Judd Hambrick

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Emmy-award winning newscaster and reporter grew up in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Hambrick started his career in radio in 1961 while a sophomore in high school. After graduation, Hambrick attended the University of Texas where he obtained his degree in journalism and got his start in television at KTBC-TV in Austin. In 1972, Hamrick moved to WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and served as co-anchor of the evening news with John Facenda, better known 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 on the North Coast, 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 spent 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 authored several books based on the board game Scrabble. Many of his puzzles have also been printed in sections of newspapers throughout the United States.

Hambrick ended his self-Imposed hiatus in 1992 when he joined KTUL-TV in Tulsa as an anchor. Not long after, Judd returned to Cleveland and to WKYC-TV, for one final anchoring stint from 1993-1999. Hambrick, who is now semi-retired, lives with his wife in Saltillo, Mississippi and continues to work in mostly free-lance video news media production.