What it’s like to produce and direct NFL football games? A conversation with Fox Sports NFL producer Richie Zyontz and Fox Sports NFL director Rich Russo

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Audacy

News, Business News, Sports, Sports News

4.3 • 721 Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Episode 238 of the Sports Media podcast features a conversation with Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo. Zyontz and Russo are the lead producer and director, respectively, for Fox’s top NFL team featuring Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi. In this podcast, Zyontz and Russo discuss what an NFL game producer and director does each week; what it has been like for them to go from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to Burkhardt and Olsen; how they found about the Buck and Aikman moves; how to create a working relationship with a new play by play voice and analyst; if broadcasting a Super Bowl makes it feel like a different working year; being in the unique place of having an analyst in waiting in Tom Brady; what their current relationship is like with Brady; traveling on the Madden Cruiser with John Madden; Zyontz’s favorite Madden story; the best NFL food cities; Zyontz’s new column highlighting members of his crew; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, everybody. This is Richard Dicch, and welcome to the sports media podcast. My producer is Patrick Antonetti. I'm excited about this podcast, and I think you will be, too, particularly if you're an NFL fan. The guests are Fox Sports lead NFL producer, Richie Zions, and Fox Sports lead
0:23.0	NFL director, Rich Rousseau. They are the producer and director for Fox's top NFL team
0:29.3	of Kevin Burkhart, Greg Olson, Aaron Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi. Richie Zions and Richie
0:34.2	Zions and Rich Rousseau have been at the top of their profession for a long time.
0:38.1	They worked with Buck and Aikman during their Joe Buck and Triceman during their entire duration.
0:44.3	Both previously worked at CBS, including Richie Zions, on the John Madden crew.
0:50.4	These are two guys who've done a multitude of Super Bowls.
0:56.4	They produced and directed major, major events at fox and Daytona 500 etc so if you are into or if you're curious about how does a
1:03.6	how does a top-lunch television production work these are are two of the best guests that I could get
1:09.7	and in the podcast we discuss what they do,
1:13.3	what it's been like for them to go from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to Kevin Burke Hart and Greg
1:18.1	Olson, their relationship with analyst in waiting Tom Brady and how they approach that situation,
1:24.5	how one tries to create trust and chemistry with a new booth, as they
1:29.9	have this year. Richie Zines talks about some of his days with John Madden. He traveled with
1:35.4	Madden all over the country, was on the Madden Cruiser, and that was really, really interesting.
1:40.1	And some other thoughts. I think you will, again, I think you will find this really, really interesting.
1:46.3	I'm someone who likes to hear the stories of those who work behind the scenes.
1:52.9	I find that part of the business very interesting.
1:56.2	So Fox Sports NFL producer Richie Zions and Fox Sports NFL director, Rich Rousseau,
2:00.6	coming up on the sports media podcast.
2:05.6	All right. As I said at the top, I'm very excited to have these two gentlemen on. They've,
2:13.8	you know, you're not going to recognize the name, but if you are, some of you will, I guess who are sports media connoisseurs, in fact. But they have, how do I sort of phrase this? How you've processed games over the last 20 years, Richie Zions and Rich Rousseau have had a massive impact on your viewing anytime you've watched Fox Sports's biggest NFL
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audacy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Audacy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.