Owen Conflenti has left his longtime KPRC 2 morning anchor position, along with others (more details below), and no, this is not a Halloween evening trick.
Multiple sources informed me this morning that Conflenti, who has been on the morning newscast since 2005, was no longer there.
I asked KPRC 2 for comment, and three or so hours later, the station posted an article on its website saying that Conflenti and the station had parted ways.
"We appreciate Owen’s many contributions to KPRC 2 and the Houston community," new KPRC 2 VP/General Manager Sean McLaughlin said online.
"After 20 years, my time at KPRC 2 has come to an end. I’m so grateful to the viewers who welcomed me into their homes each morning, to my coworkers who became family, and to the station for two incredible decades," Conflenti said in an online statement. "Thank you, Houston, for the privilege of sharing your stories."
And here I just posted my affections for Conflenti last week. Hopefully, the station did not hold that against him, as they are no longer directly responding to my inquiries.
The station says while it "works to name a permanent replacement, various members of the KPRC 2 News team will join morning anchor Sofia Ojeda on the desk."
Conflenti is the longest tenured anchor at Channel 2.
What KPRC did not post online is that it has also apparently let go of two of its new Managers of Content and Coverage, or MCC positions, according to multiple sources.
As someone who is sitting here writing about recent layoffs in radio and TV, one has to wonder if this is all a cost-cutting measure?
Oddly enough, KPRC has a history of dropping anchor news on Halloween. Back in 2022, just as now, I was busy blogging about big anchor changes as trick-or-treaters prepared to hit the streets in search of candy.
For 20 years, Conflenti has co-anchored the KPRC 2 News Today morning news.
Before joining KPRC 2, he served as the weekend anchor at WNCT in Greenville, North Carolina.
A native of Pittsburgh, Conflenti graduated from Central Catholic High School before earning his Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Emerson College in Boston.
Proud of his Italian heritage, Conflenti also hosts an annual fundraising luncheon for the Italian Cultural and Community Center of Houston. A passionate Houston Texans fan, he’s known for his playful banter with rival fans in the NRG Park Orange Lot and for his friendship with Texans mascot Toro, which led to a series of popular TikTok videos during the pandemic.
He is married and the father of four.
Conflenti recently missed a month of work as he had surgery to repair a hernia.
