Lori Matsukawa Biography
Lori Matsukawa is an American journalist. People mostly know her as the anchor of the KING 5 News at 5, 6:30 and 11 p.m. weeknights.
10 Quick Facts About Lori Matsukawa
- Name: Lori Matsukawa
- Age: Not Available
- Birthday: Not Available
- Zodiac Sign: Not Available
- Height: Average
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Journalist
- Marital Status: Married
- Salary: Under Review
- Net worth: Under Review
Lori Matsukawa Age
Lori birth date, month and year is not yet specified and shall be updated. Her hair and eye color are Dark Brown. Details about her body measurements and height shall also be updated.
Lori Matsukawa Family
Matsukawa was born in Hawaii. Throughout her childhood years, she grew up in the tropical wonderland of Hawaii. She has two younger sisters.
Lori Matsukawa Husband
Lori Matsukawa is blissfully married to Larry Blackstock on June 13, 1982. They shared their lovely pictures on social media sites sharing their bonds. The couple is blessed with 1 child named Alex. Since the date she married Larry Blackstock, there is no data accessible in news, magazine, or any article about her separation or divorce.
Lori Matsukawa Career
At the age of 17, Matsukawa first competed in the Miss Teenage America Pageant. Also, she became Miss Honolulu. On November 24, 1973, Miss Teenage America was awarded to Lori. Matsukawa dreamed of becoming a piano teacher but later began her career as a journalist in print.
In Redding, CA; Portland, OR and Seattle, Matsukawa anchored and reported. She is currently serving on KING 5 News as the anchor.
She has also discussed several significant stories to date, including the first trade mission to China by Governor Locke, the Fukushima disaster recovery reports, the Salt Lake City and Vancouver Winter Olympics, and the F-16 pulling of 9-Gs!
In her career, Matsukawa got countless prizes. She is an Emmy Award-winning journalist. In addition, she also got the Asian American Journalists Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition, in 2002, her name was inducted into the ‘ Alumni Hall of Fame ‘ of the University of Washington Communication Department.
Lori Matsukawa Ted Bundy
To read about Ted Bundy follow the link.
Lori Matsukawa Retiring
Lori Matsukawa announces retirement from KING 5
KING 5’s beloved anchor of 36 years will sign-off on Friday, June 14, 2019.
KING 5 will say goodbye to anchor Lori Matsukawa on Friday, June 14, marking the close of her 36 years on-air at the station. During her tenure she faithfully served our community on-air and behind the scenes, educating viewers, telling the stories of our region and supporting local nonprofits.
“What a pleasure it’s been to work at KING 5 – a legacy station,” Matsukawa said when asked to sum up her career. “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.”
“KING 5 has allowed me to travel far and wide to bring stories of interest to our viewers – big cities like New York, Beijing and Tokyo; big events like the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics and the Mariners ALCS and delightful places like Honolulu, Orcas Island and Vancouver, B.C.,” Matsukawa continued.
“When I graduated from college, I told everyone I wanted a job where I’d learn something new every day. I found it here at KING 5. I am grateful to those who’ve been my teachers, mentors, and supporters all these years. Thank you for your support. It’s been a heck of a ride!”
Matsukawa retires after forging her own legacy at KING 5. In addition to the stories she covered, she is been the recipient of numerous awards, including the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Asian American Journalists Association (2005), induction to the University of Washington Communication Department’s “Alumni Hall of Fame” (2012).
The NATAS Northwest “Silver Circle Award” for lifetime achievement (2014) and a regional Emmy Award in 2018 for her series “Prisoners in Their Own Land” about Japanese American wartime incarceration.
More impressive than her trophy case is the list of local organizations that she contributed to during her time in Seattle: the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, the Seattle Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (which she helped co-found in 1983), Mary’s Place and El Centro de la Raza, to name a few.
“From the beginning, Lori has embodied and truly lived the values that we hold dear to our hearts,” said Jim Rose, KING 5 president, and general manager. “She is a leader in our community, a friend and mentor to everyone in our building, and one of the greatest journalists we’ve ever seen. To say she’ll be missed by her colleagues, and everyone at home would be a tremendous understatement.”
Matsukawa’s efforts made an impact on colleagues near and far, including former KING 5 president and current TEGNA, Inc. president and CEO Dave Lougee. “I had the privilege of working with Lori at KING 5 for six years. I saw firsthand her unparalleled commitment to the people of Western Washington,” said Lougee. “Few broadcasters in America have had more of an impact on their community than Lori.
She’s a first-class journalist and first-class in all ways. I join her colleagues in thanking her for all she’s done to represent KING 5 and their viewers so well.”
Though Matsukawa leaves big shoes to fill, KING 5 didn’t have to look far to find a successor. Beginning Monday, June 17, KING 5 morning anchor Joyce Taylor will step into the evening anchor role. Her shared commitment to serving KING 5 and the community on and off the air makes her a natural fit for the position.
“I could not be more honored. I have two of the most extraordinary women in broadcasting to thank – Lori Matsukawa and Jean Enersen – for being trailblazers, paving the way, raising the bar and showing me by example that hard work and a dedication to truth and community are the pillars of a long and meaningful career in journalism,” Taylor said to her colleagues when the news was announced.
