Gretzinger and Zahn are members of the “Singing Anchors” and have performed extensively around the area, along with former WNYT anchor Jessica Layton. The trio has been billed as “Three TV people who just love to sing.”
Prior to joining WNYT, he worked at WRGB as a news anchor and reporter for 12 years followed by brief stints as a spokesperson for SUNY Poly and Glens Falls Hospital.
1. I love big band music and can’t get enough of Frank Sinatra and Rat Pack era music. Thanks to the incredibly talented producer and creative director of the Singing Anchors, Jay Kerr of the Fort Salem Theater, I’ve been performing in a variety of Frank Sinatra and Rat Pack revues around the region. We’ve played at The Linda, The Desmond, Mac-Haydn Theatre and Mazzone’s Hilton Garden Inn in Clifton Park.
2. My parents met onstage and their love of theater was passed on to me. I started performing in plays and musicals when I was about 5 years old. I’ve probably been in over 200 shows at this point and have performed off-Broadway, around New England and of course right here in the Capital Region (including Chicago at Cohoes Music Hall and The Music Man in Clifton Park). Next up is an original musical called “Women in My Life” at the Hilton Garden Inn, Clifton Park November 11 and 12.
4. My wife and I are foodies and we love to cook and bake. Especially love whipping up breakfast. We can get up at 7:30 on a weekend morning and then not eat breakfast until 10 or so because we make such an elaborate lineup of eggs or omelets and waffles, pancakes, crepes, muffins, donuts, you name it. We’re particularly fond of this terrific German Apple Cake recipe we discovered. We also love going out to eat and finding the best happy hours and live music. Any suggestions?
5. I was on the basketball and track and field teams in high school and held the Mid-Hudson Athletic League record for shot put for several years. When time and schedules permit, I still like to play hoops with some old friends (some of whom you may recognize). I was never much of a runner until I met my wife. We try to get in about 20 miles a week and recently ran the Race for the Cure together. My daughter joined the Cross Country team this year and came in 7th at her first meet and 3rd in her second (but I’m not proud or anything).
7. Whenever something breaks, I run to YouTube to figure out how to repair it. I’ve also redone bathrooms, installed flooring, done some light plumbing, built a deck and even finished a couple of basements. I’m the resident seamstress at home too. Seriously. When the kids tear or rip their clothes, they ask me to get out my sewing kit. The first gift my in-laws ever got me was a sewing machine. I’ve used it to make some Halloween costumes for the kids. I think I did my best work when my daughter wanted to be Princess Leia. I styled her hair too.
8. One of the most fun things I’ve ever done was coach my son’s youth basketball team. I had a blast. Somehow our team made it to the league’s final four. They were only 9 years old, but to hear all the parents screaming and cheering, you’d have thought it was the NCAA.
10. If I had my druthers (love that place by the way) I’d do voiceovers for cartoons. In one of my Sinatra revues, I sang “Being Green” as a duet with a Kermit the Frog puppet. Most of the voices I do are not imitations of popular characters but my Kermit is pretty good. Yoda too – which is pretty close to Kermit.
11. My family likes to sing Karaoke. I once entered an American Idol style competition on a cruise ship (our favorite way to vacation) and made it all the way to the final round. It took up about five of the seven nights of the trip. I won the whole thing and figured I’d get a really good prize. A free cruise or something. I got a duffle bag.
12. I’ve really enjoyed volunteering with different groups throughout the area and sharing their stories on the news. Working with Equinox to help with their massive Thanksgiving meal was a great experience. Can’t beat doing good work with good friends.
14. I used to watch the news and think to myself, “Hey, I can do that!” But by the time I went to college, I had gravitated more towards wanting to be a sitcom writer. There were no internships for that so I wound up in a local TV newsroom. The first week, the assignment editor asked if any of the interns knew how to operate one of the field cameras. None of us did but I raised my hand anyway. There was a big story breaking and the station had no one around to shoot it. I wound up working with a reporter that day and learned a lot. A few weeks later, they had me reporting my own stories on the air. When I talk to students now, I always tell them not to sit around waiting for things to happen. Get out there and take some chances.
15. Some people may remember this, but in 2004 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. My doctor still says he’s amazed at how early we caught it. I attribute that to another man who had been diagnosed and shared his story on television. I had never even heard of testicular cancer before and did a self-exam and discovered something was not right. So I decided to pay it forward and shared my story on the news. The least I could do was try to help someone the way someone helped me.
17. We have three pets in our house. Two dogs (Buddy and Jigs) and a cat (Squiggy). Whenever Buddy gets excited, he sneezes. Repeatedly! He also loves our Dyson. When we’re vacuuming, he won’t leave our side until he’s been vacuumed with the wand. Squiggy’s pretty unusual too. His favorite place to luxuriate is the bathroom sink.
19. Both of my grandparents were small business owners. My mom’s parents ran a vending and coffee company in Poughkeepsie and my dad’s parents operated Gretzinger’s Bakery in Jersey City, NJ. The bakery was sold years ago but I recently brought my son back to the building it was in. It’s still a bakery and the owner let us go back to the kitchen where he’s still using my grandfather’s mixers. That was a very cool experience. I still use one of my grandfather’s old baking pans when I make birthday cakes for the kids.
20. Although I’ve never been ‘officially’ diagnosed, doctors tell me I suffer from Raynaud’s disease. As explained online, Raynaud’s “causes some areas of your body — such as your fingers and toes — to feel numb and cold in response to cold temperatures or stress. In Raynaud’s disease, smaller arteries that supply blood to your skin narrow, limiting blood circulation to affected areas.” Essentially, whenever it’s 40 degrees or below, my fingers turn to ice and get all discolored. I attribute it to the number of times I had to do live news reports in sub-zero temperatures telling people how cold it was outside.
Previously:
20 things you don’t know about me: Kristi Gustafson Barlette
20 things you don’t know about me: Matt Baumgartner
20 things you don’t know about us: Asi Boutelle and Chenique Rowe
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