Cliffies Comp for TV Sports Slot

Two Radcliffe students could soon break into the big leagues of Boston sportscasting as winners in WNAC-TV's Woman Sportscasting Competition.

Nehama Jacobs '73 and Jane Elliott '74 are two of the ten women sportscasting finalists competing for the four-minute weekend slot.

Mel Bernstein, WNAC-TV News Director, said yesterday that he organized the competition believing women would bring "a new perspective into the Sports World." In order to reach all newscasting talent, Bernstein said he left the qualifications vague: knowledgeability, articulation, performance and potential.

The month-old contest narrowed last week from a field of 200 applicants to 50 semi-finalists on the basis of a written sports commentary and personal resume. The judges then reviewed 50 closed-circuit broadcasts of the contestants reading original sports copy and chose ten finalists.

The contest has attracted both praise and criticism. Elliott said yesterday she liked the "wide-open approach" while Perla Hewes, Radcliffe tennis and squash instructor and a semi-finalist, said she believed "The Miss America Pageant" would be a more appropriate title. Hewes described the contest as a publicity stunt.

The personal motives of the Radcliffe competitors varied. Elliott, who is captain of the Radcliffe basketball team, considers sportscasting a further expression of her love for sports. Hewes said she enjoys the sports world with which she is already very familiar. "Besides, I like to talk," she said.

Jacobs described sportscasting yesterday as an "extraordinary opportunity to cope with high-pressured situations" which is an essential part of broadcast journalism, her broader interest. "A sportscaster must be more than a good reporter. She is also a personality," she noted.

Jacobs's cards are down. She finished her competition with a live, four-minute sportscast last Monday evening. To fill in an otherwise slow sports night, she chose a rebuttal to sports commentator Eddie Andleman's comment that "Women have no feel for sports."

"Women can not only become competent sportcasters," she said, "but they will soon out talk and out report Eddie Andleman."

Elliott appeared live last night on WNAC-TV to perform her final stint. By Friday, all ten finalists will have completed their four-minute live sportscasts.

The winner will be announced within a few weeks, Bernstein said. The weekend sportscasting slot is not the only reward. The winner will also be sent to the Bahamas to rest. That is, unless she decides to donate the prize to the Channel 2 Auction as suggested by one contestant.