cancer-free for over a decade, she relaunched her career with Genesis Communications’ AM-1470 WHBO in April 2008, teaming with Scot Brantley for the “Brantley and the Babe” show.

Nanci went on to pull nights on Sports Radio 98.7 The Fan WHFS until December 2014 when the station dropped its sports format.

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