Daybreak anchor Marc Istook will depart WFAA-TV (Channel 8) on Feb. 20. Istook, a Fort Worth native who joined the station in 2019, announced the move on Monday.
“As a kid, I dreamed of getting to work for WFAA and am eternally grateful for having had this opportunity. To the viewers — I’m humbled to have been welcomed into your home, bright and early, day after day,” Istook wrote on social media.
He gave a nod to the Daybreak team, lauding its often nocturnal preparations for each morning show as “extraordinary.”
In an accompanying video, Istook took stock of his tenure with some unorthodox numbers: 1,057 alarms set for 2 a.m., 1,603 cups of coffee, four giggly Halloween scares, two dance moves. Among the highlights shown in the video is coverage from two presidential elections, a winter storm and the Texas Rangers’ World Series win.
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“This isn’t goodbye — merely the close of a great chapter and the start of a new one. I’m excited to share with you what I’ll be doing next,” Istook wrote in the post.
Congratulations from viewers poured into his comment sections.
“You will definitely be missed,” one person wrote. “You have become a part of my daily routine over the last several years.”
Erica Lopez has joined ‘Daybreak’ as a traffic anchor.
Courtesy Erica Lopez
As Istook gears up to part ways with WFAA, Daybreak has welcomed a new addition to its team. Erica Lopez recently joined the program as a traffic anchor, after working as an anchor and traffic reporter at 9News (KUSA-TV) in Denver.
“I try to plan my whole life around not being stuck in traffic,” Lopez said in an introductory video for WFAA.
Matt Howerton, a general assignment reporter, and Dia Wall, an anchor and reporter, will join “Daybreak” in late February.
Current and former meteorologists are urging the public to prepare early and heed caution if traveling during the predicted winter storm.
The self-described ‘traffic nerd’ previously worked at 9News (KUSA-TV) in Denver.
