A well-known face is serving as a visitor co-host on the KPRC 2 way of life present “Houston Life” this week. Katherine Whaley, a former Houston visitors host, appeared alongside co-host Derrick Shore this week following the departure of Courtney Zavala final week following a stint of greater than 5 years because the speak present’s co-host and 20 years with KPRC 2.
A Houston native, Whaley graduated from Houston Memorial Excessive College and Rice College, the place she earned a bachelor’s diploma in historical past. As of 2014, she spent six and a half years as a visitors anchor for ABC 13. Previous to that, she was a visitors anchor and reporter on KHOU 11 from 2009 to 2014. As of this writing, it’s unclear how lengthy Whaley will proceed to being a visitor co-host of the present.
Visitor co-hosts have generally appeared on “Houston Life,” together with Whaley herself in Might 2022. Former KPRC 2 host Lauren Freeman was additionally a visitor co-host in December 2022 after stepping down from her duties as 5 p.m. in November 2022. At the moment, presenter Christine Noël additionally left KPRC 2 whereas Sofía Ojeda returned to the information station. Lauren Kelly, a longtime “Houston Life” reporter, additionally just lately joined, based on native media blogger Mike McGuff.
In the meantime, Zavala took to social media to replace what’s subsequent for her as information of her departure broke. Her abrupt departure caught many without warning when Shore aired the information of her departure on January 18. “I do know you have all heard the information. I am not with KPRC anymore, I am not with Houston Life anymore, and you’ve got 1,000,000 questions,” Zavala stated in an Instagram video on Jan. 15.
Whereas Zavala would not precisely verify his actual profession plans, he did guarantee his followers that he’ll stay in Houston. “I am in for brand new alternatives and that is the place to seek out out what I am doing,” he stated, directing followers to maintain a watch out for updates on his account. He additionally thanked his followers for his or her help. “I’ve obtained so many lots of of messages, cellphone calls, texts, DMs, and you’ve got touched my coronary heart,” he stated. “That you simply took just a few moments out of your day to message me is really superb and I really feel the love.”
Earlier than ending the video, Zavala hinted that he may take a extra influential path, as different former KPRC anchors and reporters resembling Freeman and Dominique Sachse additionally selected to do after leaving tv information.
“Earlier than we return to often scheduled programming, like humorous posts right here and various things round city… What would you prefer to see on this platform?” Zavala requested his followers. “What do you need to see extra of? What do you need to see me dive into? It is a clean canvas. Let’s get began. Let’s have some enjoyable.”
In 2017, Zavala first joined “Houston Life” following the departure of authentic co-host Jennifer Broome. The Chicago native beforehand labored as a weekend morning anchor for KPRC 2 after becoming a member of the tv information station in 2003. Previous to that, she labored for FOX 13 NEWs Utah KTSU and ABC Huge Information KMID Midland-Odessa.