“I have loved anchoring KING 5 mornings. How else can one explain rising at 2:15 a.m. for more than 20 years? But, with my ‘babies’ now in college, the time is right and the opportunity is here for me to realize a long-time dream,” continued Taylor. “Sitting in the evening anchor chair at KING 5 is a dream come true and a privilege beyond words – one I will never take for granted.”
Taylor brings her own impressive set of accolades to the evening anchor chair – four Emmy Awards, numerous Emmy Award nominations, a 100 Most Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, Western Washington University, and more than 20 years of news experience.
Over the next month, KING 5 intends to use each day to the fullest, celebrating Matsukawa’s many contributions and accomplishments with our viewers and staff. A Facebook Live is scheduled for Friday, May 10, at 1:30 p.m. where Matsukawa will answer questions and share her plans for the future. A one-hour special sharing memory, photos, videos and stories about Matsukawa is planned for Friday, June 14, from 7-8 p.m. on KING 5.
Lori Matsukawa Stepping Down
Lori Matsukawa stepping down after 36 years at KING 5
When Lori Matsukawa was offered a retirement buyout from KING 5 in 2016, she knew she couldn’t take it.
“I still have work to finish here,” she recalls saying.
For the next year, she worked on a series about Japanese American internment and redress, “Prisoners in Their Own Land.” It aired in 2017, on the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced internment of around 120,000 people along the West Coast during World War II. The series earned Matsukawa a regional Emmy — her first — the following year.
“That was the exclamation point on my career. I said, ‘This is it. This is everything I could have hoped for,’” Matsukawa recently recalled. “Once that project was done, I felt I did my big opus, and I thought, ‘Now I can retire and be happy.’”
After 36 years at KING 5, Matsukawa will deliver the evening news for the final time on Friday.
In her nearly four decades as a broadcast journalist in Seattle, Matsukawa is known not only known for her awards — which include two regional Emmys and a NATAS Northwest Silver Circle Award for lifetime achievement — but for mentoring countless young journalists and fostering deep community connections.
She co-founded both the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington and the Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
“She pioneered the idea of a journalist being really involved in the community,” said Ron Chew, another founder of AAJA Seattle. “Lori never had that kind of division in her life. She was always at community events for nonprofits and on community boards, all while maintaining a professional career that had great integrity.”
Start in journalism
Matsukawa didn’t always want to be a journalist. Growing up in Aiea, Hawaii, with her two sisters and parents, both teachers, she thought she would become a piano teacher.
She decided to enter the Miss Teenage America pageant in hopes of winning a scholarship. Being interviewed by reporters after she won in 1974 sparked an interest in journalism.
At Stanford University, Matsukawa wrote for both the student paper and an Asian American student publication. While she wanted to work in print journalism, there were Asian American women on TV at the time — like Connie Chung, Tricia Toyota, and Wendy Tokuda — whom she looked up to.
Matsukawa said she applied to about 100 different news organizations in hopes of getting her first job. She got two offers: As a business reporter for the Los Angeles Times and a position at a TV station in Redding, California.
Matsukawa decided to pursue a career in TV. She could return to print journalism when she was older, she thought, when she was “wrinkled and toothless.”
She never left broadcast.
A “first-class” broadcaster
Matsukawa met her husband Larry Blackstock, who is from the Seattle area, at the station in Redding where he was a director and she was an anchor. They went to Portland, then moved to the Seattle area in 1980 and married.
After three years at KOMO, Matsukawa moved to KING. She started as a co-anchor on “Top Story,” a daily in-depth look at a local story. She went on to anchor “Celebrate the Differences,” which focused on communities of color, and then the morning, weekend, and late-night broadcasts. She took over as evening anchor when Jean Enersen moved on to health reporting in 2014.
Her career at KING saw Matsukawa travel the world on assignments. She went to China with then-Gov. Gary Locke in 1997, covered two Olympics and went to Japan to report on the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. While Matsukawa said she loved writing the first draft of history, some of her most prominent work examined the past.
With her series “Prisoners in Their Own Land,” Matsukawa sought to report not only on internment but also life in the Northwest after The challenges families faced when they returned home, internal conflict within Japanese American communities and the fight for redress.
“She brings humanity to stories,” Matsukawa’s former co-anchor Dennis Bounds said. “There’s a search for information, a search for truth, but also empathy in how she presents stories. And that makes it important to the public.”
Viewers have also looked to Matsukawa as a trusted figure during breaking news.
Bounds said her poise under pressure makes her a “first-class” broadcaster. Back when Matsukawa worked weekends, he would tune in when news broke.
“I knew I was going to go right to KING 5 for her. I trusted her implicitly to give me the news,” he said.
“I’m showing that if I can do it, they can too”
In 1985, Matsukawa co-founded the Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, which was only the third in the nation. She started the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship program soon after.
Matsukawa embraced being Asian American, which Chew said was somewhat unusual when she was getting her start in news. Other Asian American journalists didn’t typically bring attention to their identity then, he said.
Lori Matsukawa Contacts
- Youtube
- Tiktok
- Website
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