KTLA brutally fires prime reporter on her fortieth birthday — as she releases cryptic podcast message

KTLA has brutally fired considered one of its prime journalists on her birthday.

Emmy nominated reporter Ellina Abovian was amongst a swath of workers laid off by the information station amid restructuring plans on Wednesday.

Weekday morning climate anchor Mark Kriski, meteorologist Kacey Montoya and veteran noon anchors Glen Walker and Lu Parker have been additionally proven the door.

Abovian, who had been with KTLA for over a decade, took to social media to have fun her fortieth birthday hours after the information broke, with dozens of her buddies wishing her the most effective.

One wrote: “Blissful birthday to the beautiful and gifted Elina.” One other stated: “Blissful birthday my stunning Pisces sister.”

And one other posted: “Blissful birthday to my bestie, my sista, the one who all the time makes me smile and chuckle. 30 years of friendship and counting… and I wouldn’t have it some other method.”

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Abovian additionally dropped a podcast episode on Wednesday the place she made a thinly-veiled dig at her former employers.

She stated: “Cease hiding. Cease shrinking. There’s a giant world on the market and you’ll be part of it. You don’t must solely exist inside your Armenian neighborhood.

“Cease hiding your physique, cease considering you’re not adequate. You’re so excellent in all of your imperfections. If I might say that to my 21-year-old self and simply say go for it. What are you ready for.

She added: “I want my 21-year-old self might have adopted all her goals. I want she might have gone on the market into the world… and skilled extra issues as an alternative of on the lookout for security.

“However it’s simpler stated than executed now being 40. So I’m going to inform myself that now as if you recognize it’s the 20-year-old in me and do the most effective with what I’ve in entrance of me right now.

“We don’t get do overs in life however we do get to be who we’re proper now and to be 40 to really feel nice in my very own pores and skin, to have come this far… nice, let’s transfer by means of the world now with that certainty and cease making an attempt to return to twenty or 30.

“These chapters are completed and I’m blissful that they’re completed as a result of it led me right here.” She added in an Instagram publish: “I suppose that is 40. Feeling lighter, cherished and looking out ahead.”

In New York, KTLA proprietor Nexstar additionally moved to chop workers at its station WPIX-TV, the place newsroom layoffs have been reported alongside the reductions in LA.

A spokesman stated: “Nexstar doesn’t touch upon personnel points, however the firm is taking steps essential to compete successfully on this interval of unprecedented change.”

The outlet stated the New York cuts have 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 climate anchor at KTLA and a staple of the station’s early broadcast.

A KTLA on-air persona, who didn’t wish to be named, instructed The Submit: “Kriski was beloved, been [with the station] for 30 years.

“Everyone seems to be devastated and nervous about the way forward for the station. That features lots of the individuals in cost in LA, who gave the impression to be blindsided themselves,” the supply added.

“Lots of the expertise have been like household to the station and to LA viewers, the best way Nexstar handled them is undignified and merciless.”

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 an extra afternoon hour.

“The noon exhibits that I did — it began as a one o’clock information,” Walker instructed The California Submit.

“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 exhibits 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 Submit: “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 amazing run at KTLA and I intend to have one other run elsewhere. And keep tuned,” he stated.

He added that whereas the station provided him a send-off, he declined. “I’m formally nonetheless below contract for sixty days,” Walker stated. “They provided 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 meteorologist 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 singular tv station as the primary tv station west of the Mississippi” that “had numerous nice historical past.”

“It’ll be attention-grabbing to see what occurs shifting ahead,” he stated.