ABC 7 Eyewitness News thread

[bogusabc7breakingnews 69]

Weekday morning anchor Leslie Sykes announced this morning she’ll retire in about a month from now following 30 years at ABC 7

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-sykes-announces-plans-retire-more-30-years-abc7/17662382/

[PlayPal 4]

5 minutes ago, bogusabc7breakingnews said:

Weekday morning anchor Leslie Sykes announced this morning she’ll retire in about a month from now following 30 years at ABC 7

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-sykes-announces-plans-retire-more-30-years-abc7/17662382/

She still looks very young. Good for her. I don’t think they’ll replace her on the morning desk. 

[MD TV 389]

1 hour ago, PlayPal said:

She still looks very young. Good for her. I don’t think they’ll replace her on the morning desk. 

For the past year and a half or so she's only worked 6-8 am Monday-Wednesday, so they've kinda already went in that direction.

[GraphicsMan 345]

15 hours ago, PlayPal said:

She still looks very young. Good for her. I don’t think they’ll replace her on the morning desk. 

Yeah that’s because black don’t cra… I mean’t she just got good genes.

[J.W. Rodriguez 28]

Just saw online that Brianna Ruffalo was on fill-in duties with KABC's New York sister station WABC on Sunday night. She may have done Saturday as well, but I didn't get to watch that day because I was helping out a friend.

[GraphicsMan 345]

On 9/8/2025 at 12:05 AM, J.W. Rodriguez said:

Just saw online that Brianna Ruffalo was on fill-in duties with KABC's New York sister station WABC on Sunday night. She may have done Saturday as well, but I didn't get to watch that day because I was helping out a friend.

She probably gonna end up in New York heavy Italian community there. 

[CraigViewer 107]

On 9/9/2025 at 2:28 PM, GraphicsMan said:

She probably gonna end up in New York heavy Italian community there. 

On her Instagram account, she mentioned to someone in a reply that she is staying with ABC7 in L.A.

[GraphicsMan 345]

1 hour ago, CraigViewer said:

On her Instagram account, she mentioned to someone in a reply that she is staying with ABC7 in L.A.

Okay good. It good she’s in LA it hard to get into NY it’s hard to get into the LA market it hard ti get into any of the top 3 markets. So it great kudos to her i’d never want to be in a top-3 market as aspiring journalist I never want to live in any of those cities, I want to stay down south.

[MediaCriticLA 22]

She also just married actor Josh Lucas, who seems to be based mostly in Hollywood.

[GraphicsMan 345]

On 9/11/2025 at 1:02 PM, MediaCriticLA said:

She also just married actor Josh Lucas, who seems to be based mostly in Hollywood.

True that, gonna be honest I hadn’t heard of  him until this relationship. 

[MD TV 389]

Leslie Sykes' last newscast was today. Here are the final minutes:

 

https://abc7.com/post/leslie-sykes-set-sign-off-abc7-final-newscast-tuesday/17866719/

[Vlad 406]

Yeah I watched it, such a beautiful sendoff they did for her. It was especially nice to see the ending part, don't think I've ever seen anything quite as remarkable as that! What an epic way to send her off! Leslie had a great run on KABC, though, I'm personally not a LA native or viewer, I'd always see the clips of KABC when comparing them with WABC, she was definitely a star! She will be so missed!!

Edited September 24, 2025 by Vlad

[Encore 323 79]

Liz Nagy from sister station WLS (ABC 7 Chicago) will be Jory Rand’s official co-anchor on weekend nights according to KABC management. I thought Sophie Flay was going to be his permanent co-anchor after Michelle Fisher got promoted to weekdays because I think Sophie has proven herself as very capable but I guess she was just a placeholder until they could find someone that is more qualified according to them.

Edited September 27, 2025 by Encore 323

[GraphicsMan 345]

3 minutes ago, Encore 323 said:

Liz Nagy from sister station WLS (ABC 7 Chicago) will be Jory Rand’s official co-anchor on weekend nights.

I thought Sophie Flay should get it oh well...

[MD TV 389]

Meanwhile in mornings, Tony Cabrera has been joining in at 5am ever since Leslie Sykes' retirement, so I'm guessing he's the new third anchor. And it looks like Tim Caputo now has Tony's weekend morning anchor slot.

[MediaCriticLA 22]

2 hours ago, MD TV said:

Meanwhile in mornings, Tony Cabrera has been joining in at 5am ever since Leslie Sykes' retirement, so I'm guessing he's the new third anchor. And it looks like Tim Caputo now has Tony's weekend morning anchor slot.

