| John Hambrick | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 21, 1940 Conroe, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Television news Anchor, Narrator, Actor, Announcer |
John Hambrick (born June 21, 1940) is an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, and voice over announcer.
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Hambrick began his television career in 1963, at a station in Abilene, Texas.[1] By 1967 he was working at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati when he was recruited by its sister station in Cleveland, WEWS, to become its main news anchor.[2] With much fanfare on December 25, 1967, 27-year-old Hambrick made his Cleveland television debut on WEWS as anchor of the 7:00 and 11:00 P.M. newscasts, which included commentaries by Dorothy Fuldheim. A full promotional advertisement was printed in the both The Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Press newspapers.[3]
In 1970, Dave Patterson joined Hambrick as co-anchor, with Fuldheim continuing as commentator; they would help station's news broadcast maintain the position as Cleveland's top television news program in the local Nielsen ratings, to where it had risen during Hambrick's tenure. Hambrick then departed for KABC-TV in Los Angeles in September 1975, and Ted Henry joined Patterson as co-anchor.
After two years as 5:00 and 11:00 P.M. co-anchor on KABC-TV, Hambrick moved on to anchor for three years at KRON-TV in San Francisco. In January 1980 he joined WNBC-TV in New York City as first a weekend, then weeknight co-anchor alongside Chuck Scarborough for the next five years.
In spring 1985, WNBC-TV chose not to renew Hambrick's contract. He then was recruited by WTVJ in Miami to replace Ralph Renick, the station's original news anchor who retired in April of that year.[4] Hambrick joined WTVJ in July 1985 and spent the next four years as 6:00 and 11:00 P.M. co-anchor.[5] Hambrick then moved to crosstown rival WCIX (now WFOR-TV) at the start of 1990, remaining there until September 1993.[6][7]
In 2002, Hambrick and his son Jack co-produced an hour-long PBS-TV documentary film about the Florida Highwaymen, a group of pioneering African-American Florida artists. The film, titled The Highwaymen: Florida’s Outsider Artist, included interviews with a portion of the artists, their mentor, late renowned Florida landscape painter A.E. Backus, and more than 100 original Highwaymen paintings. The film was produced by their production company, Everglades Productions. Hambrick also served as the project's narrator.
In 1972, Hambrick, who is also a gifted musician and songwriter, wrote and recorded a rock/country-western album, Windmill in a Jet Filled Sky, under the Brown Bag Records music label, while moonlighting at his job at WEWS in Cleveland. The album was largely overlooked by consumers, in spite of positive critical reviews. Hambrick never abandoned his full-time television career, but he went on to record three more LPs.
In early 2010, he teamed up with former WEWS TV news colleague J. Lee Bailey as co-writers of a screenplay tentatively titled Thunderbolt Raiders. It is a psychological action-adventure film based on actual characters and events of the Civil War. Their official web site is www.thunderboltraiders.com. [8]
Hambrick is also registered with the Screen Actors Guild SAG, and has had supporting and/or bit parts in the movie Telefon, the old 1950s TV series Playhouse 90 and, most recently, the hit NBC-TV series Friday Night Lights. In 1960, Hambrick appeared in one episode of the 1950s CBS-TV series General Electric Theater. Since 2003, Hambrick has appeared in four movies: Mia's Father, Wonderful World, Kings of the Evening, and the Texas based, Gabriel Folse directed film Guilty.
Hambrick is the older brother of retired newscaster Judd Hambrick, (who also worked in Cleveland twice from 1977–1985 and 1993-1999 for WJW-TV and WKYC-TV respectively), and former news anchor Mike Hambrick, who is now a business consultant. John is also the father of television producer Jack Hambrick.
Hambrick has received numerous citations for his journalism. Amongst his accomplishments are: