At just 28 years old, Red Wings broadcast reporter Daniella Bruce found herself etched into the Detroit sports history book.
On January 8th, 2022, color commentator Paul Woods fell sick, and the Wings were on their west coast road trip. Radio legend and voice of the Red Wings, Ken Kal, wanted Bruce next to him in the booth during his partner’s absence. That night she became the first woman to commentate a Red Wings Radio broadcast.
“It still doesn’t feel real sometimes to be completely honest with you. It’s an honor and I hope that people will look up to me one day young girls that get into the broadcast industry, we’ll be able to say ‘okay, yeah, I did that’. But the most important thing for me is that like I did it for my hometown team, and it’s something that not a lot of people can say, and I grew up a fan right? I grew up watching people on Fox Sports Detroit and saying, ‘I really want to do that’. I grew up listening to Ken Kal and then to be the first woman to be in the booth with him was not something I could have ever written any better,” Bruce said.
And Bruce’s Radio journey won’t end there, just last week she announced she will be joining the Detroit Tigers radio broadcast crew as a reporter.
“I’m going to do my best to bring everybody some of the fun stories that you don’t always get when you’re listening to radio broadcasts. I want to be able to add a different element to show some of the players and personalities that are behind the scenes at the Tigers,” she said.
Bruce has worked alongside longtime Detroit sports radio legends like Ken Kal and Dan Dickerson, who have always been supportive of Bruce and other women cracking into the male-dominated field.
“All of these guys that are the voices of our teams are so excited to have women involved and they welcome it, they want that change,” Bruce said. “They think women should be more involved….I have the support of the entire Tigers, and Red Wings, Ilitch Organization, and they didn’t put me in this position for nothing. So, the people that want to tweet at me or whatever, like if they’re probably on their couch watching all of the games while I get to be there broadcasting them, so they can say whatever they want. And I know all of the women in this industry, they work really, really hard because you don’t get here without hard work.”
Bruce is without a doubt an inspiration to women and young girls everywhere who, like her, have a love for sports. She gives advice to those hoping to be just like her one day.
“Just be Versatile, be ready for any opportunity at any time. And don’t get too narrow focused, make yourself available for anything, be able to edit, be able to, like I said, get the call for radio and go ahead and get in the booth. And don’t be scared.”
