Q&A: Working the Winter Olympics from Connecticut
Julie Frahm joined the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office in August 2024 fresh off working on NBC’s broadcast production team for the Paris Olympics. That assignment earned the A&S marketing team's new director of content and creative services her 13th Emmy in a two-decade feature-producing career covering five Olympics, Monday Night Football, the Indy 500 and other major sporting events.
When the opportunity arose for Julie to work again on the TV production side of the recently concluded 2026 Winter Olympics, Frahm found a way to juggle her A&S responsibilities with working overnight production shifts out of NBC’s studios in Stamford, Connecticut. Now serving as Arts & Sciences’ interim head of marketing and communications, Frahm shared some of her favorite memories from those hectic three weeks with Inside A&S:
Q: How has Olympics TV coverage changed since the first Olympics you’ve worked?
A: The biggest change is the always-on, multi-platform coverage. When I first started back in the early 2000s, NBC curated Olympic coverage mainly for prime-time broadcasts. Events that happened during the day in other time zones were edited and packaged for nighttime broadcasts. Today, with the addition of multiple channels, streaming and digital platforms, viewers can watch events live at almost any time, which has fundamentally changed how the Olympics are produced and consumed.
Q: What did a typical overnight shift look like for you?
A: The Olympics run on this weird, wonderful three-week adrenaline rush where normal rules don’t apply. You wake up in the dark, drink a ridiculous amount of coffee, and suddenly you’re in the middle of this massive NBC Olympics machine that never really stops moving. It’s exhausting, but it’s also kind of electric.
My shift ran from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day for 22 days in preparation for and during the Games. After that, I’d usually spend another four hours staying connected to my job back here at UVA —answering emails, checking in with the team, and trying to keep things moving while operating on Olympic time.
Q: How do you manage to keep that type of schedule for several weeks?
A: On paper it sounds brutal, but in reality, it never felt quite that dramatic.The funny thing is that during those three weeks you convince yourself this is a totally sustainable way to live. “Sure, I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning but look how productive I am!” Then the Games end, the adrenaline disappears overnight, and your body immediately files a formal complaint.
But while you’re in it, you don’t really notice the grind. You’re just part of it. The noise, the pace, the controlled chaos of something huge happening in real time. And for those three weeks, that energy carries you a lot farther than sleep ever could.
Q: How many people were working together in the Connecticut studio, and what is that deadline-driven environment like?
A: There are about 1,600 people who come together at NBC Sports Headquarters in Stamford to produce the Games. (For comparison, about 1,000 employees were on site in Italy.)
What makes it special is that you suddenly find yourself in the middle of this giant, coordinated effort with some of the most talented television professionals in the business. Everyone has their niche, everyone knows their role, and somehow it all clicks together in real time. And that’s the part that makes it feel like a collective experience. For three weeks, you’re surrounded by people who are just as obsessed with getting it right as you are. Everyone’s tired, everyone’s moving fast, but there’s this underlying pride in being part of something that big. It can be intense and chaotic but being part of that kind of talent and teamwork is pretty special.
Q: What do you think would surprise those us watching from home about what happens behind the scenes?
A: One interesting fact is that many of the on-air talent are actually doing play-by-play from studios back in Stamford, rather than from Italy. Announcers sit in commentary booths watching the same world feed coming from the host broadcaster and calling the action in real time.
Q: Who was your favorite NBC celebrity correspondent for the features your team produced?
A: I mean...you can't beat the surreal combination of Stanley Tucci and Snoop Dogg. Seeing them interact with each other was a hilarious treat.
Q: How much scrambling did you and your team have to do, in terms of planned feature content, the morning that U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn crashed and broke her leg on her first run?
A: She was obviously a huge part of our coverage plans, so when that awful crash happened, your first thoughts are with her and her family. But in a situation like that, you also quickly click back into producer mode. Almost instinctively you start asking the next questions. What pieces still make sense? What’s no longer relevant? Plans that had been in place for months suddenly have to be re-thought in real time. It’s never the situation you want to be in, but part of the job is being able to pivot quickly and thoughtfully when something unexpected changes the narrative.
Q: What was your most satisfying day in the studio during these Olympics?
A: Honestly, that first day back when you walk into the building again after a couple of years away. Reconnecting with colleagues, seeing the excited faces of those who were about to work their first Olympics — it truly never gets old.
For a lot of us, it’s like returning to summer camp — there are people I’ve known for more than 25 years, some who I haven’t seen in over a decade. But the moment you walk through the doors, it’s like no time has passed.
Q: Your favorite Winter Olympic sport?
A: It’s hard to pick one. Anything on the sliding track is just absolute insanity. And I love the speed of downhill skiing, but I’ll always be a sucker for figure skating. Watching Alysa Liu skate with such joy during these Olympics was absolutely soul filling.
Q: Why so much curling? Please explain.
A: I watched more curling at 4:30 a.m. than I care to admit. (And I loved every second of it.)