[4][7] Between 1954 and 1956, and again between 1958 and 1964, he worked as a Literary editor for radio and television plays with the Cologne-based broadcaster, Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
[7] From 1956 to 1958, he worked on a voluntary basis for the news editorial department of the mass-circulation Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.
[7] In 1958, he embarked on a more sustained period of study, covering subjects that included Philosophy and East-European History.
[4][9] In 1964, Kettenbach joined the editorial team on the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger; between 1966 and 1968 he was a chief reporter for the newspaper, and from 1968 he was employed as correspondent and head of its Bonn office.
[7] Hans Werner Kettenbach embarked on his career as a writer while still a working journalist, in the 1970s, producing psychological crime fiction.