Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek Some names in Cleveland television never really fade. Dick Russ is one of them. If you’ve watched local news in Northeast Ohio over the past several decades, there’s a good chance he has been part of your life at some point, whether you caught him anchoring at midday on Channel 8 or leading the newsroom at Channel 3. So where is he now? Busier than most people half his career length, and still working on behalf of the community he spent decades covering. Let’s start at the beginning, because Dick’s path was a classic climb from radio to television. In July 1974, he started as a news reporter at WHLO radio in Akron. By December 1976, he had moved to WAKR-TV, WAKR-AM and WAEZ-FM, also in Akron, working as a news anchor and producer. That’s the kind of training ground that teaches you everything: how to write fast, how to produce your own work, and how to be ready to go live no matter what the day hands you. Courtesy: NE Ohio TV Memories In November 1979, Dick joined WJW-T...

Amani Abraham WKYC-TV has announced the addition of Amani Abraham as the station's newest Multi-Skilled Journalist (MSJ), according to Channel 3 News Director Brennan Donnellan. She will be working from our new Akron/Canton Mobile Newsroom along with WKYC Videojournalist Carl Bachtel to bring viewers stories that matter to them from our southern counties of Medina, Portage, Summit, Stark and beyond. Donnellan tells the Director's Cut Blog, "Some of you may know Amani from her work at WAKR radio. For the past five years she has been covering the Akron market. In that time Amani has become known as a very strong reporter who also shoots and edits video." After joining Rubber City Radio in 2011, she was named a "Woman To Watch" by the Women's History Project in Akron. Her first assignment was with WAKR-AM/1590 and has spent the last three years as the morning news anchor and content contributor at sister station, American Country Music Awar...