Rich Fields


Richard Wayne Fields is an American broadcaster, spokesman, announcer and meteorologist. His well-known occupation was a seven-season stint in which he announced for the American version of The Price Is Right.

Early life and education

Fields was born in Bay Village, Ohio and raised in Avon, Ohio, before moving to Clearwater, Florida in 1976. He graduated from the University of Florida Gainesville in 1983 with a degree in broadcasting. While attending UF, Fields was diagnosed with both testicular cancer and lymphoma, both of which he survived. Between 1995 and 1999, he was the announcer of the Florida Lottery game show Flamingo Fortune.
In early 2000, Fields returned to college at Mississippi State University to study meteorology and later became a television meteorologist. After an internship at WFLA-TV in Tampa Florida, Fields was offered the morning weather position at KPSP-LP in Palm Springs, California. Fields was later promoted to Chief Meteorologist for KPSP and was charged with the weather forecasts on the 5, 6 & 11pm newscasts for the station until May 2004.

Career

From 2004 to 2010, he was the announcer of the American version of The Price Is Right, following the death of longtime announcer Rod Roddy. The announcement of Fields' hiring was made official on March 30, 2004. During a question-and-answer segment with then-announcer Johnny Olson at a taping of Price Is Right in 1978, Fields asked how he could get Olson's job. Olson brought Fields onstage and asked him to give an example of how he would call a contestant to "Come on down!" Fields' stint as The Price Is Right announcer ended in July 2010. In a statement on his website, he said that Mike Richards, the show's executive producer at the time, was going in a "new direction", and preferred to make it "more of a 'variety show within a game show'." In 2007, he appeared together with Bob Barker on a fictional episode of The Price Is Right in an episode of How I Met Your Mother.
From 2010 to 2016, Fields had been a staff meteorologist for the CBS-owned and operated television stations KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, California. Fields was also a regular voice delivering weather forecasts on radio stations KNX-AM, KFWB and K-EARTH 101 in Los Angeles. This was a natural fit as Fields was a veteran disc-jockey having had music radio shows for over a decade on KKHR, KNX-FM, KODJ and KCBS-FM, all of which were broadcast out of CBS's Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard in the 80's and 90's.
Fields served as the announcer of the All-Star summer tournament series Gameshow Marathon from May 31 until June 29, 2006 on CBS. Based on the British series of the same name it was hosted by actress and talk show host Ricki Lake and it featured Todd Newton as the prize deliverer. The show featured six celebrities such as Lance Bass, Paige Davis, Tim Meadows, Kathy Najimy, Leslie Nielsen and Brande Roderick playing seven classic game shows such as The Price Is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Beat the Clock, Press Your Luck, Card Sharks, Match Game and Family Feud but not only their playing for their favorite charities but also for the home viewer as well.
In 2009, Fields had his own comedy web series on YouTube called Rich Fields Gone Wild where he gets into some crazy situations in his daily life with Lou Ferrigno and Adam West as guest stars in those particular episodes. It was also to promote the video game called The Price is Right: 2010 Edition by Ludia.
Fields also served as the announcer on 55 episodes of Wheel of Fortune in 2010 following the death of Charlie O'Donnell, and provided post-production voice-over work for over eleven weeks of episodes, plus specials.