Fred Christenson
Frederick John Christenson is an American television executive and professional poker player.
Early life
Christenson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the son of Martha Ann Thomson and Glen Oliver Christenson, and was raised in Tucson, Arizona. Christenson attended Hastings College (N.A.I.A.) in Nebraska on an athletic scholarship to play football. He later transferred to the University of Arizona, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
Television career
Christenson was first hired at ESPN as a mailroom clerk in 1987. His first job required him to edit footage of World Class Championship Wrestling. [1] He was promoted to production assistant, then associate producer, working on various shows including: SportsCenter, the college football studio scoreboard show, and the NFL GameDay show. He won a Sports Emmy in 1988 for Outstanding Studio Show. Christenson moved to Los Angeles and produced Los Angeles Raiders football pre-season television games, a weekly television show, and radio telecasts and broadcasts from 1989 to 1994. He returned to ESPN in 1994, producing UpClose:PrimeTime with Roy Firestone in Los Angeles.
Christenson relocated to the East Coast in 1997 to act as coordinating producer on ESPN’s SportsCentury project. SportsCentury: The Top 50 and Beyond won the 2001 Sports Emmy for Edited Sports Series/Anthology. [2] While Christenson was a senior producer for SportsCentury, the series won the first Peabody Award ever given to ESPN. [3]
In 2001, Christenson was also an executive producer on a season-long documentary of the University of Arizona’s football team.[4]
Christenson then took on programming and acquisition responsibilities for ESPN Classic, ESPN Programming Department, and ESPN Original Entertainment as the senior director of programming and acquisitions and the director of brand management of ESPN Classic. [1][5][6] In 2003, he secured the long-term rights acquisition to the World Series of Poker, and obtained approval of hole-card camera usage in television coverage from the gaming licensing governing body of Nevada.[7][8] Christenson and Mark Shapiro helped popularize the World Series of Poker. [9]
Six Flags
Christenson left ESPN after nearly 20 years in 2006 and went to work for Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s newly acquired company Six Flags, Inc. (SIX) as Regional Vice President of Parks Strategy and Management.[10][11] After nearly five years, Christenson left SIX and returned to television as programming director for dick clark productions, inc. in New York City.
Poker career
A long-time poker player, he has played professionally in five different World Series of Poker events. [12][13] He has cashed in once. Christenson was invited to play in the 2005 World Poker Tour, [14] Professional Poker Tour, and 5-Star Poker Classic. He finished 12th out of 248 professional players. Christenson plays in various casino cash games and tournaments in Las Vegas and Connecticut and was a regular online player with Poker Stars [15] until Black Friday.
Filmography
Christenson has appeared on the credits of the following productions:
- Playmakers (TV Series)[16]
- TILT (TV Movie)[16]
- Hustle: The Pete Rose Story, as Production Executive (TV Movie) [17]
- Junction Boys, as Executive (TV Movie)[18]
- Four Minutes (TV Movie)[19]
- Up Close Primetime (TV Series), as Producer[19]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Russo, Ric. "Who You Calling Old-Timer?" Archived June 30, 2013, at Archive.today Orlando Sentinel. July 15, 2001
- ↑ Bernstein, Paula. "NBC Gets 10 for Olympics." Variety. April 17, 2001
- ↑ "ESPN SportsCentury." Peabody Awards website. 1999. Accessed May 18, 2013
- ↑ “A Cat’s Life: ESPN and Univ. of AZ Team For Football Show.” Sports Business Daily. May 30, 2001
- ↑ “Raising the Pot: Poker Continues as Viable Programming.” Sports Business Daily. August 31, 2005
- ↑ Bernstein, Andy. “Cable nets flush with poker tourneys.” Sports Business Daily. March 1, 2004
- ↑ Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales
- ↑ Raskin, Eric. "When We Held Kings." Archived June 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Grantland. May 22, 2013
- ↑ Smith, Anthony F. and Keith Hollihan. ESPN The Company: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand in Sports Wiley. September 8, 2009. ISBN 047054211X Search this book on
. pg. 125
- ↑ Six Flags
- ↑ Shin, Annys. "Streetmosphere." The Washington Post. May 29, 2006
- ↑ World Series of Poker
- ↑ "Coffee Shop Owner Wins Bracket." ESPN Poker
- ↑ World Poker Tour
- ↑ Poker Stars
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Fred Christenson." The New York Times Movies and TV. Accessed May 18, 2013
- ↑ "Fred Christenson Filmography." TCM website. Accessed May 18, 2013
- ↑ Junction Boys credits. The New York Times Television. Accessed May 18, 2013
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Fred Christenson." IMDb. Accessed May 18, 2013
External links
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