NEWS ANCHOR

“What I miss about Missouri the most would be the people. You don’t really appreciate that until you’ve spent some time walking down the streets of places like New York City. Even though I’ve been gone for quite some time now I still call Missouri home.”
—Russ Mitchell

There are only a handful of network anchor jobs in the country, and St. Louisan Russ Mitchell is one of a few people skilled enough to handle that position. He was a familiar face on local television stations in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis before the rest of the country got to know him as a network anchor at CBS News.

THE EARLY YEARS

Russell Mitchell was born on March 25, 1960, in St. Louis and grew up in the suburb of Rock Hill. He graduated in 1978 from Webster Groves High School. 

After graduation, he headed off to the prestigious journalism school at the University of Missouri–Columbia.

RISE TO FAME

Russ took his first television broadcast job after college at KMBC-TV in Kansas City. He worked as a reporter at the ABC affiliate for a short time before a big career jump to Dallas. Russ was only 23 years old and working in a high-profile anchor position at WFAA-TV. He stayed in Texas from 1983 to 1985 and then returned to his roots to accomplish a career goal by taking a job in his hometown of St. Louis.

Mitchell began working for KTVI-TV in 1985, which at the time was the ABC affiliate in St. Louis.   He moved to the CBS affiliate, KMOV, in 1987 where he became a well-known public figure and award-winning broadcaster. During his time at KMOV, he picked up an award from the UPI for his reporting and a pair of Emmy Awards.  People at the network level were taking notice of his tremendous talent and easygoing on-air personality. After only 7 years in Missouri, he took the career  jump of a lifetime by taking a job in New York with CBS News.

SHOW ME SUCCESS

Mitchell made the difficult transition from local news to network correspondent in 1992 and made an immediate impact. He was seen from coast to coast, working on shows that included Eye to Eye, Up to the Minute, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CBS Evening News Saturday Edition, and the CBS Early Show.

He became the anchor of The Saturday Early Show on CBS when the show debuted in 1997. Mitchell also anchored the CBS Evening News Saturday Edition and was a correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning. He was promoted in 2006 to news anchor and host of the CBS Early Show, where he racked up loyal fans and numerous awards.  Russ left the network to become lead news anchor at in Cleveland, Ohio in January, 2012.

EXTRA, EXTRA!

Professional honors:

• 2006 St. Louis Press Club: Media Person of the Year.
• 2000 Sigma Delta Chi Award for spot news coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case.
• 1997 Emmy Award for coverage of the crash of TWA’s Flight 800.
• 1995 National Association of Black Journalists News Award.