Red Wings’ first female broadcaster speaks to Trine class

During Women’s History Month, a Trine University class welcomed a woman who recently made Detroit sports history.

Daniella Bruce, who in January became the first woman to be part of a Detroit Red Wings radio broadcast, joined the university’s Media and Society class from Little Caesar’s Arena via Zoom on March 25.

Bruce, a digital reporter and producer for the Tigers and Red Wings, said her interest in sports and broadcasting began when she was about 11 or 12.

“I grew up in a family of all boys, so my love for sports had to happen. Otherwise I would have been left out of everything,” she joked.

She drew inspiration from watching Shannon Hogan, a journalist for Fox Sports Detroit at the time, and went on to Michigan State University to earn a degree in broadcast journalism. She told the students, many of whom broadcast Trine athletics on the Trine Broadcasting Network, that the internships she had while at MSU – one with a local government-sponsored TV station and another at ESPN – were key to the career she has.

“Internships are everything,” she said. “You want an internship that will let you be hands-on. … Learning everything and being able to edit, being able to operate a camera, even if you do want to be an on-air personality is super, super important. The number one most important skill to have is being versatile in this industry.”

She also said networking “is the number one thing that has gotten me to where I am today.”

“I still do it all the time,” she said. “You never know where a job is going to open that I might be interested in.”

Bruce said she hasn’t personally faced adversity in her professional life because of her gender, but knows there are people who assume that women are not as knowledgeable in sports as men.

“They can’t argue knowledge, they can’t argue talent, and if you have all of that it doesn’t matter what they say,” she said. “For every person who thinks that way, there are 10 people who are going to be super supportive of the dream you have.”

Responding to a student question about how she keeps calm on the air, she told the class, “The way you kill those nerves is with reps, and with practice, and with confidence. You have to be confident that you know what you’re talking about; that you did your homework.”

“If you make a mistake, you might notice it, but most of the time 99% percent of the people listening to you are not going to notice it,” she said. “So you move on, correct it if you feel it needs to be corrected and move forward.”

Andy Brown, who teaches the Media and Society class at Trine, said Bruce’s presentation was particularly inspiring for the young women in the class.

“We have several young women who have started broadcasting games here at Trine,” he said. “It was great to hear their questions for Daniella and have it confirmed for them once again that there is no limit to what they can achieve in this business.”

Last Updated: 03/29/2022