Judd Hambrick

Last updated
Judd Hambrick
Born
Judd F. Hambrick

(1945-09-25) September 25, 1945 (age 78)
Nationality American
Occupation(s) radio/television news anchor, news reporter, journalist
Years active1961-present

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

Contents

Biography

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. [1]

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.

Word games

In addition to his television exploits, Hambrick has had a successful side career as a word game creator. Working with the creators of the crossword game Scrabble, Hambrick created a series of puzzles called Scrabblegrams (also called Scrabble Brand Grams) and published several volumes of books containing the puzzles, which consist of five different sets of letters. For each set of letters the goal is to make the highest scoring word possible, and each rack may have some sort of score bonus attached. All Scrabble scoring rules apply, including the 50-point bonus for using all seven letters. Scrabblegrams has also been syndicated to newspapers as a feature by Tribune Media Company in the past, and is currently under the distribution of Andrews McMeel Syndication for international markets only.

In North America, Hambrick created a second word game for newspapers called Word Scrimmage. The game is similar in nature to the ‘’Scrabblegrams, but with a football motif and different bonuses attached such as 60 points for using all of the letters.

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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WEWS-TV</span> ABC affiliate in Cleveland

WEWS-TV is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on by Scripps. WEWS-TV's studios are located on Euclid Avenue in Downtown Cleveland, and its transmitter is located in suburban Parma.

<i>Scrabble</i> (game show) US television series

Scrabble is an American television game show based upon the Scrabble board game. Muriel Green of Exposure Unlimited developed the idea for a television game show based upon the board game concept. During 1983, Green convinced Selchow and Righter, who at that time owned the Scrabble board game, to license Exposure Unlimited to produce the game show. Exposure Unlimited co-produced the show with Reg Grundy Productions, and licensed the show to NBC. Scrabble aired on NBC from July 2, 1984, to March 23, 1990, and again from January 18 to June 11, 1993. Chuck Woolery hosted the program. Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first year. Charlie Tuna replaced him in the summer of 1985 and remained through the original run and the entirety of the 1993 revival.

John Thomas Ralph Augustine James Facenda was an American broadcaster and sports announcer. He was a fixture on Philadelphia radio and television for decades, and achieved national fame as a narrator for NFL Films and Football Follies. Through his work with NFL Films, Facenda was known by many National Football League fans as "The Voice of God".

KCBS-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outlet KCAL-TV. The two stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles; KCBS-TV's transmitter is located on the western side of Mount Wilson near Occidental Peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WCAU</span> NBC TV station in Philadelphia

WCAU is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo outlet WWSI ; it is also sister to regional sports network NBC Sports Philadelphia.

<i>Eyewitness News</i> American television newscast format

Eyewitness News is a style of television presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, replacing the older "man-on-camera" newscast.

Jerry Dunphy was an American television news anchor in the Los Angeles/Southern California media market. He was best known for his intro "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKYC</span> NBC affiliate in Cleveland

WKYC is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way, and its transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KABC-TV</span> ABC West Coast flagship station in Los Angeles

KABC-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Grand Central Business Centre of Glendale, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

Jim Rosenfield is an American local television news anchor who worked for WCAU-TV, the NBC-owned television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJW (TV)</span> Fox affiliate in Cleveland

WJW is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, WJW maintains studios on Dick Goddard Way just northeast of downtown Cleveland near the shore of Lake Erie, and its transmitter is located in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doreen Gentzler</span> American journalist

Doreen Gentzler is an American retired television news anchor. She anchored the news at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Savidge</span> American television news correspondent (born 1958)

Martin "The Savage" Savidge is a Canadian-American television news correspondent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Donovan (sportscaster)</span> American sportscaster

James Francis Donovan III is an American radio and television personality who serves as sports director and news anchor for WKYC channel 3 (NBC) in Cleveland, Ohio, and has been the radio voice of the Cleveland Browns Radio Network since 1999.

John James Hambrick was an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, voice over announcer and TV documentary producer.

Mike Hambrick is an American television anchor, reporter, and correspondent who has worked on network television stations such as WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., KTVT-TV in Dallas, KTAR-TV in Phoenix, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and WBAL-TV in Baltimore in 1975. Hambrick was also a news anchor for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, where he also served as managing editor.

Doug Adair was an American television news anchor and journalist who worked in the Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio markets.

Romona Robinson is an American television news anchor in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the first African American woman to anchor a nightly newscast in Cleveland, and the first solo anchor of a weeknight newscast in that city. She is a member of the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and is an eight-time recipient of the Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards. She is currently retired, having appeared weeknights on Cleveland TV newscasts for 30 years - first on then independent station (now CW affiliate WUAB channel 43, later on NBC affiliate WKYC channel 3, and finally on CBS affiliate WOIO Channel 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Mueller</span> American sportscaster (1943–2022)

James F. Mueller was an American sportscaster. He was a radio announcer for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1975 to 1995, and was a sports anchor on Cleveland TV newscasts through most of the 1970s and 1980s.

John Michael Tuck was an American journalist. He was best known for his work on television in Southern California where he had anchored for television stations in San Diego and Los Angeles.

References