Zach McCrite

Zach "The Big EZ" McCrite is a sports radio personality for ESPN Louisville 1570-1600 (Louisville/Shelbyville, Kentucky). He hosts The Big EZ Show middays from 10 AM until 1 PM (EST) on ESPN Louisville and is also one of the most experienced sports play-by-play announcers for his age in the country.

History

McCrite, nicknamed by many simply as "EZ" (pronounced 'easy'), started as an intern for the high school sports crew at WAVG Radio in Jeffersonville, Indiana while a student at Our Lady of Providence High School in nearby Clarksville in 1996. McCrite was allowed to report statistics at halftime and post game for WAVG's Indiana high school football and basketball coverage.

Before that football season ended, in 1996 (at age 15), McCrite was a paid employee and had moved up to substitute color analyst when regular analyst Ted Throckmorton was absent.

In 1998, McCrite got his first shot as a play-by-play announcer (at 18 years and 1 month, argued to be the youngest play-by-play announcing job for a commercial radio station in the United States) when regular play-by-play man Gil Dougherty went on sick leave for heart surgery. After continuing as a color analyst and play-by-play man, McCrite left the station in 2001 to finish his college career and work for his father, owner of a highway construction company.

Then radio came calling again when ESPN Louisville (at the time called SportsZone WSZ) offered "The Big EZ" a job as reporter/producer for the station in August of 2005. After three months, general manager Scott Thompson offered McCrite a promotion to become the host of a newly-created show called Hoosier Talk, a show that revolved around sports in Indiana, which falls right on the Louisville border. McCrite's first show was thought to be November 14 2005. It aired every weeknight from 6-7 PM.

In January 2006, management extended McCrite's show to two hours, from 6 PM - 8 PM, and the show was renamed SportsZone Tonight and broadened the range of topics discussed.

After six months as host of SportsZone Tonight, McCrite was promoted to host a midday show on The New 'ESPN Louisville' as the host of The Big EZ Show (to match McCrite's nickname). McCrite's first episode of The Big EZ Show was thought to be July 24, 2006.

In December 2006, just over five months later, a new ownership group took over at ESPN Louisville and immediately moved McCrite to the afternoon drive time. The Big EZ Show from 3-6 PM on ESPN Louisville premiered January 8 2007. McCrite has since moved back to the midday. On March 5 2007, The Big EZ Show moved to the 10 AM - 1 PM (EST) slot.

Show format and discussions

The show starts with a PREview and then his usual groan "awwwwwwwwwwohhhhhhhhh" and catch-phrase "send it". He usually ends his show with the playing of his "get-you-in-the-mood" song, Al Green's "Let's Stay Together".

The Big EZ Show thrives off of sports and entertainment combined. McCrite has always admitted on-air that he's "just a fan" and promises to just put his sports opinion up against the listeners. McCrite is big on talking lines, spreads and prognosticating upcoming games. One of the most popular parts of his show is his weekly EZ Money segment, in which he picks winners of games against the spread and gives out reasons why. While phone calls are welcome, he has no problem bashing an opinion that he doesn't agree with, which does not sit well with listeners at times. But many agree his style is different, for better or worse, than other sports radio hosts in the area.

Play-by-play career

McCrite got into the business of sports talk radio via play-by-play of local high school sports in Southern Indiana, just across the Ohio River from Louisville After two years of being an intern and then a paid fill-in color analyst and reporter for WAVG radio in Jeffersonville, Indiana, McCrite was asked by the station to come back on the weekends from his freshman year at Ball State University to fill in for the regular play-by-play announcer for high school football games in Southern Indiana during the month of October and November, including regular season and playoff high school games.

At that time, McCrite was thought to be the youngest play-by-play sports announcer for a commercial radio station in the entire country in 1998. Since then, McCrite has been a play-by-play announcer at many different sporting events including the Indiana high school state basketball championships at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Indiana high school football championships at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, the Indiana high school state baseball championship at Victory Field in Indianapolis, and other regional sporting events.

Other duties

McCrite has regularly appeared as a reporter for Sporting News Radio, including being their main on-site reporter for the 2006 return of future hall-of-fame baseball pitcher Roger Clemens to the mound as Clemens decided to come out of a brief 'retirement'.

In the late 1990s, McCrite was also a regular voice on Indiana Sports Talk, a statewide syndicated sports program aired on Friday and Saturday NiGHTS out of Indianapolis focusing on the incoming reports of football and basketball games in the state.

Starting in 2006, McCrite added play-by-play announcer to his list of duties at ESPN Louisville when they began to cover Indiana high school sports.