Jim Ruddle, longtime Chicago broadcast journalist, dies at 94
Jim Ruddle, a longtime Chicago broadcast journalist who later left the business to take to the water, died Thursday.
Ruddle's daughter, Brey Sloan, announced on Facebook that her father had died Thursday morning. He was 94.
Ruddle grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He wrote on the Tulsa TV Memories website that he got into broadcasting while attending Tulsa Central High School under the tutelage of teacher Isabelle Ronan, who also served as a mentor to radio legend Paul Harvey.
Ruddle wrote that he appeared on television for the first time as part of the cast of a musical comedy show at the University of Tulsa, which was broadcast on CBS-affiliated local TV station KOTV in 1949.
In 1950, Ruddle joined radio station KSEK in Pittsburg, Kansas, where he worked as a play-by-play announcer for Pittsburg Browns baseball games.
"The wire reports came in on a ticker with a superannuated Western Union guy handling the tape as it came in. This was a paper tape, with small characters printed on it. 'S1S' was 'Strike one, swinging,' 'B2O' was ball two outside, and so on," Ruddle wrote on the Tulsa TV Memories site. "The crack of the bat was accomplished by hitting a small baseball bat, about a foot long, that hung on a string near the mike. It was rapped with a xylophone mallet."
Ruddle wrote that he went on to work for radio station KAKC back in Tulsa, and then served three years in the U.S. Coast Guard, working as a radio operator on vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Upon returning, Ruddle entered television and joined KOTV. He wrote on Tulsa TV Memories that early on, he filled in as morning news anchor, sang on the daily program, "Moments to Remember," and appeared as "Zeta on Satellite Six," dressed up in a helmet and goggles for a kids' show on which he introduced "Little Rascals" films.
Ruddle began working in news at KOTV, and went on to make stops at a radio station and Mexico City and radio and television stations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while working on graduate studies at the University of New Mexico, according to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
From 1963 until 1965, Ruddle served as early evening news anchor at WTVT-13 in Tampa — then a CBS affiliate, now a Fox station. While anchoring in Tampa, he also taught American Studies at the University of South Florida, according to the academy.
Ruddle arrived in Chicago in 1965, joining WGN-TV 9. He anchored early and late evening newscasts at the station alongside Gary Park for the next two years.
In 1967, Ruddle switched to WMAQ-TV, NBC 5 as a reporter, working with anchorman Floyd Kalber. He became co-anchor of the midnight report at the station, and then became anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast, the academy said.
In 1975, Ruddle switched stations to public broadcaster WTTW-Channel 11, where he joined the renowned John Callaway as co-anchor for the station's "Public News Center" — something of a predecessor to "Chicago Tonight."
Ruddle then served as a network correspondent for NBC News before rejoining Chicago's NBC 5 in 1978, anchoring the late news alongside future CBS Chicago anchorman Don Craig and later alongside Chuck Henry. Ruddle also anchored the 6 p.m. news at Channel 5 alongside future CBS Chicago anchor Carol Marin.
Ruddle also served as an investigative reporter with NBC 5. He earned several Chicago Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for Investigative Journalism.
In his last couple of years with NBC 5, he served as a commentator, whose opinions were described by the Tribune as "sometimes too strong for station management."
In 1986, Ruddle left the news business and focused on sailing. He moved into a 35-foot custom-built cutter called the Zarzuela and took to the waters of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and the Atlantic, the Trib recalled.
He later settled back on land in Rye, New York, in Westchester County north of New York City.
At the age of 82, Ruddle published the novel, "My Name Is Luke." Set in Massachusetts in 1858, the novel tells the story of a 15-year-old boy who gets trapped aboard a schooner as it gets hijacked.
"He was an exceptional man who led an amazing life — and he will be both sorely missed and fondly remembered forever," daughter Sloan wrote on Facebook. "Trusted newsman, marvelous conversationalist, sailor, adventurer, protector, epic storyteller, loving PawPaw, the man with a beautiful baritone voice."
