The Cleveland Browns confirmed their new radio lineup for the 2022 season.
Replacing the retired Doug Dieken will be Nathan Zegura, who had previously worked as a sideline reporter. Zegura has big shoes to fill; Dieken had been on the air for 37 years, and the Cleveland radio booth is now actually named after him.
Mary Kay Cabot had the news at Cleveland.com:
Browns media personality Nathan Zegura will replace Doug Dieken as the Browns color commentator alongside Jim Donovan in the newly named “Doug Dieken Radio Booth.’’
In addition, nine-year NFL veteran and three-time Super Bowl winner Jerod Cherry, a resident of the Cleveland area since he retired in 2004 and local broadcaster, will take over Zegura’s former role as the sideline reporter.
Cabot also notes that before making the call to move Zegura up to the booth, there was a dialogue with longtime Browns left tackle Joe Thomas about possibly taking over the role. Thomas, though, cited a desire to spend time with his family as his chief reason for passing:
On cleveland.com’s Orange and Brown Talk podcast on April 11, Thomas revealed that he’d love to follow Dieken in the booth, but that the timing isn’t right.
“Yeah, I talked to Doug, I talked to people in Cleveland, and I said that would be my dream job,’’ he said. “Unfortunately, it happens 20 weekends a year in a row and with little kids, that’s kind of the time you get to see them because they go to school during the week. And so I know that I would never be able to commit to a full schedule right now when my kids are young.”
The Browns talked to a few other former players, but felt Zegura was the right man for the job.
Congratulations to Zegura on the new role, one that has a lot of potential for building a connection to fans. There’s really nothing like the bond between local radio broadcasters and listeners, even in today’s era of widespread streaming video options that have perhaps made radio a bit less prevalent. Look no further than the man Zegura replaced, who spent nearly four decades building that connection.
