Longtime on-air anchor Glen Walker is making his way back to L.A. news.
After being laid off from KTLA in February, alongside other veteran broadcasters like Lu Parker and Mark Kriski, Walker is starting a new chapter with KTTV, L.A.’s local Fox affiliate. He began his new role as a per-diem anchor this week, where he’s set to have an on-air introduction on Wednesday and begin anchoring shows on Thursday evening.
“I didn’t feel like I was done,” said Walker of his career, in a phone interview Wednesday morning. “I’m still healthy. I’m not ready to retire.”
As Fox’s new rotating anchor, he won’t have a regular broadcast time, but will instead float between the KTTV and KCOP channels to fill in as needed.
Over the last few months, Walker has been eager to get back on air, especially with the local primary election this month and the coming midterms in November. He said he plans to take the new gig “one day at a time,” but he’s most interested in covering politics and the current state of affairs in Los Angeles.
“With the elections and how it’s all related to the fires and the homeless problem, this city — maybe the whole state — has reached a point where [we ask], which direction are we going from here?” Walker said.
The broadcast news industry has also experienced upheaval and consolidation — most recently with layoffs and firings at “60 Minutes,” and the pending merger of news giants Tegna and Nexstar. With the ongoing domination of streaming services, many local stations are struggling to compete and maintain viewership.
“[The station’s] will get it figured out because there’s an adjustment period. It used to be just newspapers and radio, then you had television,” Walker said. “Now we’ve got the internet. Technology advances, and you just have to adjust to it.”
When he and several of his colleagues received the news of the layoffs at KTLA, the group was met with an outpour of support from many loyal viewers and fans of the station. Walker, who had been with the station since 2010, was surprised by how many messages he received.
“You make a bigger impact than you think,” said Walker, who’s hopeful the same viewers will start to tune into the local Fox station. “You just go to do your job every day, and you don’t think about it day to day, but then when something like that happens, that’s when you really see where people appreciate you.”
In between jobs, Walker said he spent his time golfing, trying to keep busy around the house and focused on landing a job. But as soon as he stepped into Fox’s studio for a practice run, he said he felt an immediate sense of familiarity.
“I was sitting behind the anchor desk, and there was the teleprompter, the camera and that’s it,” Walker said. “It’s all the same at every TV station. It’s just a little bit of a different environment.”
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