As WFAA’s Daybreak prepares to bid farewell to anchor Marc Istook, two journalists are rising from Channel 8’s ranks to join the morning show.
Matt Howerton, a general assignment reporter, and Dia Wall, an anchor and reporter, will join Daybreak in late February.
“After 8 years of running around the metroplex telling the stories of so many Texans, I’m incredibly grateful (and excited) for this new chapter,” Howerton wrote Wednesday on social media. “See you in the mornings!”
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Howerton, a native of Ennis, grew up watching Channel 8. “Little did I know—the words, phrases, iconic anchors, and reporters saying them through our TV set would inspire me to get into the news,” he said in his WFAA biography.
Wall, who is from Irving, called her new role a dream come true in a Wednesday Instagram post.
After graduating from Texas Christian University in 2008, Wall worked as a reporter for the Dallas Cowboys. She joined WFAA in 2024.
“The ability to showcase what’s happening across North Texas and the ways it affects us all is powerful,” she said in her bio. “To use that power for equity, justice or change is a privilege I don’t take for granted.”
Wall said she’ll start on Daybreak on Feb. 23 and Howerton said he’ll start the next day. Istook is scheduled to depart the show on Feb. 20. His next move has not been announced.
In other Daybreak changes, anchor Kara Sewell recently announced on social media that she will go on maternity leave starting next month. A new traffic anchor, Erica Lopez, joined Daybreak this week.
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.
