News Anchor Overcome by TV Coverage of Tribute

Veteran KNBC Channel 4 anchor Chuck Henry on Thursday became overwhelmed with grief and temporarily lost his composure during the station’s broadcast of a televised moment of silence for the victims of downed Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

Henry, who has been covering the story nightly from Port Hueneme on the 11 p.m. newscast, introduced live coverage of the moment, which was held by Alaska Airlines on behalf of its employees who died in the crash.

When the station came back to the studio and showed Henry, he looked up from the desk and said, “Wow, that was really tough.” Henry tried to continue but choked up. The station cut to a shot of Henry and co-anchor Michele Ruiz, who told Henry, “It’s OK.”

“He tried to talk again and you could see he was not getting any better,” said KNBC news director Nancy Bauer Gonzales.

Henry then apologized to viewers, saying, “I’ve never done that on the air before.”

Gonzales said, “There were no tears, but if you were a viewer, your heart was having a hard time along with Chuck.”

Gonzales said the station received more than 200 calls from viewers thanking the station for covering the moment of silence, and also expressing support for Henry.