Sam Rubin, a seasoned reporter who oversaw KTLA’s entertainment coverage for almost 30 years, passed away in Los Angeles on Friday. He was sixty-four.
Early on Friday afternoon, KTLA news anchor Frank Buckley confirmed Rubin’s passing. Buckley, who was crying as he broke the news on the radio, described his colleague’s passing as “shocking” and “hard to comprehend in the moment.”
“To put it simply, Sam was KTLA,” he remarked, later adding, “The newsroom is crying right now.”
Actor Jane Seymour was interviewed by Rubin on Thursday; however, on Friday, Rubin called in sick, and movie critic Scott Mantz covered for him. Although Rubin’s death was not further explained by the channel, The Times was informed by a source acquainted with the events that he had experienced a heart attack on Friday morning at his West Valley home. He was taken to a hospital and later declared deceased.
In a statement posted on social media, KTLA described Rubin as “a giant in the local news industry and the entertainment world, and a fixture of Los Angeles morning television for decades.” “Everyone who knew him was impacted by his laugh, charm, and compassionate nature.”
Mantz posted on social media of his “absolute shock” at hearing of his colleague’s untimely passing. It was accurate to refer to him as “The Godfather of Entertainment News,” as I have always done. A nice individual and a living legend.
Rubin was born in San Diego on February 16, 1960, attended Occidental College, where he majored in American studies and rhetoric, and graduated from high school in Los Angeles.
When he began hosting the “Morning News” show on KTLA in 1991, he quickly gained recognition for his affable interviewing and kind demeanor both on and off the air. As original co-anchor Carlos Amezcua put it, Rubin gave the new program the authenticity of Los Angeles that it needed.
The 70-year-old Amezcua referred to Rubin as “the connective tissue” that enabled him, co-anchor Barbara Beck, and weather forecaster Mark Kriski to reach their target audience.
“As a native Angeleno who loved L.A. and knew the city better than anyone else on set, Sam always helped the ‘KTLA Morning News’ connect to Los Angeles,” Amezcua, who joined KTLA the same year as Rubin, stated. “Sam always said that we knew L.A. and L.A. knew us. We had L.A. in our call letters.”
He was especially struck by Rubin’s breadth of knowledge. “He was aware of Hollywood and the key elements in the entertainment sector,” stated Amezcua, who co-founded Beond TV, a digital streaming service.
Amezcua claimed that viewers and some industry insiders started to consider Rubin as a celebrity over time.
Amezcua remarked, “We used to make fun of him all the time about that.” “You’re as big as the celebrities you’re interviewing,” I used to tell him. “C’mon,” he would quip, laughing, but I believe that he understood that deep down.
However, Rubin’s level of local celebrity occasionally put him in situations that went against journalistic ethics. For example, in 1992, he accepted a bit part on “The Jackie Thomas Show” a few weeks after helping to promote the sitcom by interviewing celebrity Tom Arnold and his then-wife, Roseanne Barr, in their bed linens.
Rubin said to The Times that December, “I can understand the objection to it, but I have been critical of the Arnolds in the past and I will be in the future.” It’s merely a walk-on with two lines. I’m not getting paid a lot for this. Somewhere I could sell a scathing story on the Arnolds and get a lot more money.
In return for his labor on the sitcom as Reporter No. 1, Rubin claimed to get paid scale, or $466 per day at the time.
In addition to being well-liked by many in Tinseltown and his coworkers, Rubin had a history with The Times that featured a number of tense exchanges between him and different newspaper writers.
In a February 1999 article for The Times, Rubin took aim at Brian Lowry, who was the publication’s TV columnist at the time and is currently a senior entertainment writer for CNN. Rubin was identified by Lowry as one of a new generation of local TV reporters “that places so much emphasis on entertaining, the reporting has become a bit of a joke” in the run-up to the Academy Awards that year.
In reaction, Rubin commented, “Perhaps Brian Lowry just needs a little lesson in how those of us who are successful in this line of work actually do our jobs. Brian Lowry displays such vitriol and rancor in his recent diatribe against me and the expansion of broadcast entertainment journalism.” “I’ve never gone to any ‘Clown College,’ but since Mr. Lowry insists I am the P.T. Barnum of my generation, here are a few tips.”
