Khambrel Marshall is celebrating 24 years with KPRC 2 Houston and the city of Houston proclaimed it 'Khambrel Marshall Day' on May 2, 2023!
UPDATE DECEMBER 2023
Watch Marshall's sign off interviews
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2023
Khambrel Marshall announces KPRC 2 retirement
RECENT
Khambrel Marshall celebrates 70th birthday!
Regular readers will know that most of the time, I am posting about people leaving the TV industry, which makes Marshall is a true television survivor considering he's been with channel 2 since 1999!
Marshall was born at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina since his father, Cambrel, was a first sergeant in the US Army. Maybe the many moves around the world made him adaptable.
And adaptable the legendary bowtie wearing Houston TV figure has been throughout his career and especially since coming to KPRC. A lesson that today's TV newsroom staffers need to learn...especially in the current environment.
When Marshall joined KPRC in May 2999, he was actually a news anchor for the then named News2Houston at Noon, First at Four and News2Houston at Five. The News2Houston moniker, while a great sounding name, turned out to be a tarnished brand from the station's more tabloidish days starting in the 1994 when Post Newsweek bough the station from the Hobby family. But that's all in the past now. Marshall is still here going strong!
There were a few years starting in the mid-2000s when channel 2 viewers didn't see Marshall on the newscasts much anymore. He went off-air into a news manger role as an executive producer during years when the station was shedding its 'Hard Copy' image.
At the same time, the self proclaimed "weather geek" earned his broadcast meteorology certification from Mississippi State University. That led him to going back on-air as the weekend morning meteorologist when Eric Braate left the station for the first time.
However, with so much news experience and numerous journalism awards including an EMMY, Marshall added hosting/producing "Houston Newsmakers," (formerly called "Beyond the Headlines") a Sunday morning affairs show, to his list of duties. This blogger has been fortunate enough to appear on the show and I can attest it is truly a one person show as Marshall does it all to get each week's episode on the air.
Marshall, who grew up in a family of teachers, (his mother, Francetta, earned a master’s degree in sociology) is very committed to volunteer service, which is a natural fit for a this type of show.
In fact, the host has been honored by the March of Dimes and has been the board chair for the YMCA Greater Houston Area. He sits on other boards ranging from the Holocaust Museum Houston, the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center and the A.D. Players at the George Theater.
This call to help has also led Marshall to run the KPRC 2 internship program and a station reporter trainee program. One of his famous trainees is now evening anchor Daniella Guzman.
Now, here is a twist to the story. Marshall actually started in the TV news biz as a sports anchor! Yes, so if one person has to do all of the jobs one day, Marshall can do news, weather and sports, plus host a half-hour show. I am not trying to give today's TV owners any ideas with this concept by the way.
Before KPRC, Marshall worked for WPLG 10 Miami as a news anchor. However, he joined the station in 1985 as its first Black sports anchor. A move to the news anchor chair came after a call in 1992 to anchor during Hurricane Andrew coverage.
Before South Florida TV, Marshall worked sports anchoring duties for WFSB 3 Hartford, Connecticut. He also worked as a sportscaster in Detroit and the Phoenix CBS affiliate where he started his career while attending Arizona State University.
For his 20th KPRC 2 anniversary, Marshall said he wanted 10 more years, so here's to it!
As for his personal life, Marshall and wife, Debbie, have been blessed with three daughters and three grandchildren. They've been married since 1979, but that's an anniversary celebration for an entire other post.
