Three of Los Angeles’ longest-serving TV anchors had been abruptly laid off Wednesday as company proprietor Nexstar slashed jobs at KTLA.
The cuts included longtime weekday morning meteorologist Mark Kriski and veteran noon anchors Glen Walker and Lu Parker, together with weathercaster Kacey Montoya and reporter Ellina Abovian, in line with NewscastStudio.
The layoffs are a part of a broader restructuring at Nexstar Media Group stations in Los Angeles and New York.
In New York, Nexstar additionally moved to chop workers at its station WPIX-TV, the place newsroom layoffs had been reported alongside the reductions in Los Angeles, in line with NewscastStudio.
“Nexstar doesn’t touch upon personnel points, however the Firm is taking steps essential to compete successfully on this interval of unprecedented change,” an organization rep instructed The California Publish in an announcement on Wednesday.
The outlet stated the New York cuts had been a part of the identical spherical of cost-trimming that hit KTLA, although the precise variety of positions eradicated was not instantly clear.
Kriski was a longtime weekday morning meteorologist at KTLA and a staple of the station’s early broadcast.
Walker served as a veteran noon anchor at KTLA, serving to lead what grew right into a three-hour late-morning information block from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in addition to a further afternoon hour.
“The noon reveals that I did — it began as a one o’clock information,” Walker instructed The California Publish.
“It was profitable, so we added one other present after which added one other present. It ended up being a 3 hour information block from eleven to 2 o’clock proper after the morning present, after which from three to 4.”
“The reveals all had good numbers, particularly those at eleven, twelve, and one. And particularly throughout breaking information,” he added.
Walker stated he realized of the layoffs on Monday, telling The California Publish: “Did I see it coming? I’d say no.”
Regardless of the setback, Walker struck an optimistic tone about his subsequent chapter.
“I had an important run at KTLA and I intend to have one other run elsewhere. And keep tuned,” he stated.
He added that whereas the station supplied him a send-off, he declined.
“I’m formally nonetheless underneath contract for sixty days,” Walker stated. “They supplied one and I declined.”
Parker additionally served as a veteran noon anchor and was among the many distinguished on-air figures named within the cuts.
Montoya labored as a weathercaster on the station, whereas Abovian served as a reporter overlaying native information in Los Angeles.
Walker mirrored on the station’s legacy, calling KTLA “a novel tv station as the primary tv station west of the Mississippi” that “had loads of nice historical past.”
“It’ll be attention-grabbing to see what occurs shifting ahead,” he stated.
On social media, response was combined. One X consumer wrote: “Mark Kriski was nice. What a disgrace.”
“Not Mark Kriski – LA icon for climate,” one other X consumer wrote.
A dissatisfied Angeleno vowed to shun the station, writing on X: “I gained’t be watching @KTLA anymore. I hope Mark Kriski, Glen Walker, and Lu Parker discover a higher station.”
Some viewers framed the layoffs as a consequence of what they see because the station’s political shift. “I grew up with @KTLA however they misplaced me years in the past going woke. That’s too unhealthy,” one consumer wrote. “It’s rubbish now.”
One other commenter was extra blunt, writing: “Ktla is a biased woke newscast that willingly promotes the democrats.”
Others echoed that sentiment, with one put up studying: “Channel 5 is left wing propaganda and now it will likely be worse with none of the sane those that had been left,” whereas one other added, “Be impartial and also you get extra scores.”
The Publish has sought remark from Kriski, Montoya, Abovian and Parker.
