Leeza Gibbons has signed a new multiyear deal with Nexstar to continue serving as co-host of KTLA Los Angeles’ live broadcast of the Rose Parade.
Gibbons has served as co-host of the Rose Parade since 2017. Gibbons first hosted the KTLA Rose Parade broadcast in 2017. She and co-host Mark Steines took over for long-time hosts Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards, starting their tenure with the Jan. 2, 2017, parade.
“This will mark 10 years that Leeza has been a part of KTLA’s production of the annual Rose Parade presented by Honda,” said Janene Drafs, vice president and general manager of KTLA in media reports. “We are thrilled that she will continue to bring her deep knowledge, beautiful smile and love of Southern California to viewers across the country and around the globe.”
The tradition of Rose Parade broadcast announcers dates to 1940, when station W6XAO — now KCBS — aired the event. Seven years later, KTLA produced the first official local television broadcast.
By 1951, several other local stations had launched their own telecasts, and NBC soon followed with the first coast-to-coast broadcast of the parade in color.
KTLA’s early announcers included Bill Welsh and Dick Lane. They were followed by Tom Hatten, Steve Allen, Dick Enberg and others through the late 1970s, when Bob Eubanks became host.
Stephanie Edwards joined Eubanks as co-host from 1978 to 2005, and again from 2009 to 2016, before the pair handed off hosting duties to Mark Steines and Michaela Pereira Gibbons.
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