Frankie Graziano
Frankie Graziano joined CPBN in October of 2011 as a sports producer. In addition to reporting for WNPR, Graziano produces feature profiles for CPTV and the web.
Since October of 2011, Graziano has been the lead producer for over 1,200 hours of sports content. CPTV Sports specialized in covering Connecticut’s best high school games and giving Connecticut student-athletes the platform to tell their story. Graziano also produced games outside of CIAC, including WNBA Basketball games and New Britain Rock Cats Baseball.
Graziano created what he touts as Connecticut’s only multi-sport poll to determine a true statewide high school student-athlete of the week in October of 2014. Each week, he scours the state to determine the top six performances by local players. Voting begins Saturday at 6 p.m. and ends Monday at 6 p.m. Over 80 UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week winners have been crowned from 50 different towns since that time. 300,000-plus votes have been cast in that time in support of Connecticut student-athletes.
In addition to producing games, Frankie has done it all at CPTV from coordinating on-air traffic to providing play-by-play commentary. He has called numerous CIAC Championship soccer games. He has been acknowledged twice with awards from the Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association for outstanding coverage of High School Soccer.
Frankie, born Francesco Graziano Jr. in Torrington, Connecticut, is the proud son of Rosa Maria and Francesco Sr. His parents emigrated from Italy 40 years ago. He is married to Colleen Graziano, APRN. Besides his love for Colleen and his family, he deeply adores sports and talking. He had always hoped he would cover sports--never wanting to work in any other field.
In 2011, he graduated from the University of Connecticut. He graduated with a 3.56 cumulative GPA and a bachelor’s degree in two fields—journalism and history. While in college, Graziano interned at WFSB under two men he admires as his mentors—Joe Zone and John Holt. He appeared on various shows at UCTV (UConn’s student television station) and spent his summers covering the Torrington Titans collegiate baseball team.
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The elementary school shooting left 20 students and six adults dead. The settlement is thought to be first of its kind, awarding major damages against a U.S. gun manufacturer based on a mass shooting. -
ESPN informs employees that 300 individuals will be let go and another 200 positions will remain unfilled, shedding 10% of its workforce. -
The coronavirus pandemic has sidelined sports. Athletes scramble to find competition elsewhere, and fans struggle to find their fix.
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Attorneys for three female high school athletes in Connecticut have filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop transgender athletes from running track events against their clients.
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The Killingly, Conn., school district changed a mascot from the Redmen to the Red Hawks last year at the recommendation of local Native Americans. This year, new board members reversed that decision. -
Sports teams in Killingly, Conn. are the Redmen again. The school district changed the name last year at the recommendation of local Native Americans. The school board recently reversed the decision.
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People with peanut allergies often can't go to major sporting events. But a minor league baseball stadium in Connecticut has gone peanut free, becoming the first in the nation to do so.
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The University of Connecticut women's basketball team did something on Thursday that it hasn't done in years. It lost during the regular season, after having a stunning run of more than 100 victories.
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Jim Calhoun won three NCAA Division I Championships while coaching the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team. Six years after retirement, he's back coaching at a small Division III school.
