Beloved California TV anchor reveals sudden departure from network: ‘Filled with thrill and grief’

A popular California television anchor is departing the Golden State.

KCRA 3’s Erin Heft is leaving Sacramento for her “dream position” at a “legendary newsroom” in Dallas.

Heft, who won an Emmy for her and her newsroom’s reporting on a Sacramento shooting in 2023, suggested the decision is bittersweet.

“I’m filled with thrill and grief,” Heft told the Sacramento Bee Thursday. “Thrilled because I can’t wait to go, but grief because it’s the closure of the chapter of Northern California, and I really do just adore it here.”

She first joined KCRA as an intern in 2018, an opportunity she called a “privilege” to get.

“When I got the internship, it was such a privilege,” Heft said. “It was actually the first newsroom —professional working newsroom — that I ever spent any time in, and I was just in awe of the talent that was within the room.”

Then she moved to Waco, Texas, to work for the E.W. Scripps Co. as a reporter and fill-in anchor for three years. But she always kept KCRA in mind, saying her “goal was to make it immediately back to KCRA.”

Heft re-joined the Sacramento news agency in 2021 and has been a reporter and anchor there since.

She called Northern California a “wonderland of a news market, because there’s a little bit of everything always happening.”

She also thanked the community for welcoming her there, and acknowledged that a “piece” of her will always stay in the area.

“This region has challenged me, shaped me, and changed me in ways I never could have imagined. Some of the most meaningful moments of my life happened right here, alongside an incredible newsroom and an unforgettable community,” she said.

“While it’s time for a new adventure, a piece of me will always remain with you.”

It’s not clear what her next role will be, but she told The Bee that it will be in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and closer to her family.

She said serving Northern California has been the “privilege of a lifetime.”

“It has been a privilege of a lifetime, and I will never be the same, and I am just full of gratitude,” she said.