Zach Verdea joined the WKBN sports team in July of 2022.
Born in Cleveland, Zach grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Though living in Oklahoma, he and his family spent each vacation in Ohio visiting family in Columbus and Cleveland.
Zach graduated from the University of Oklahoma in December of 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with an emphasis in broadcast. While in Norman, he spent two years participating in the award-winning student-run daily newscast, OU Nightly, while also contributing to the only student-run nationally televised production on Fox Sports, Sooner Sports Pad. Zach covered football for both of productions, during which time the Oklahoma football team went to the College Football Playoff in back-to-back years. Those teams featured Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Kyler Murray and NFL quarterback Jalen Hurts, among many others. He also covered Oklahoma women’s soccer and men’s baseball before graduating.
Before joining WKBN, Zach worked as a weekend anchor and reporter for KFDX/KJTL in Wichita Falls, Texas for nearly three years.
While in Texas, Zach covered multiple high-profile events, such as the winter storm of February 2021 that left millions in the state without power. He also covered the annual Hotter’N Hell Hundred, the nation’s largest single-day 100-mile bicycle ride. Zach was also the host of a segment titled “Christmas Came Early”, which ran for five weeks, leading up to Christmas Day.
Zach is truly excited and happy to be back in his home state. He has a passion for sports that has developed from being a sports-obsessed kid to wanting to tell the stories of the athletes that make those sports so enjoyable to watch. He is a massive Browns, Cavs and Guardians fan, as well as a big tennis and soccer fan.
