RIT Students Deliver Local Sports Zone Show

Coming soon to a TV near you—Rochester Institute of Technology’s own sports show. Sports Zone, a student-produced program, will take a behind-the-sports look at RIT athletics in a sports magazine-style format.

Premiering at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 22 on ESPN2 in the Time Warner Finger Lakes region, the show airs every other Saturday though the school year, and returns in the fall as a weekly show.

While the ESPN Sports Center area in RIT’s Ritskeller cafeteria/game room will be used somewhat, it won’t be just another sports highlight show with presenters sitting behind a desk iterating sports scores, says Mark Fragale, Sports Zone’s digital media producer.

Each half-hour show will feature four segments highlighting athletics at RIT, profiling student athletes and coaches. With a rotating mix of student writers, directors and camera crew, each show will have a slightly different flavor. Second-year RIT communications student Kayla Zerby will host the show alongside Joe Versage, an R News sports anchor.

It will also take a look at what goes into making a sports event happen. "Athletics today aren’t just about running, throwing, catching, fielding," Fragale says. "It’s also about nutrition, fitness, body mechanics, science and many things we’re still just learning about."

More than 50 students and a co-op have signed up to work on the show, representing almost every college at RIT. The broad cross-section of its student crew will bring different perspectives to each show, Fragale says.

While its viewing area is limited to the Finger Lakes region to start, once the show proves successful, Time Warner Cable may broadcast it throughout all of Western New York, Fragale says.

So tune in Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2. Sports Zone air dates through the end of the school year are March 8, March 22, April 5, April 19, May 3 and May 17.