Reporter Tim Rudell retires from the WKSU newsroom on February 15. He joined the station’s staff in 2009 and has covered stories throughout the region, notably the fracking and auto industries. Tim has also been a go-to for breaking news and Canton events. During his time with WKSU, he has earned numerous awards, including a prestigious Regional Murrow Award from RTDNA and being named Best Reporter in Ohio by the Ohio AP Media Editors.
Please join us in celebrating Tim’s time with WKSU by sending congratulatory notes to Letters@WKSU.org!
Rudell has worked in broadcasting and news since his student days at Kent State in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when he earned extra money as a stringer for UPI). He began full time in radio news in 1972 in his home town of Canton, OH.
In 1976 he moved to television and for the next dozen years did double duty as an anchorman and the news director for TV stations including the NBC affiliates in Youngstown, OH; Grand Rapids, MI; and Buffalo, NY. He then became Vice President of Consulting and later Executive Vice President for one of the TV industry's leading research and consulting firms, Reymer & Gersin Associates, with direct consulting assignments including newsrooms in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Kansas City.
In the 1990s, he was Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for TVDirect, a joint venture of The Associated Press and Conus Communications that provided live and custom reporting from the nation's capital. Later he was promoted to Senior Vice President and division General Manager of Conus Washington, and eventually to Executive Vice President of Conus. He then moved over to the AP to become a member of the senior management of Associated Press Television News, responsible for advancing APTN's downstream businesses in North America.
From 2004 through the end of 2008 he was Managing General Partner and CEO of a Washington area consulting group including Media Services Co. of America, and Independent Business Advisors of Virginia.
In 2009 Tim and his wife Fran decided to return to their roots in northeast Ohio: "to go home, and do some things we wanted to do." He joined WKSU and became a reporter again, resuming the role that originally drew him to news.