Kris Radcliffe, a newscaster for KCEN in Texas, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday.

In a video posted to the news channel’s YouTube page, Kris’ co-anchor Lindsay Liepman shared a tribute to her coworker, who was only 51 at the time of his death. The video aired live on Wednesday night’s 10 pm newscast.

“This is an incredibly sad day for our KCEN family,” Lindsay stated, “My co-anchor Kris Radcliffe died unexpectedly and we received the news today.”

She continued, blinking back tears: “Kris sat in the chair right beside me and he was the best, he was simply the best. Funny, genuine, and smart and I looked forward to working with Kris every single night and I think you at home could tell at home. And we had fun here.”

“If I had known yesterday was going to be our last newscast together, I would have ignored the cues to wrap from our producers and just laughed a little longer at all of his jokes,” she said, her voice breaking as she spoke, “He always has lots of jokes.”

She tearfully continued: “I would have thanked him for all that he’s taught me and given to all of you, the viewers, but that is not how life works out. What you don’t get to see on air is the time spent talking about our families and our group chats.”

“It was important for me to share what he meant to us at KCEN right now because I know he would have done the same for me,” she said. Lindsay ended her tribute by saying that the channel’s sister station KVUE anchor Bryan Mays will anchor the rest of the nightly news alongside KCEN chief meteorologist Matt Farrell.

She tearfully apologized: “I simply cannot get through the newscast tonight and I hope you understand.” The YouTube video ended with a one-minute video tribute to Kris that included highlights of his career and a voice-over eulogy.

Kris has been with the station since 2002 and started as a sports anchor. He then worked is way up to a morning anchor before making his way through the 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm news.

He leaves behind a wife, sister, two daughters, and two grandchildren. His family asks for privacy at this time.

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