Longtime KTLA and radio entertainment reporter was 64

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Sam Rubin, who was a mainstay of Los Angeles news as a longtime entertainment reporter for KTLA-TV and KNX-AM, died today, the station announced. He was 64 years old and was on the air at KTLA yesterday.

His KTLA colleague acknowledged this on social media but did not provide any details. “I am completely shocked,” he wrote. “Quiet, Sam. I’m thinking about your family the most right now. So sorry. Without you, the morning news in Hollywood will never be the same.”

Ruby joined KTLA Morning News in 1991. He won multiple News Emmys and Golden Mike Awards and received a lifetime achievement award from the Southern California Broadcasters Association. He was also named Best Entertainment Reporter by the Los Angeles Press Club.

Rubin is a founding member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest organization of film and television critics in the United States with more than 200 members. In 1996, the BFCA introduced the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which are now on the same level as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. The 2013 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, hosted by Sam, were viewed in more than 2 million households, making it the highest-rated series in Los Angeles and other major cities. It was also the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter that evening, generating more than 500 million impressions online.

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