Afterwards, Rubin counseled Lowry to have a “genuine appreciation” for his audience and, above all, understand “the importance of tone.”
Finally, Rubin remarked, “I have to run and put on my clown suit because I have another kid’s birthday party to entertain at.” “My closet naturally has my clown costume hanging right next to the shelf that holds my three local Emmy Awards.”
In an article about the rivalry between morning news programs, The Times’ TV critic Howard Rosenberg stated that “weathercaster Mark Kriski, who seems to live for being the kind of fun guy you’d see hanging from a chandelier with a lampshade on his head at a cocktail party,” two years later, around the time of the Oscars. Additionally, Sam Rubin, the show’s beanbag with lips and a showbiz groupie.
The retired Rosenberg observed that Rubin and Kriski had torn up a copy of The Times that featured an article about the conflict between KTLA and rival KTTV, which is home to the second-ranked morning show in Los Angeles. They objected to the story’s claim that, despite KTLA’s morning dominance, its total viewership had decreased from the previous year.
Nevertheless, Rubin was referred to by Rosenberg as “someone who has become the one thing, more than any other, that ‘Good Day L.A.’ is unable to match” in the same piece.
Rubin wrote a piece suggesting that he and Rosenberg switch jobs in exchange.
“I can picture my week as the Los Angeles Times’ television critic. Could you just adjust the La-Z-Boy, honey? The massage function isn’t functioning. And would you mind playing another video from a weird cable station, sweetie? Alright, let me see, how am I going to find the time to write my two weekly columns as well as the occasional review? Rubin authored the text.
“Howard is about to see a significant shift in pace. My four in the morning alarm clock is his to use. Selecting stories to cover, writing every word of his report himself, ordering the necessary footage, choosing all the graphics, getting made up, and coming up with one or two jokes that make fun of his superiors at the L.A. Times are all under Howard’s control. He will undoubtedly have to perform this task five days in a row.
According to his former coworker Amezcua, Rubin’s life was centered around his family away from the TV cameras and media bickering.
“Everyone of my five kids knew Sam and his family, and Sam was incredibly giving with his time,” Amezcua remarked. They adored him and he was a wonderful family man. We were all in love with him.
Before retiring in 2021, former news director Jason Ball termed Rubin “bigger than life” and “a lion” who “deserves to be memorialized.” Ball worked at KTLA from 2008 to 2021.
Ball claimed that although he and Rubin sometimes disagreed on show concepts, Ball didn’t mind when his colleague “pushed him outside his comfort zone.”
It could be difficult for me to predict what he would do at times, Ball admitted. “But I don’t really know how KTLA is going to function without him, and I always knew he had the show’s best interests in mind.”
Rubin gained the support of Angeleno viewers, including Tom Hanks and Henry Winkler, who were prominent viewers as the face of KTLA’s entertainment coverage.
“He always made you feel special,” Winkler remarked on Friday over the phone with KTLA. “He got people to open up like flowers and made them feel so special.”
He also knew how to make wheat out of chaff. Actor Greg Grunberg of “Alias” complained over the phone during the program on Friday, “There are a lot of stupid, boring celebrities out there.” “And my goodness, he made them all seem fascinating.”
The reporter, who was born in San Diego, also contributed his expertise on the field to platforms outside. According to KTLA’s website, he frequently contributes to Channel 9 Television and Triple M radio in Australia in addition to his regular appearances on BBC Television.
Author of books on “Rosemary’s Baby” star Mia Farrow and former first lady Jacqueline Onassis, Rubin received numerous Local Emmy Awards for his coverage of entertainment. In addition, he was recognized for his work with an Associated Press Television and Radio Prize and a Golden Mike Award for entertainment reporting. Additional recognition came from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the Los Angeles Press Club, and the Southern California Broadcasters Association.
His destiny was to become a broadcaster. During Friday’s show, Eric Spillman, a KTLA reporter and longtime Rubin colleague, remarked, “He was the best broadcaster that there is.”
In addition to his work on television, Rubin founded the Broadcast Film Critics Association, had his own television production firm, and gave charitable contributions to a number of organizations.
Leslie Gale Shuman, his wife, and their four children survive Rubin.
