Central Texas television station KCEN team mourned one of their own live broadcasts on October 30, announcing the death of co-host Kris Radcliffe.

Co-host Lindsay Liepman of KCEN, an NBC affiliate in Temple, Texas, became visibly emotional as she said during Wednesday’s newscast that Radcliffe “died unexpectedly.” He was 51.

“Kris sat next to me in the chair and he was the best. He was simply the best,” said Liepman. “Funny, sincere and smart. I looked forward to working with Kris every night and I think you all could tell at home. We had fun here. Kris loved this community and never took his role for granted.”

Liepman said that if she had known that Tuesday would be their last newscast together, “I would have ignored our producers’ cues and just laughed a little longer.”

Liepman choked back tears and said she would have liked to thank him for everything he taught her — “but that’s not how life works,” she said.

She reminisced about their time off-screen and offered her condolences to his family, including Radcliffe’s wife, daughters and grandchildren, as well as his sister.

At one point Liepman almost broke down when he said that others would step in to help provide that evening’s broadcast.

“I just can’t make it through the news tonight and I hope you understand,” she said.

She continued by saying Radcliffe’s death “is a real loss to our community.” He was then honored with a video montage about his life and mentorship at the news station.

In a message to Today.com, Liepman said: “Announcing his death to our viewers was the hardest day of my career and I had to do many difficult things. I didn’t want our viewers to hear the news from someone else. He would have done the same for me.”

She added that her colleague and friend was “so easy to love. I’ve worked with a lot of co-anchors and he was truly a top player in a small town. He chose to live in Waco for his family and from the moment I met him we hit it off. We had each other’s backs, on and off the air. I could really be myself around him and I know he felt the same.

“There is a special bond between the people in this profession. Our newsroom is left with a huge hole. And that shows how big an impact he made. More than anything, I will remember all the times he made me laugh, even on my worst days,” Liepman added. ‘And that’s the point. As a news anchor, you can’t show your bad days. He was our rock and I leaned on him.”

She called him “an excellent journalist” and said they had just been nominated for a regional Emmy for their reporting on a tornado that hit their town. “I hope he knows that he made our community feel safe, seen and heard on the worst of days,” she concluded.

Radcliffe, who served at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., had worked at KCEN for 22 years, according to the station. He was “blessed with a wonderful wife” and with two daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter. A cause of death was not shared at the time.

Other journalists at the station also paid tribute to Radcliffe on social media.

Baylee Bates, who wrote that she was “privileged to be one of Kris’ co-anchors,” shared a slideshow full of photos from their time together.

Reporter and anchor Sydney Dishon wrote that she was “at a loss for words.”

“Kris, I will miss all the advice you gave me in my early twenties. I will cherish your words forever,” she wrote in part. “I still can’t believe this is real. The newsroom won’t be the same without you. You made KCEN feel at home.”

A statement on behalf of Radcliffe’s wife, Eden Radcliffe, was shared on her Facebook profile, thanking people for their “huge outpouring of love.”

“On behalf of my sister, she wanted me to convey to you our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of love and support for her, their girls and families,” wrote Eden Radcliffe’s sister Libby. “She receives and reads your texts and messages, but it’s just too hard to respond at this point.”

Kris Radcliffe began his decades-long career at KCEN in 2002, starting as a sports anchor. He then became the morning anchor for Texas Today, where he held the position for nine years before transitioning to the evening anchor role.