R.I.P.: NY Broadcast Journalist Tara Howard Knauff

Tara Knauff

Former WSYR radio host Tara Howard Knauff has passed away after a long battle with cancer, friends say.

She studied journalism and broadcasting at Utica College and Syracuse University before landing a job as a reporter and anchor with WGY radio. Next, starting in 1991, she worked at WSYR 570 AM in Syracuse as a reporter for nearly a decade.

According to The Post-Standard archives, Howard and Jim Reith took over the morning show as co-anchors in 1997 when Bill Baker left over the Clear Channel-owned station's shift to an all-news format.

"She was a great mentor for people new to broadcasting and radio news, especially women. She was an extremely talented woman, and liked to help mentor other women who were in the business," Reith said in a statement. "She was a very hard worker, and always wanted to make sure she got the story right."

Howard's LinkedIn page shows she left CNY in 2000 for a job as assistant news director, editor and anchor at KTRH NewsRadio 740 in Houston, Texas. She returned to New York in 2005, working as an editor and producer at ABC News Radio in the NYC area for the past eight years.

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