Ron Zech: Keeping Consider This conversations in line

A live TV show is made up of a wide assortment of elements, and it is people like Ron Zech, the line producer for Consider This, who make sure they are presented seamlessly for the viewer. Each day, Zech tries to know the show's topics as well as the producers and host Antonio Mora. When Zech is in the control room, he makes sure that every part of the live show starts and ends on time, the video and graphics elements play correctly, and guests are ready to appear on the air. He also communicates any last-minute changes to Mora. Finally, Zech says he makes sure "the conversation goes where we need it to go in the allotted time." 

Zech's work day lasts from the morning until late at night, but as Zech tells Consider This, he finds it to be a lot of fun as well. 

Q: What are your favorite parts of the job and what are some of the challenges you face? 

A: My favorite part of the job is also the most challenging: Doing a live segment. All day we are prepping for a 10-minute chunk of time. Building graphics, cutting video elements, and crafting a conversation arc. It is my responsibility to make sure all of that comes across to the viewer. Obviously it is impossible to perfectly predict where the guest is going to take the question, but if I've done all of my prep work properly I usually have a good idea. 

Q: What got you interested in TV production? 

A: I've been around cameras my entire life. My dad wasn't a professional, but at any event, major or minor, he had the video camera out recording it. I always enjoy watching those videos. 

Then, sophomore year of high school, I took a TV class with a teacher by the name of Mr. Zimmerman. It was supposed to be an elective class, just something to fill out my credit requirements. But he made it so much fun and it was then that I realized that "Hey, people can do this for a living." So it was then that I decided to try and make that my career. 

In college [at Seton Hall University, in New Jersey], I got really lucky. The Seton Hall TV station had been shut down for a little while, so when I came, they were just trying to get it going again. Because it was a start-up and small, I was given a chance to do everything, from on-air to behind the scenes. Again, the professor in charge, Professor [Thomas] Rondinella, as well as the other students involved, were just so much fun to be around that despite the amount of time we were putting in, it never felt like a chore. Once I started spending a lot of time at the Seton Hall station, I never even considered another line of work. 

Q: What jobs had you worked at previously and what did you learn from them? 

A: I worked a few jobs before finally landing a professional gig. I did landscaping, some janitorial work, filed papers for an accounting office, sold massage chairs at Brookstone and worked the front gate at a pool (the front gate, because I don't know how to swim, so I stayed as far away from the water as possible).

From the landscaping and janitorial job, I learned what it means to work so hard that you are physically exhausted at the end of the day. From Brookstone, I learned how to talk to people. I think at some point everyone should work in sales because nothing is harder than striking up a conversation with a stranger and trying to sell them something. You really learn a lot about the way people think and how to deal with them. 

And most importantly at the pool, I learned how to have fun at work. You spend one-third of your life at whatever job you choose to be at. If you're not having fun and enjoying what you do, what's the point? Sadly, the one thing I didn't learn from the pool was how to swim. 

Q: You worked for several years for MSNBC and Current TV on programs anchored by Keith Olbermann. What did you do for them and what did you learn from the experience? 

A: I cannot properly express how grateful I am that I was able to start my career at Countdown. … I did everything for those shows. I started as an intern, became in charge of graphics, then I moved to tape and then finally started writing and segment producing for them.

Izzy Povich, Richard Stockwell, Greg Kordick, Eelin Reily, Jonathan Larsen, Brendan O'Melia, Dave Sarosi [all from Countdown on MSNBC] and Aaron Volkman [from Countdown on Current] ... these [producers and executive producers] were so talented and smart that I really had to do everything possible to try and keep up and not embarrass myself. As amazingly talented as Keith is, the one thing I don't think a lot of people realize is how talented the staff behind him was and still is. 

From Keith I learned a lot. I learned how strictly structured a show needs to be to really pop on TV. I learned how to be tight and concise. And the biggest thing I learned was how important the clock was to a TV show. There were times when I would be angry about something I wrote being cut for time. But when I would see things Keith wrote — which were always much better than my stuff — being cut and he was OK with it, how could I keep complaining? 

Q: What brought you to Consider This?  

A: When Al Jazeera bought Current, a majority of the staff I was working with was moving to Consider This. I knew and respected all of the people who were coming onto the show and I was thrilled when I found out that I would be able to stay with them. 

Q: What kind of stories do you want Consider This to cover? 

A: I think the big advantage that we have as a show is time. Most shows have four to five-minute interviews; we have double that. We have the time to really delve into topics in a way that no other show on any network does. Because of that, I want to find the stories that other shows ignore because they are too complex. 

I also love the way we have done political discussions, not as a "right" or "left" issue but as an "American citizen" issue. A lot of what we have done is bring on people and have them explain how the noise and posturing that goes on in Washington actually affects the lives of real people. 

Q: What kinds of journalism or TV do you appreciate? 

A: Can I just go Sarah Palin and say "All of them"? I love reading the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, The Verge, Al Jazeera — but I also enjoy reading websites that transition from the serious to fun effortlessly: Buzzfeed, Slate, Salon, and if I'm going guilty pleasures, I'd say Gawker and Deadspin. 

I watch a lot of TV. I spend a lot of time looking at CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and Al Jazeera America. I am fortunate to work in a place [where] I am allowed to watch all of them and claim to be working.