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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A tropical storm hitting the Northeast has weakened into a tropical depression. The storm unleashed downpours over a region already saturated by heavy rain.
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Tropical Storm Henri, which made landfall earlier on Sunday, has already left thousands without power in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
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Henri keeps pounding away on the Northeast. First responders in one Connecticut shoreline town are worried their residents could be stranded.
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As the NCAA Women's basketball tournament gets underway, many people will be paying attention to Paige Bueckers. The University of Connecticut standout freshman is having a season for the ages.
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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.