D-C Radio: NFL Team Adds Julie Donaldson As Radio Voice

Julie Donaldson

Washington’s NFL team has hired former NBC Sports Washington anchor and reporter Julie Donaldson to be its vice president of media and one of its game day radio voices, The Washington Post reports.

Donaldson, 42, becomes the highest-ranking woman at a franchise that last week announced an independent review of its culture following a Washington Post report in which 15 female former employees and two female reporters accused high-ranking team officials of sexual harassment. Among the men accused was Larry Michael, whom Donaldson is replacing in overseeing Washington’s broadcast operations.

She is believed to be the first woman to be a full-time member of an NFL team’s radio booth.

While Donaldson replaces Michael, Washington’s longtime play-by-play announcer, as a vice president, she will not be taking over play-by-play responsibilities. According to The Post, she is more likely to fill an analyst role in what could become a three-person broadcast. But as the executive in charge of the organization’s broadcast operations, her first duty will be to hire a replacement for Michael, who announced his retirement last week a day before The Post report published.

Donaldson joined NBC Sports Washington in 2010 and hosted several of the network’s shows and was a part of the network’s coverage of all area teams. In recent years, she has regularly been assigned to Washington’s NFL team, helping to host some of the franchise’s programs that are broadcast on NBC Sports Washington.

Before coming to Washington, she worked for Miami’s Fox Sports affiliate, New York’s SNY and WHDH in Boston.