News broke this week that the NECN daily news and interview program “The Take with Sue O’Connell” would air its last show today, Friday, June 28. O’Connell will remain at the station in a new, yet to be determined role on a political program. “The Take” aired weeknights at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
O’Connell, 57, is the only openly gay on-air person at necn, which along with NBC10 Boston and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, is a community and corporate sponsor of Boston Pride. She hosted several Boston Pride events sponsored by NECN, and appeared in the Boston Pride program broadcasted on NBC10 Boston and NECN.
O’Connell’s last show coincides with the close of LGBTQ Pride Month.
The lineage of “The Take” is significant. O’Connell took over hosting duties of “Broadside with Jim Braude” from Braude in 2016. Ben Dobson, the vice president of news, in a memo to NECN staff obtained by The Boston Globe, wrote that “Sue O’Connell and [“The Take” producer] TJ Killilea will contribute meaningfully to this new show.”
On an internet radio station B87FM Friday morning, O’Connell said the cancellation was a surprise.
In an added twist, Tuesday Boston Magazine named her Best TV News Host in their 2019 Best of Boston issue.
Now all she needs is a show.
O’Connell is co-publisher of Bay Windows, the New England publication serving the LGBTQ community, and South End News, a Boston neighborhood paper.
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