Art Holliday signs off after 46 years at KSDK

After 46 years in local news, Art Holliday is signing off at the end of this month. He’s had quite the run, working as a sportscaster, general assignment reporter, anchor, and, most recently, station news director. But what’s perhaps most noteworthy about his career in the tumultuous, high-churn news industry is that he played all those roles, all 46 years, at the same station, KSDK Channel 5.

“It’s not what I expected when I started here in ’79—that’s for sure,” Holliday says. He has a lot to show for the near-half century at KSDK. He’s among only a handful of local journalists who managed to become not only household names but also standard bearers for their outlets.

Holliday leaves at a precarious time for local television news. (To be fair, though, when has the media business been defined by its tranquility?) Given the fragmented nature of how we consume news these days, a journalist with Holliday’s level of name recognition is a rarer and rarer breed. Kay Quinn, another KSDK journalist who achieved household-name status, announced her retirement in May. Her last day at the station is Friday. It raises the question of how the station will fill the void after two of their biggest stars leave.

Holliday talked with us about that, though he acknowledged there’s no easy answer. We also chatted about two times he almost left town and why so many KSDK alumni have been swinging by the station as of late. The conversation below has been edited for clarity and flow.

If you have fond memories of the news man and want to be part of his send-off, KSDK is hosting the “Art of Farewell,” billed as a lighthearted roast, at the Missouri History Museum tonight. A happy hour kicks off at 5 p.m. The program starts at 6:30 p.m.

I’m sure you’ve been getting this question a lot, but what is a story or two you would point to from the past 46 years that is really emblematic of your career? That’s a complicated question, because I’ve had five different careers during that 46 years at KSDK. The first 10 years, I was doing sports. I thought that was going to be my entire career. Then, in ’89, I got called to the general manager’s office, and he said, “We’re going to make some changes on our morning show. I think you’d be a good co-anchor for Jennifer Blome.” I was completely blindsided, but he turned out to be right. He created a 22-year anchor team. After that ran its course, I became a general assignment reporter for the first time. And then I joined our brand new storytelling unit, which meant that I usually told two stories a week, mostly stories that interested me, and I had more time to report the stories and more time to tell them. The biggest surprise of all was five years ago, when our director of content, Carol Fowler, asked me if I would consider being news director, because she thought I would have credibility in our newsroom as we try to improve the culture of our newsroom. I tell young people all the time, “It’s OK to have plans, but you should probably write them in pencil and not pen.”

During that period of your career when you were doing two stories a week and you had more time to be choosy about what you covered, what stories did you gravitate toward? The coolest part of it was that I got to do all sorts of stories. On the lighthearted end, I did a piece on goat yoga. On the more serious end, I interviewed a local man who was involved in the Battle of Mogadishu. He described what that event was like, and the depression and contemplation of suicide that resulted and then his ultimate path of creating a foundation to help soldiers address their PTSD. I interviewed a whistleblower who took on the CIA, here in St. Louis. It felt like everything that I had done prior to that prepared me to tell any sort of story. Now, the common denominator was writing ability. It’s the quality of the writing that elevates every single story that you or I do, and I took a lot of pride in my writing. That turned out to be one of my superpowers.

Today’s fragmented media landscape makes it harder for KSDK to create the next Art Holliday, Kay Quinn, or Mike Bush, who’s been with the station 40 years as of last week. How do you make sure that the next generation of Channel 5 journalists find the same sort of purchase in the city of St Louis the way that you were able to? That’s a really big question, and I don’t know that there’s a great answer to it. I won’t be here, but I will make myself available to anyone who wants to talk. I will be invested in everyone who works at KSDK, but certainly the people that I played a role in hiring. Short-term, that’s part of my legacy in terms of moving forward. Everyone has their own journey once they decide to take part in this business. Some people have what it takes to last for 30, 40, or maybe even 50 years. Other people move on. Everybody has to figure that out. When you sign up for TV news, you’re signing up for the stress business. You’re signing up for the deadline business. You’re signing up for a job that’s never going to get easier. You’re signing up for a job where, at the moment, a lot of people don’t have a great opinion of journalists in general. It’s never going to be easy, but it’s always going to be important.

Over 46 years, there must be a regret or two. Absolutely. When the news director at WABC in New York thinks you might be good enough to be a sportscaster there and then promptly gets fired before the process can even start, that’s a little bit of a letdown. Or when Bob Costas, unbeknownst to me, was recommending me to the people at NBC Sports as a potential NBA sideline reporter in 1990—well, they ultimately hired Ahmad Rashad. And I have no problem with that. They probably hired the right person. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want the job, because I thought that was the phone call that every broadcaster dreams of. So I’ve worked in my hometown for over 46 years. Journalists are here to serve the community, and I feel like I had the opportunity to serve in multiple ways.

I read that tonight’s event is billed as “a lighthearted roast.” What can we expect? That’s what I asked. [Laughs.] I know some of what’s going to be involved, because some of it’s on tape. Unfortunately, Jennifer Blome won’t be able to attend because she’s traveling, but Mike Bush interviewed the two of us together. I hadn’t seen her in a while, though we communicate on a fairly regular basis. I know that will be part of it. And I’ve seen some of the people that have been coming into the station all week to tape interviews. So I know the individuals—I just don’t know what they’re going to say. I suppose I’ll be as surprised as anyone.