Whether it's sports, or news, or weather -- covering just about everything that's thrown his way - is what Eric Franke loves about his job at WISC-TV.

In 2005, after spending 8 years in the Channel 3 sports department, Franke made the jump to news anchor for "News 3 at Six" and "News 3 at Ten: The Update," Mondays through Fridays.

Franke had served the station in the role of Sports Director since August 1999 after starting as the station's weekend sports anchor in 1997.

During that time, Franke covered Madison sports as far east as New York City, and as far west as the Hawaiian Islands. He covered seven Badger bowl games, including two Rose Bowls; seven-straight NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four; two golf majors on Wisconsin soil, including the 2004 PGA Championship; and Ron Dayne breaking the NCAA all-time rushing record and his subsequent Heisman Trophy win. Franke was the only reporter in Wisconsin to obtain a live one-on-one interview with Dayne the night he won the prestigious award.

Since moving to news, he's been able to cover many other stories that have touched the lives of those throughout Southern Wisconsin. The most memorable was the Stoughton-area tornado in August 2005.

"I just fell back on what we did in sports. It was pretty chaotic, a lot of people were spread out chasing other tornadoes spotted in other parts of the viewing area. I grabbed a camera and hopped in a news car and ended up in the Town of Pleasant Springs." It turned out to be the most hard-hit area, and Franke would later broadcast the story nationwide on the Weather Channel. "The best part was going back a year later, to see how it made the community closer, and stronger than before."

Franke's career started as a news producer, working at WKJG-TV (NBC) in his native Fort Wayne, Ind., from 1996-1997. A 1995 graduate of Indiana University with a double major in Telecommunications and History, Franke walked-on to the Indiana University football team while in Bloomington.

Franke also served as the lead host of "The Dream Team" on Madison's Fox Sports Radio 100.5FM from 2003 until making the switch to news. He's also held internships at WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, and at KSDK-TV (NBC) in St. Louis, and has served as a weekend news anchor at WAJI-FM radio in Fort Wayne.

Franke married Kim Sveum (who anchors at another Madison station) in 2004. The following year, the couple welcomed son Jordan to the family -- just three days after Franke made the move to the news anchor desk, abbreviating his first week on the new job. Then in April 2007, they added second son Hunter. The couple also has a yellow lab named Bailey, and resides in Verona..

Favorites:

Book: "Season on the Brink", "The Five People You Meet in Heaven"

Favorite Movie: "The Shawshank Redemption"

Watering Hole: The Nitty Gritty (I met my wife there!)

Favorite Restaurant: Admiralty Room

You can e-mail him at efranke@wisctv.com.