Ken Rice
A national award-winning journalist, Ken Rice co-anchors the weeknight editions of KDKA-TV News at 5, 6, and 11.
Ken has anchored KDKA's live coverage of landmark events including the Quecreek mine rescue in 2002, the protests at the G20 Summit and the police shootings in Stanton Heights in 2009, Stanley Cup and Super Bowl championship parades, the Squirrel Hill synagogue shooting in 2018, the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in 2022, and the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump in 2024.
Ken has moderated KDKA-TV News debates among candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor of Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Executive, Allegheny County District Attorney, and Mayor of Pittsburgh.
For more than 20 years, Ken interviewed local and national newsmakers as co-host of the "KD-PG Sunday Edition," a weekly public affairs program produced by KDKA and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. And for 11 seasons, Ken hosted KDKA's high school quiz show, Hometown HiQ.
Before joining KDKA in 1994, Ken spent six years reporting and anchoring for WTAE-TV, launching its 5 p.m. newscast alongside Sally Wiggin in 1992.
A native of Chicago, Ken began his career in journalism while a student at the University of Wisconsin, reporting and anchoring newscasts 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 over the years have taken him from the White House and Capitol Hill to hurricanes in South Carolina and Texas, and from the inspection of "hanging chads" in the disputed presidential 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 live reports from the scene were carried nationwide by the CBS network and across Canada on the CBC.
Ken has been honored with local, state, and national journalism awards, including a national first-place Associated Press award for" Harrisburg Paydirt," an investigation that exposed Pennsylvania legislators' lucrative, taxpayer-funded perks. Other honors include Golden Quill awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania and awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for investigative reporting. In 2021, the Media Association of Pittsburgh honored Ken with its Outstanding Achievement in Media award. Most recently, Ken has won regional Emmy awards for coverage of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in 2023 and the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022. In 2024, Ken was inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Emmy chapter's Silver Circle.
Active in the community, Ken developed and taught a TV news reporting course at Point Park University and is frequently called upon to speak at local schools and community organizations. He has served on the board of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and has long served as Honorary Chair of Pittsburgh's annual MS Walk. Ken has also served on the advisory boards of Pittsburgh Cares and Literacy Pittsburgh. He is a past board member of the Southwestern PA chapter of The American Red Cross and has worked on charitable endeavors with organizations including Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Outreach Teen and Family Services, and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In 2007, the Food Bank honored Ken's contributions with its Hunger Awareness Day Award.
Ken's favorite recurring assignment comes every October at Pittsburgh's Byham Theater: serving as emcee and delivering a monologue at the annual production of "Off the Record," a musical that features local journalists and actors lampooning the city's movers and shakers, all to benefit local charitable causes.
Ken is a graduate of the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin. He and his wife, Lauren, are the proud parents of two grown children.
VITALS
- Joined KDKA: 1994
- Hometown: Chicago
- Alma Mater: University of Wisconsin
FAVORITES
- Music: Dad Rock: Steely Dan, Springsteen, The Who, etc.
- Movie: All of the Jason Bournes
- TV Show: "Modern Family"
- Book: The entire David McCullough collection. "The Johnstown Flood" is stunning.
- Hobbies: Traveling, kayaking, hiking
- Sports Team: Pirates
- Food: Preferably circular: pizza, pancakes, bagels, doughnuts, pizza
- Local Restaurant: Mineo's
- Hidden PA Gem: David Johnson ;)
- Sport/Exercise: Running, biking
- Favorite Pennsylvanian: David McCullough
- Quote: "No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire." – L. Frank Baum
- Word: Nebby
- Vacation Spot: Lake. Woods. A kayak. And loons.
- Holiday: Billie
- Planet:of the Apes
THIS OR THAT
- Facebook or Twitter? Twitter
- Cats or Dogs? Dogs
- Beatles or Rolling Stones? Beatles
- Comedy or Tearjerker? Comedy
- Phone Call or Text Message? Text
- Mac or PC? Mac
- Coffee or Tea? Coffee
- Paper or Plastic? Paper
- Morning Person or Night Person? Night
- East Coast or West Coast? East Coast
- Star Trek or Star Wars? Star Bucks
