Rich Funke (born January 30, 1949) is an American journalist and politician who represented the 55th district of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

from 2015 until 2020. Funke is a Republican who was elected in November 2014 when he defeated Democratic incumbent Ted O'Brien. Prior to his election, Funke had for almost 40 years been a news anchor and sports director for

WHEC-TV WHEC-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Rochester, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester and a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill in ...

, the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate station in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

Media career

Funke is a former radio disk jockey, radio and television journalist and television sports reporter and news anchor in

Rochester, NY Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. He began his career in broadcasting at

WBTA WBTA (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format. Licensed to Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is located near the center of the county, ...

Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is located near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population, as of the 2020 census, ...

. From there he worked as a news reader and reporter at WHAM in Rochester before moving in 1972 to WAXC a top 40 station as its news director. After WAXC he was brought on as a sports director at

in 1974. After a stint at

WTVJ-TV WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

from 1980 to 1981 he returned to Rochester and his previous position at WHEC-TV. In 2005, Funke became the primary anchor of the evening news at 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m. at WHEC-TV before retiring in 2012 as one of the main faces of the station.

Political career

In March 2014, Funke announced his candidacy for the New York State Senate in Senate District 55 against incumbent Democrat Ted O'Brien. Funke defeated O'Brien, 54,874 votes to 38,624. Funke ran for re-election unopposed in 2016. In 2018, however, he was a top Democratic target, ultimately defeating Democrat Jen Lunsford by a margin of 52%-48%. In December 2019, Funke announced that he would not seek re-election the following year.

Awards and honors

Funke received the James H. Ellery Memorial Award for Television for his coverage of the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Rochester, New York. They are the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home g ...

in 1977 and 1986. Funke was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in December, 2012 shortly after his retirement. On December 27, 2014, the Rochester Lancers of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

inducted Funke into the Rochester Lancers Wall of Fame as one of Rochester's "soccer pioneers". Funke was the television play-by-play announcer for the original Rochester Lancers of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

References

External links

1949 births Living people Republican Party New York (state) state senators People from Batavia, New York American television journalists Adelphi University alumni American male journalists Journalists from New York (state) 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature {{NewYork-NYSenate-stub