KTLA reporters remember Sam Rubin’s warm welcomes to the family

The KTLA family shared some laughs and tears on Saturday morning as they remembered their longtime friend and colleague Sam Rubin.

Reporter Carlos Herrera recalled that the legend himself was the first coworker to send him a greeting when he started at the station four years ago.

“I’m what he called the new generation at KTLA 5,” Herrera said. “Sam Rubin was actually the first person to respond [to my introduction email]. Like, the Sam Rubin.”

Herrera recalled growing up in Hollywood and seeing Rubin, his new coworker, on billboards as a child.

“[Rubin] gets back to me and says ‘we’re glad to have you. Welcome to the KTLA family, you’ll quickly learn that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I hope you have fun’,” Herrera remembered.

Herrera added that Rubin would often text message him to compliment his reporting skills, hair and his snazzy suits.

KTLA’s Lauren Lyster remembered a moment from early in her time at the station when Rubin was preparing a story about singer Miranda Lambert. Rubin approached Lyster, who he thought resembled the country music star, and had the funny idea for Lyster to sing one of her songs on air.

Problem was, Lyster wasn’t familiar with any of Lambert’s music.

“He was involving me and so I learned the song real quick and I went and sang it on TV, which was horrible,” Lyster recalled with lots of laughs.

“But he didn’t have to extend an olive branch to a nobody at the station, a brand new person,” she said. “That was the kind of person he was to me and to so many people.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.