Anchors
Ken Rice
A national award-winning journalist, Ken Rice co-anchors the weeknight editions of KDKA-TV News at Five and Eleven and the KDKA Ten O'Clock News on Pittsburgh's CW.
In addition, Ken hosts Hometown High-Q, KDKA-TV's Saturday morning high school quiz show; and Ken shares hosting duties on the station's Sunday morning public affairs program, The KD/PG Sunday Edition, produced in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Ken has hosted various special programs on the station, including an in-depth examination of Sports and Race Relations and a "VIP" tour of Heinz Field; and Ken has moderated numerous debates among candidates for US Senate, Governor of Pennsylvania, Chief Executive of Allegheny County and Mayor of Pittsburgh.
Before joining the KDKA-TV News team in 1994, Ken spent six years reporting and anchoring for WTAE-TV. A native of the Chicago Area, Ken began his career in journalism while attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison -- reporting and anchoring news on the statewide Wisconsin Public Radio network. Ken then moved into television, reporting for Madison's WISC-TV, and eventually anchoring its evening newscasts.
Ken's reporting assignments have taken him from the eye of Hurricane Hugo to the White House, and from the inspection of hanging chads in the disputed 2000 election in Florida to Super Bowls XXX in Phoenix and XL in Detroit. In 1994, when US Air Flight 427 crashed on approach to Pittsburgh, Ken's reports from the scene were carried nationwide by the CBS network and across Canada on the CBC. He is one of the few local journalists ever to report live on the CBS Evening News -- in the tense hours following a shooting spree in Pittsburgh's suburbs in 2000.
As a member of the KDKA Investigators in 1996, Ken exposed the city of Pittsburgh's recycling program as a sham -- revealing how "recyclables" were simply being dumped in a landfill. His reporting led directly to the firing and prosecution of the city's recycling contractor. In another investigation, Ken was first to document how local companies were overcharging Medicare by millions of dollars.
Ken has been honored with local, state and national journalism awards, including a national first place Associated Press award for an investigation called Harrisburg Paydirt – which exposed Pennsylvania legislators' lucrative, taxpayer-funded perks. Other honors include Golden Quill awards from the Pittsburgh Press Club and awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for investigative reporting.
Active in the community, Ken developed and taught a television news reporting course at Point Park University and is frequently called upon to speak at local schools and community organizations. He serves on the board of the Allegheny District Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and is Honorary Chair of Pittsburgh's annual MS Walk. Ken also chairs the advisory board of the volunteer service organization Pittsburgh Cares, and serves on the advisory board of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. He is a past board member of the Southwestern PA chapter of The American Red Cross, and has worked on charitable endeavors with many organizations including Share our Strength, the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In 2007, the Food Bank honored Ken's contributions with its Hunger Awareness Day Award.
Ken is a graduate of the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin. He and his wife, Lauren, have two children.