One day after KTLA laid off five well-known on-air journalists, morning news anchor Frank Buckley addressed the loss on-air Thursday, Feb. 26, that the newsroom and viewers at home are feeling.
“Before we move on this morning, we wanted to acknowledge some news that broke yesterday that affects all of us here at KTLA,” Buckley said directly to the camera during the “KTLA Morning News” program. “You may have heard that a number of our beloved colleagues have been laid off.
“As you probably know, we are extremely limited in what we can say,” he added. “But if you are a regular viewer of this program and of this TV station, you also know that we are a family here.
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KTLA news anchor Lu Parker is seen here during the 73rd Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards at the Television Academy Plaza in North Hollywood on Saturday, July 24, 2021. She was laid off by the station on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision for The Television Academy/AP Images)
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KTLA news anchor Lu Parker is seen here during the 73rd Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards at the Television Academy Plaza in North Hollywood on Saturday, July 24, 2021. She was laid off by the station on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision for The Television Academy/AP Images)
“We consider you to be part of that family. And when family members experience tough times, we all feel it. So this is a difficult time for us. And we will go through it together.
“But we also have a job to do, and that is to bring you the news that you need every morning before you head out the door,” Buckley said, wrapping up his statement in just under one minute. “And we’re going to keep doing that. And we hope we will continue to put a smile on your face every day as well.”
The cuts made Wednesday by station owner Nexstar included meteorologist Mark Kriski, who delivered the weather alongside Buckley from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. weekdays. Midday news anchors Lu Parker and Glen Walker also learned their KTLA careers had ended.
By Thursday morning, two more names from the KTLA layoff list were confirmed. Meteorologist Kacey Montoya, who worked the same shift as Parker and Walker, and reporter Ellina Abovian had also been let go.
About 1 p.m. Thursday, Abovian posted a video about her abrupt departure from KTLA on her Threads social media account.
“I was not expecting this. I was blindsided,” she said at one point in the video, her voice thick with emotion. “And it hurts. It cuts deep, because I cared about what I did.”
Abovian thanked her former KTLA colleagues, citing the photographers, producers and editors she worked with.
“I’m going to miss everyone, and especially I’m going to miss our viewers,” she said. “Because meeting all of you in the field or at the grocery store or just anywhere was a part of my life … and I’m going to miss it.”
She noted that layoffs in 2026 are not unique to her or her industry. But finding out she’d been laid off on the same day she turned 40 still hit hard, Abovian said.
“My situation certainly isn’t unique,” Abovian said. “But it’s hard to process, considering how it happened. I was getting ready to celebrate a milestone birthday, and instead now I’m processing what I’m going to do as a single mom to two kids.
“You know, life gets real when it gets real.”
Kriski had been one of two “KTLA Morning News” team members to work on that program since its inception in 1991. The last remaining original member of the show, reporter Eric Spillman, reposted a clip of Buckley’s statement on the social media platform X with the words, “For those that have been asking.”
Parker came to KTLA in 2005, with Walker arriving five years later. Montoya joined the station in 2013, and Abovian followed in 2015.