Eric Spillman’s Off-Air Photos Brought The KTLA Morning News Era Back Into Focus
There are some Los Angeles television faces that do more than read the news. They become part of the city’s morning routine.
Mark Kriski is one of those people.
This week, longtime KTLA reporter Eric Spillman shared photos on Instagram from a birthday lunch honoring the beloved L.A. TV news icon, a warm off-air gathering that instantly hit longtime viewers right in the nostalgia.
The celebration comes ahead of Kriski’s 70th birthday. Public bio listings place his birthday on June 29, 1956, which makes the milestone feel even more meaningful after everything surrounding his exit from the station that helped make him a household name.
Mark Kriski’s milestone birthday moment lands with extra heart for longtime KTLA viewers who remember the original morning-news chemistry that helped shape L.A. television.
Read The L.A. Times KTLA Report
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For decades, Mark Kriski was KTLA mornings. His weather reports, humor, timing and unmistakable presence helped shape the rhythm of Southern California wake-ups for generations of viewers.
As INYIM previously reported, Kriski was among the familiar faces let go from KTLA as Nexstar cuts reshaped the station’s lineup, alongside other longtime names including Lu Parker, Glen Walker, Kacey Montoya and Ellina Abovian.
That news landed hard because Kriski was never just another weathercaster. He was part of the original DNA of the KTLA Morning News, the local morning show that helped define what Los Angeles morning television could feel like.
KTLA Morning News Was The Blueprint.
Before morning TV became a mix of headlines, personality, lifestyle, breaking news, celebrity drop-ins and neighborhood energy, KTLA Morning News helped make that formula feel local, loose and alive.
It was not just about delivering the forecast or reading the day’s top stories. It was chemistry. It was familiarity. It was the kind of morning television that felt like it had one foot in the newsroom and one foot in your kitchen.
The program began in 1991, and the Los Angeles Times reported that Kriski had been with KTLA since that original era. Another L.A. Times report noted the viewer shock around the 2026 cuts, with Kriski included among the longtime local broadcast journalists affected.
When people talk about classic KTLA Morning News, they are talking about an era Mark Kriski helped build.
Still Beloved, Still Part Of The Story.
That is why seeing Spillman’s birthday lunch photos feels bigger than a simple get-together. It is a reminder that the bond between these longtime KTLA personalities — and the audience that watched them for decades — did not disappear just because corporate television changed direction.
Watch A Classic Mark Kriski KTLA Morning News Moment.
Press play for a Mark Kriski clip that brings back the easy, personality-driven rhythm that made KTLA Morning News feel so distinctly Los Angeles.
For viewers who grew up with KTLA on before school, before work, during sick days, heat waves, rainstorms, earthquakes and every strange L.A. morning in between, Kriski remains part of the city’s memory.
He made weather feel personal. He made mornings feel lighter. He brought a radio-guy rhythm, a broadcaster’s confidence and a personality that could not be duplicated by a new graphics package or a corporate memo.
So yes, happy 70th birthday to Mark Kriski.
But also: thank you for being part of the morning television blueprint that raised Los Angeles.
See Mark Kriski’s Birthday Lunch With The KTLA Family.
Eric Spillman’s photos capture Mark Kriski surrounded by longtime KTLA friends and colleagues, including Megan Henderson, Jessica Holmes, Ginger Chan, Frank Buckley and more familiar faces from the L.A. morning TV world.
Sources: Los Angeles Times reported that Nexstar laid off Mark Kriski, Glen Walker and Lu Parker from KTLA and noted that Kriski had been with the station since 1991; Los Angeles Times provided additional viewer and colleague reaction context around the KTLA layoffs; Eric Spillman / Instagram provided the birthday-lunch photo context referenced in the story; public bio listing provided the June 29, 1956 birthday listing.
