It’s the usual Friday night in early November as Penn Sophomores James Mason and Nate Zizzo wrap up the last Penn Football game of the 2024 season live on air. The high stakes game against Crown Point signaled the end of beginning for the two, an entry into the rest of their high school sports broadcasting career.
Just a year earlier, the two were sat on the bleachers of Everwise Freed Field with a lavalier microphone in hand, simply recording their commentary on the game before them. Five months after that, the pair took home the Superior award at Ball State’s 2024 National Student Media Contest for their stream of Penn’s Basketball Sectional Quarterfinal against Northridge.
Mason and Zizzo have been friends for as long as they remember, and their shared dream of sports broadcasting has only brought them closer. With Mason announcing the game play by play and Zizzo analyzing each moment, they compliment each other well.
Senior Harley Kent was with the boys as their production ramped up, manning the camera on the upper layer of the press box. She says it’s always a great time getting ready for each weeks broadcast.
“Setting up is really fun,” Kent said. “We’re always going up and down the stairs. There’s always a lot of energy.”
Although there’s entertainment that comes from the job (such as watching the game and setting up), there’s not much time to hang around during the broadcast. This is where pre-production comes into play.
In the terms of football, the pair usually had one week to prepare for their broadcasts every Friday night, gathering rosters and lineups in preparation for the night. However, the basketball season is shorter and therefore more rushed than football, allowing for less time to prepare.
“Say we have two or three games a week,” Mason began, “that means I have to pick a day before the first game where I do all the research I need for the week.”
While the effort that goes into the pre-production and production of a broadcast may seem exhausting to many, the boys state it’s worth it for the emotional reward.
“You feel the electricity of the game when it happens; you’re in the booth, you feel the bleachers shake, you feel the big play happening and it feels great,” Zizzo commented. “You get this great feeling, and that’s why I love broadcasting so much.
As this past semester has gone on, the quality of Mason and Zizzo’s broadcasts have gone up in multiple ways due to the expansion of their production.
“We get some good views,” Mason said. “We couldn’t have done it without the expansion of our crew. We have to thank Mr. Rallo, the athletic directors, all of our team members at PNN and The Pennant.”
The next broadcast for the iconic duo is set for Dec. 7, the opening of Penn Boys Basketball against Crown Point – a school that seems to always come up again and again in the story of Mason and Zizzo.
