Press - Ann Liguori puts golf on Long Island radio
"Ann Liguori puts golf on Long Island radio"
Erik Boland - Newsday.com
September 20, 2007
It was not as if Ann Liguori needed something extra to do or some internal voice kept telling the veteran broadcaster there was a media venture she hadn't undertaken.
Liguori has written a book - and is writing another one - covers golf's majors and the U.S. Tennis Open for WFAN (and still hosts a Sunday night show on the station from February-August), and was the host and producer of one of the longest running weekly cable shows in sports broadcast history.
And yet ...
"I wanted to do a radio golf show," said Liguori, an original WFAN host when the station went to its all-sports format in 1987.
And so she is, hosting "Golf Innerview with Ann Liguori" each Saturday on WLIU (88.3 FM), a public radio station based in Southampton, from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. The program debuted Memorial Day Weekend and the guest list has been as varied as Liguori's career. Shinnecock Hills head professional Jack Druga made an appearance, as did Deepdale's Darrell Kestner, along with best-selling author John Feinstein and Oakmont's longtime pro Bob Ford, when Liguori did the show from this year's U.S. Open. When she hosted the show several weeks ago at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the U.S. Open, listeners heard portions of Liguori's one-on-one with eventual winner Roger Federer.
She began thinking about the concept shortly after moving from the city to Westhampton in 2002.
"When I moved to the East End full-time, I learned more about the community," Liguori said. "I always had a tremendous appreciation for the quality of golf courses out here and the more entrenched I got in the community, the more I realized there's so much to talk about."
Talking, of course, is what Liguori always has done best. Her "Sports Innerview" program aired from 1989-2004 on cable networks nationwide, including locally on MSG and Fox Sports NY. As president of Ann Liguori Productions Inc., she owns the the archives of those shows - about 600 - which include half-hour interviews with golf luminaries such as Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer, but also sessions with the likes of Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle.
She became the first woman to host a prime-time show on the Golf Channel - "Conversations with Ann Liguori" - where she interviewed sports stars, entertainment celebrities and business leaders while playing golf with them. Those shows provided the impetus for the book "A Passion for Golf, Celebrity Musings About the Game." She is working on "Nature of Golf," a book due out next fall featuring interviews with architects of "environmentally friendly" golf courses in North America.
Connections established through all those endeavors helped Liguori secure an impressive list of underwriters for her golf show on WLIU. The 60-minute program is hers to sell and among the underwriters are Hampton Jitney, Dunrite Pools, Bobby Jones Golf and Rolex. She is bringing the show to Doonbeg Golf Club in Ireland early next month and the show will run year-round, necessarily expanding to include more than golf during the winter months. Come spring, it will again focus on golf, with a slant toward the happenings on Long Island.
Overall, not a bad gig for a woman who calls golf her "passion" and who plays to an 11-handicap.
"That's my niche," Liguori said. "From the time I was three years old, I wanted to be a talk show host."
A pioneer of sorts for women in broadcasting, breaking new ground; again in golf, but this time on Long Island's airwaves.
Today's tip
Practice to win
"If there is one thing that is guaranteed in golf, it is that practicing will improve your game. Consistency is the theme here. Spend 15 minutes on your long game, 15 minutes on chipping and 15 minutes putting two or three times a week and watch the results. You will see yourself make better contact, and by putting and chipping closer to the hole, your scoring will obviously be lower. Practice is the answer and if you don't believe the importance, just watch how hard the professionals work on the practice tee and green."
Tom DeBellis
PGA head professional
Pine Hollow Country Club
Aces
Kevin Ryniker, Sunken Meadow Blue, third hole, ' yards, 7-iron.
Mark DiPippa, North Hempstead CC, second hole, 117 yards, pitching wedge.
Brian Battiste, Bethpage Yellow, 11th hole, 168 yards, 7-iron.
Scott Klipp, Islands End Golf and CC, 11th hole, 187 yards, 5-iron.
Betsy Stanley, Stonebridge CC, 15th hole, 95 yards, 8-iron.
Harvey Held, Lawrence CC, ninth hole, 130 yards, 7-iron.
Amy Goldin, Village Club of Sands Point, 11th hole, 122 yards, hybrid.
Bob Dobres, Bergen Point Golf Club, second hole, 177 yards, 3-wood.
Joseph Mele, Bethpage Blue, seventh hole, 175 yards, 3-iron.
Joe Madonia, Hamlet Golf and CC, eighth hole, 165 yards, 6-iron.
Bob Torrey, Pine Ridge Golf Club, 17th hole, 148 yards, 7-iron.
Lynn Rienecker, Islands End Golf and CC, 16th hole, 124 yards, 7-wood.
Gene Kossmann, Mill River Club, 12th hole, 182 yards, 7-wood.
John Coyle, Heatherwood Golf Course, third hole, 180 yards, 5-iron.
source:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-spgolfmain205382593sep20,0,7475841.column