Morning show anchor Rene Knott wasn’t on air this morning at KSDK (Channel 5)—and while reporter Mercedes MacKay told the audience she was filling in for 21-year station veteran, the reality appears to be more complicated: Station brass announced at a staff meeting this morning that Knott is no longer with the station.
Knott declined comment, saying he would defer to the station. The Tegna-owned NBC affiliate did not respond to a request for comment.
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A California native, Knott played football at Southern Oregon State College and once dreamed of being a sports writer. But he soon got a job as an on-air reporter at a television station in Medford, Oregon, before working in Mobile, Alabama; Washington, D.C.; and St. Louis, where he began at KSDK as the sports director before moving to the morning show.
In January 2024, Knott celebrated 20 years at KSDK. “It’s been a wonderful ride, and hopefully continues for another—I doubt 20 years, because I’d be like 80,” Knott told his colleagues. One cut in: “You could do it.”
Added meteorologist Anthony Slaughter, “He does love to work. He’s the hardest working person on the morning team. Not to denigrate anyone else. But when I’m out of here, the guy is still working.”
Slaughter himself was fired in April, a move that he told SLM left him “dumbfounded.” The station has seen significant turnover lately. In July, director of content Morgan Schaab was allegedly pushed out after just a year and a half on the job. (Neither she nor KSDK leaders responded to requests for comment about her departure.) Anchor Kay Quinn and news director Art Holliday also both recently retired after decades at the station.
