Sports anchor Sam Ryan on her choice to stay at WCBS

A reduced role for sportscaster Ryan at Channel 2/WCBS

Last month, we reported that weeknight sports anchor Sam Ryan, who was about to step away from her duties with WCBS, decided to remain at the station.

Ryan told Examiner.com this week that Channel 2 worked hard not to lose her.

“What can we do to make you stay?” Ryan recalled station executives asking her when she had decided to walk away.

Already committed to CBS College Sports as an in-studio update anchor during college football Saturdays, and with two young children (4-years-old and 8-years-old), Ryan felt she was spreading herself too thin.

She didn’t want to part with the CBS College gig. Doing TV studio updates for a specific sport “is probably where I would see myself in 10 years from now. … So at some point you have to get your feet wet and figure out how to do that,” Ryan acknowledged.

Her producer suggested a compromise—cutting back to three days a week. “I just never really thought that, that was an option. … It sounded a little too good to be true,” Ryan said.

But it wasn’t.

WCBS was intrigued by the idea. Ryan, who started at the station in June 2006, agreed to cut her schedule to three nights.

“I was very flattered. … I didn’t know how important I was to them,” Ryan remembered.

She was, and with a new schedule of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Ryan had fallen into the perfect solution, allowing her to “take on these added responsibilities and still be a mom.”

Weekend sportscaster Otis Livingston has actually seen his status upgraded at WCBS; he now handles Thursday through Sunday nights each week.

While shifts at WCBS have decreased, Ryan remains as busy as ever.

Along with her sports anchoring for the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, on Tuesdays she pre-tapes “Jets Flight Plan” with head coach Rex Ryan.

“[It’s] neat, because I’m actually on Channel 2 four days, sometimes five,” Ryan admitted.

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