# Zip Rzeppa

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**Christopher Edward "Zip" Rzeppa** (born January 8, 1952) is an [American Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church_in_the_United_States) evangelist, author, and former journalist who is the founder and executive director of Mater Media, a [Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church) nonprofit apostolate aiming to "make Jesus Christ more known and more loved by more people through media".[1]

## Early life and career

He attended [Brother Rice High School](/source/Brother_Rice_High_School_(Michigan)) in [Metro Detroit](/source/Metro_Detroit), where he played football and basketball. After high school, he attended [Boston University](/source/Boston_University), where he earned a degree in journalism and was a member of the basketball team. At Boston University, he was a classmate of both [Howard Stern](/source/Howard_Stern) and [Bill O’Reilly](/source/Bill_O'Reilly_(political_commentator)).[2]

After college, Rzeppa began his professional broadcasting career announcing Boston University football and hockey games. He worked at [WANE-TV](/source/WANE-TV) in [Fort Wayne, Indiana](/source/Fort_Wayne,_Indiana), and then at [WNEM-TV](/source/WNEM-TV) in [Saginaw, Michigan](/source/Saginaw,_Michigan). His next stop was [WLWT](/source/WLWT) in [Cincinnati](/source/Cincinnati), where he recorded 'The Ballad of the Bengals', a local hit song celebrating the [Cincinnati Bengals](/source/Cincinnati_Bengals). He then went to [WNEV-TV](/source/WHDH_(TV)) in [Boston](/source/Boston), where he was reunited with Bill O'Reilly, who had recently been hired as a news anchor.

## St. Louis

After leaving WNEV-TV, Rzeppa was hired by [KTVI](/source/KTVI) in [St. Louis, MO](/source/St._Louis), where he became popular for his Friday night Zippo Awards for "The best, the worst, and the weirdest performances in the wild and wacky wonderful world of sports."[3] At KTVI, a years-long rift began with [Whitey Herzog](/source/Whitey_Herzog), after the [Cardinals](/source/St._Louis_Cardinals) manager thought Rzeppa was trying to get him fired.[4] Still, his [Q rating](/source/Q_Score) remained among the highest in the country. After Rzeppa moved to [KMOV](/source/KMOV) in St. Louis, his interns included future well-known broadcaster [Joe Buck](/source/Joe_Buck). He also started 'Sunday Nights with Bernie', a segment featuring [NHL](/source/National_Hockey_League) [Hall of Famer](/source/Hockey_Hall_of_Fame) [Bernie Federko](/source/Bernie_Federko). In total, Rzeppa anchored more than 8,000 local TV sportscasts. In 2014, the St. Louis Media History Foundation inducted Rzeppa into its Media Hall of Fame.[5]

Rzeppa was also the founder of Radio Personalities, Inc., which syndicated radio programs, including *Talkin' Roundball with [Dick Vitale](/source/Dick_Vitale)*, *Offsides with [Dan Dierdorf](/source/Dan_Dierdorf)*, and *The Great American Sports Trivia Show*.

## Charity and faith

After leaving broadcasting, Rzeppa entered the not-for-profit world. He worked for MERS/[Goodwill Industries](/source/Goodwill_Industries) (1996-2003), the St. Louis Council of the [Society of St. Vincent de Paul](/source/Society_of_St._Vincent_de_Paul) (2006-2011), and Angels’ Arms (2011-2012).[6] He is the Founder and current Executive Director of Mater Media, a [Catholic](/source/Catholicism) [apostolate](/source/Apostolates) devoted to evangelizing the Catholic faith through book publishing, funding and promoting faith-filled major motion pictures, sponsoring concerts, and presenting marriage enrichment events.[1] He is the author of two books, ‘My Rock & Salvation’ (2014), a novel for teens, and ‘For A Greater Purpose: My Life Journey’ (2015), an autobiography.[7][8][9]

## References

1. ["Home"](http://www.matermedia.org/). *matermedia.org*

1. Caesar, Dan. ["Media views: Rzeppa zips through life, as detailed in eye-opening book"](http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/dan-caesar/media-views-rzeppa-zips-through-life-as-detailed-in-eye/article_2a6296ab-3a32-54be-bdcc-1f21fe8fbd75.html). *Stltoday.com*

1. Archived at [Ghostarchive](https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211208/xvXJzpvHFKY) and the [Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20201230174230/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvXJzpvHFKY): ["The Zippo Awards (Friday, January 20, 1989)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvXJzpvHFKY). *[YouTube](/source/YouTube)*

1. ["Rzeppa to leave KMOV-TV sports; experts say he 'shook up the market.' (KMOV-TV sports director Zip Rzeppa) - Free Online Library"](http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rzeppa+to+leave+KMOV-TV+sports%3B+experts+say+he+'shook+up+the+market.'...-a018257337)

1. ["St. Louis Media History Foundation - Welcome"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160324195612/http://stlmediahistory.com/Television/TVHallOfFame). Archived from [the original](http://www.stlmediahistory.com/Television/TVHallOfFame) on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2016-04-14.

1. ["St. Louis Review | Archdiocese of St Louis"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160424005134/http://stlouisreview.com/article/2016-01-20/zip-rzeppas-purpose). Archived from [the original](http://stlouisreview.com/article/2016-01-20/zip-rzeppas-purpose) on 2016-04-24. Retrieved 2016-04-14.

1. ["Books"](http://matermedia.org/books/)

1. ["Archived copy"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160423153540/http://legacy.ksdk.com/story/entertainment/television/show-me-st-louis/2015/09/04/zip-rzeppa-talks-new-book---greater-purpose/71698582/). Archived from [the original](http://legacy.ksdk.com/story/entertainment/television/show-me-st-louis/2015/09/04/zip-rzeppa-talks-new-book---greater-purpose/71698582/) on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2016-04-14.

1. ["Zip Rzeppa visits FOX 2"](http://fox2now.com/2015/08/28/zip-rzeppa-visits-fox-2/). 28 August 2015.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zip Rzeppa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_Rzeppa) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_Rzeppa?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.