This isn't local by any means, but genuine emotion on TV is a rare thing. It happened on Wednesday on KCEN-TV in Temple, Texas, when long time anchor Kris Radcliffe suddenly died. He had been doing the show just the day before along with co-anchor Lindsay Liepman, a job he'd done for more than two decades.
As the show began with his death as its lede story, Liepman found herself struggling to get through the copy on air, while trying to pay tribute to her fallen colleague.
"If I had known yesterday was going to be our last newscast together, I would have ignored the cues to rap from our producers and just laughed a little longer at all of his jokes," Liepman said through tears.
"I would have thanked him for all that he's taught me and given to all of you, the viewers, but that is now how life works out."
A nice tribute that sort of reminded me of the recent tragedy at CHCH, which cancelled a newscast because of the unexpected death of one of its directors.
In this case, the station went on with the show, but this time produced out of one of their co-owned stations in nearby Austin, Texas. "I simply can't get through the newscast tonight, and I hope you understand," Liepman explained.
You can watch her heartfelt tearful tribute here.