Leila Rahimi is breaking another barrier in Chicago sports media. As reported by Robert Feder, the TV and radio personality has been named the full-time main sports anchor at NBC 5 Chicago (WMAQ), the first woman to hold that role.
Rahimi begins her new job on April 4, becoming NBC 5’s first full-time sports anchor since Siafa Lewis left for a news anchor position in Philadelphia last November.
Besides anchoring sports on the Monday through Thursday sportscast for NBC 5’s 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts, Rahimi will also co-host Sports Sunday with Mike Berman. Berman is now the station’s weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter. Jeff Blanzy continues as Friday sports anchor on the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts.
Rahimi had been working part-time at NBC 5 since last fall, juggling TV duties with co-hosting 670 The Score’s midday show with Dan Bernstein. By the way, when Rahimi joined Bernstein on The Score, she became the first woman to host a Monday through Friday daytime show on the station. (Bernstein & Rahimi were No. 6 on BSM’s Top 20 major market midday shows of 2021.)
With her new TV job, Rahimi will no longer be a full-time host on 670 The Score. But she will make weekly guest appearances with Bernstein, according to The Score operations director Mitch Rosen. Rahimi will be in studio with Bernstein every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 pm. CT.
Rahimi joined NBC 5 and 670 The Score after being laid off from NBC Sports Chicago in a wave of layoffs across NBCUniversal’s regional sports networks and digital properties. (Laurence Holmes, Rahimi’s colleague at The Score, was also one of the layoffs.) She has also covered ice hockey at the past two Winter Olympics for NBC and worked at MLB Network prior to joining NBC Sports Chicago.