Over the 9 years that I’ve been contributing to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, I’ve been requested the identical query time and again by individuals who acknowledged me from the channel: “What’s Sam Rubin actually like?” The brief reply is straightforward: With Sam, what you noticed was what you bought. As exuberant, enthusiastic and charming as he was on digital camera, that’s precisely how he was in particular person too.
And what a gifted skilled. After 33 years because the face of leisure information for KTLA, he had the job down, and you could possibly inform how a lot he beloved doing it. He maintained the identical degree of gleeful power from his first every day information hit at 6:15 a.m. to his final at 10:45 a.m. — and once I would see him later within the day at screenings, junkets, premieres and awards exhibits, he was nonetheless going robust. I actually don’t understand how he did it, however he did — each time.
It wasn’t till I began filling in for Sam now and again that I started to really recognize how laborious his job was and the way a lot duty got here with it.
By December 2015, I had already been a producer with Entry Hollywood for about 15 years. I had some on-camera expertise by that time however not lots. So I used to be stunned when Sam referred to as me up and requested me to fill in for him on a reasonably necessary morning on this planet of leisure: the morning of the Golden Globes nominations announcement. It required a extremely early begin for the reason that nominations are introduced simply after 5 a.m. The KTLA Christmas celebration was the night time earlier than, and Sam actually wished to go that and in addition wished the peace of thoughts of having the ability to have fun along with his KTLA household with out having to fret about getting up so early the subsequent day.
By that time, Sam was already a firmly established L.A. establishment. After so many crimson carpet premieres, awards exhibits, and Oscar and Emmy preshows (along with his wonderful co-host, Jessica Holmes) — to not point out extra celeb interviews than anybody may depend — he had earned a stellar status as a revered skilled and a category act. So, greater than something, I used to be extremely honored that he trusted me with such an necessary task.
Sam should have been proud of how I did as a result of that was the primary of many instances that I stuffed in for him over time on KTLA Morning Information, the newest being Friday.
The morning went tremendous easily, because of the producers in one of the best leisure information division I’ve ever labored with, to not point out absolutely the graciousness of legendary morning anchors Frank Buckley, Jessica Holmes, Mark Kriski, Megan Henderson, Eric Spillman and Henry DiCarlo. I wrapped at 11, left the studio at 11:30, and simply 20 minutes later, heard the information that Sam had handed away. I used to be in whole shock. I couldn’t imagine it. As I write this the next morning, I’m nonetheless in shock.
Like so many who knew Sam and who felt like they knew Sam, I’ve misplaced an expensive good friend.
At any time when I noticed Sam, I’d all the time greet him by saying, “There he’s, the Godfather of Leisure Information,” and get an enormous smile from him in return. I’ll keep in mind that smile, and I may even bear in mind how supportive Sam was of me, significantly at a time once I wanted it essentially the most.
A number of years in the past, I used to be feeling fairly blue after experiencing a double-whammy of non-public {and professional} upheaval, and that’s exactly when Sam and his wonderful leisure producer, Grace Mendoza, requested me to begin contributing to KTLA on a extra common foundation, normally as soon as every week. That continued even in the course of the pandemic lockdown (when the whole lot shifted to digital) and final 12 months’s double strikes. And I can’t let you know how a lot it meant to me.
Furthermore, Sam not solely championed me to fill in for him but additionally to hitch him on the air on particular events, like KTLA’s Oscar and Emmy preshows and Oscar nomination morning from the Academy. These days had been particularly enjoyable, as Sam and I performed rather well off one another.
And Sam was gracious sufficient to suggest me for different gigs, most memorably in 2021, when the Skirball Cultural Heart unveiled a model new exhibition referred to as “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds,” which featured props, costumes and fashions from throughout Star Trek’s 55-year historical past. He wanted somebody educated to program particular screenings of basic TV episodes and flicks, adopted by hosted Q&A conversations with Star Trek actors and historians. Sam knew that I used to be a lifelong Trekker, so once they requested if he knew of anybody would may assist, he instantly mentioned, “I do know the man.” To at the present time, that’s nonetheless one of the crucial rewarding skilled and private experiences I’ve ever had, and I’ve Sam to thank for it.
So, when individuals ask me, “What’s Sam Rubin actually like?” I all the time give the brief reply I shared above but additionally make it a degree to say that Sam was beneficiant, and his generosity was unconditional. As anybody on this cutthroat enterprise will let you know, that kind of generosity is extremely uncommon. I by no means took it without any consideration, and I by no means will.
Transferring ahead, I don’t know what the leisure information world will appear to be with out Sam, nor do I do know what my life might be like with out Sam’s help and steerage. However each time I hear the “ding-ding-ding” music fanfare that begins the KTLA “Leisure Information” report, I’ll consider him. And I’ll miss him dearly.