KING 5 Anchor Lori Matsukawa To Retire In June

SEATTLE, WA — After a 36-year career spanning events from the eruption of Mount St. Helen's to this week's spring heat wave, veteran KING 5 broadcaster Lori Matsukawa will retire in mid-June, the station said Friday.

Matsukawa joined KING 5 in 1983 after graduating from Stanford and the University of Washington. She started off as a reporter before working her way up to anchor the 6:30 and 11 p.m. broadcasts.

KING 5 ran a profile of Matsukawa's long career on Friday, including this statement:

"What a pleasure it’s been to work at KING 5 – a legacy station. I always tell people the best part of being a television journalist is being able to tell the stories of the people who call the Northwest home. Over the decades, I’ve witnessed a lot of change, most of it for the better. And what an honor it has been to write the ‘first draft of history,’ whether it was the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the attainment of redress by Japanese Americans unlawfully incarcerated during World War II or the inspiring achievements of a diverse group of public servants like Gary Locke, Norman and Constance Rice, Ana Mari Cauce, Ron Sims, Martha Choe, Mary Yu, Steve Gonzales, and Claudia Kauffman."

Matsukawa's last day at KING 5 will be June 14. The station has picked morning anchor Joyce Taylor to take over the evening newscast starting June 17.