Nothing against Tony Cabrera, who is very good, but I'm not sure why they need three anchors for the mornings. I could see it if it were a more lively morning show like KTLA or Fox 11 (interviews, cooking segments, etc.), but ABC7 is such a straightforward news show that the third anchor is usually more of a third wheel. Also, in previous iterations, it was a two-person desk, so I'm not sure why they're so attached to the idea.

Edited September 29, 2025 by MediaCriticLA

[24994J 5888]

33 minutes ago, MediaCriticLA said:

Nothing against Tony Cabrera, who is very good, but I'm not sure why they need three anchors for the mornings. I could see it if it were a more lively morning show like KTLA or Fox 11 (interviews, cooking segments, etc.), but ABC7 is such a straightforward news show that the third anchor is usually more of a third wheel. Also, in previous iterations, it was a two-person desk, so I'm not sure why they're so attached to the idea.

 

Three of the O&Os, KABC, WLS & KTRK, introduced a 3rd co-anchor to mornings right around the time all the 7am streaming newscasts were launched, with one of the three not coming on til 6am. WPVI also added a third wheel anchor, but I don't think she got equal time and duties. KTRK has since abandoned the concept, opting for solo anchors for their morning streams, separate from the pre-7am crews. I know in the case of Chicago, they simply go with 2 anchors in the absence of 1 (outside of a few isolated instances). Does Los Angeles do that, or would somebody sit in when any one of the 3 were off?

[FiveNews 481]

2 minutes ago, 24994J said:

 

Three of the O&Os, KABC, WLS & KTRK, introduced a 3rd co-anchor to mornings right around the time all the 7am streaming newscasts were launched, with one of the three not coming on til 6am. WPVI also added a third wheel anchor, but I don't think she got equal time and duties. KTRK has since abandoned the concept, opting for solo anchors for their morning streams, separate from the pre-7am crews. I know in the case of Chicago, they simply go with 2 anchors in the absence of 1 (outside of a few isolated instances). Does Los Angeles do that, or would somebody sit in when any one of the 3 were off?

When the third anchor is off, they go with the traditional 2 anchor format.

[CraigViewer 107]

9 hours ago, MediaCriticLA said:

Nothing against Tony Cabrera, who is very good, but I'm not sure why they need three anchors for the mornings. I could see it if it were a more lively morning show like KTLA or Fox 11 (interviews, cooking segments, etc.), but ABC7 is such a straightforward news show that the third anchor is usually more of a third wheel. Also, in previous iterations, it was a two-person desk, so I'm not sure why they're so attached to the idea.

My guess is that they are  modeling after the three-anchor format of "Good Morning America."

[MD TV 389]

On 9/26/2025 at 10:58 PM, Encore 323 said:

Liz Nagy from sister station WLS (ABC 7 Chicago) will be Jory Rand’s official co-anchor on weekend nights according to KABC management. I thought Sophie Flay was going to be his permanent co-anchor after Michelle Fisher got promoted to weekdays because I think Sophie has proven herself as very capable but I guess she was just a placeholder until they could find someone that is more qualified according to them.

And yesterday was Liz's first day:

 

https://abc7.com/videoClip/18072369/

[PlayPal 4]

Sophie Flay didn’t get the weekend evening anchor spot, but she did get the job at World News Now . I definitely didn’t see this coming, but with the big name recognition we shouldn’t be surprised. ABC News loves celebrity kids. See Will Reeve. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQUjQscEWih/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[GraphicsMan 345]

10 hours ago, PlayPal said:

Sophie Flay didn’t get the weekend evening anchor spot, but she did get the job at World News Now . I definitely didn’t see this coming, but with the big name recognition we shouldn’t be surprised. ABC News loves celebrity kids. See Will Reeve. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQUjQscEWih/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I got a lot to say about the celebrity kids part. But I didn’t see this coming there getting younger everyday. But at least she’s in her hometown again.

 

But I’ll keep the first part to myself, congrats to her!

10 hours ago, PlayPal said:

ABC News loves celebrity kids

I would say something about this but I’ll keep it to myself. Because I have an opinion on it.

Edited October 28, 2025 by GraphicsMan

[Encore 323 79]

Today is Jovana Lara’s 25th anniversary at KABC and she received an award for that, as common Disney/ABC practice for employees who hit certain milestones. She still looks nearly the same all these years later, even with the hairstyle changes.

[MediaCriticLA 22]

She might be immortal.

[MeAndTheGraphics 16]

I noticed that KABC has a temporary set today. Could they be getting a new one soon?