Judd Hambrick

Judd Hambrick (born September 25, 1945, in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American television newscaster and reporter. Hambrick grew up in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

Career, accomplishments, and awards

Hambrick started his career in radio in 1961 while still a sophomore in high school. After graduation from Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, Texas in 1963, Hambrick attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained his degree in journalism in 1967. He then got his start in television at KTBC-TV in Austin.

Later on, by 1972 Hambrick had moved on to WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and served as co-anchor of their evening news programs with John Facenda, better known outside of Philadelphia as the "voice" of NFL Films. Hambrick's stay at WCAU lasted only one year. He later moved onto stops at KDFW-TV in Dallas, KABC-TV in Los Angeles and KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1977, Hambrick arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he became an anchor of the evening newscasts on WJKW-TV (now WJW-TV). Hambrick won a local Emmy Award in 1979, and helped the station's newscast become the top rated news program in Cleveland until his departure from WJKW-TV in 1981. The next year, he moved to rival WKYC-TV, where he served in a similar capacity until 1985.

Hambrick then spent next several years away from television news anchoring, though he worked on several business news ventures with NBC through his own production company. An avid crossword puzzle expert, Hambrick also authored a series of books based on the board game Scrabble, titled Scrabble Brand Grams. Many of his puzzles have also been printed in sections of various newspapers across the United States.

Hambrick ended his self-imposed hiatus in 1992 when he joined KTUL-TV in Tulsa as an anchor. Not long after, Hambrick returned to Cleveland and to WKYC-TV, for one final anchoring stint from 1993 to 1999. During his career, he also worked in markets such as Memphis, Atlanta, and Honolulu.

Personal life

Judd Hambrick is the brother of newscasters John Hambrick (deceased) and Mike Hambrick. John co-anchored alongside Judd at KABC-TV during 1975–76, also worked in Cleveland (at WEWS from 1967 to 1975), and had stints at stations in New York City and Miami. Younger sibling Mike worked in several markets such as Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.. A nephew, Jack Hambrick (John's son), also went into the television business as a news reporter and now, along with his father, has become a documentary filmmaker.

Hambrick, who is now semi-retired, lives with his wife in Florence, Alabama after pursuing some business ventures for a time in both the Belden and nearby Saltillo, Mississippi areas. Hambrick continues to work in mostly free-lance video news media production.