When FOX Sports Radio and DirecTV broadcaster Andrew Siciliano was a bit younger, he worked at WTEM SportsTalk 980 as an intern. He loved covering sports and dreamed that one day he would have his own show on the Washington all-sports station.
The Reston native can be heard on WTEM from 7-10 p.m. on his own national show on Fox Sports Radio. But, it is his job with DirecTV that gives him the kind of power most sports fans just dream of … in short he controls the remote and, more to the point, what viewers see on DirecTV’s Red Zone Channel.
For those who are unaware of the Red Zone Channel, it is part of DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. Siciliano sits at his anchor desk and flies through highlights and live cut-ins of games when teams are about to score. At times, he can have three small screens on the monitor at once while he tells the viewers what is going at all three sites.
“My job is to control the remote and cut out all the boring parts of the game and take you right to the action,” Siciliano said. “Sometimes we will show you a highlight of a long score or, if nothing is happening, we can do a live look-in at a close game. Our goal is to show the fans the action long before you get a network game break.
“We don’t have time for scripts I just get the basic information — telling me where the ball is — and away we go. We have a great team of editors and producers that work together to make sure that those people watching the Red Zone Channel are always entertained.
“I know Redskins fans are some of the best and most passionate in the NFL,” said Siciliano.
If you don’t have a game you are following or if you have a lap top computer (along with the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket) the Red Zone Channel allows you to watch the Redskins play and, at the same time, see every possible highlight as it happens.
The average three hour NFL game has about 24 minutes of actual scoring action, so the Red Zone Channel really is aimed at the true NFL fan — and it’s good to see a local boy has control of the remote.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com.
