最新杏吧原创

ST. LOUIS聽鈥� When Steve Savard becomes the news anchor at KSDK in two weeks, he'll be filling the slot of an old rival.

Mike Bush is retiring after more than 40 years at the station. Savard covered sports and news at KMOV (Channel 4) for 27 years when Bush was working the same jobs at KSDK (Channel 5).

"It's an honor to succeed Mike, who's had a remarkable career. But I'm ready for the challenge. Big shoes to fill," Savard said Friday, a day after the station announced his appointment.

"Mike was the standard-bearer in town. His sports department and news department were second-to-none."

Savard, 62, a six-time Emmy Award-winner, has been at KSDK since February, contributing weekly stories about military veterans and occasionally filling in on anchor duties when needed.

He worked at KMOV for 27 years, beginning in sports and moving to news before becoming lead anchor in 2013. He was one of many people laid off by the station鈥檚 then-owner, Meredith Corp., in the economic downturn of 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

While working at KMOV, Savard also went on the radio as the Rams鈥� play-by-play announcer, 鈥渢he Voice of the Rams,鈥� in 2000. In his second year on the job, he called Super Bowl XXXVI, a heartbreaking Rams loss to New England.

He said he misses doing play-by-play, but said he does not regret moving from sports to news. So many resources have been stripped from television sports departments that it is not the same anymore, he said.

Newsrooms have undergone a lot of change as well. But Savard is hopeful.

"I still think there are companies and newsrooms that still adhere to good old-fashioned philosophies and approaches to doing news. I think that's why I'm still in the ballgame," he said.

Savard graduated from Parkway North High School, where his football jersey number is retired, and Northwest Missouri State University, where he majored in English and journalism while playing football all four years.

He racked up a career 441 tackles in college, at the time a record for the school. His 10 interceptions as a linebacker are still a record for the team.

"I emptied the bucket every Saturday. I didn't leave anything on the field," he said.

He made the Dallas Cowboys' training camp twice, but was not selected to be on the team.

Savard began his career as a sportswriter at the Suburban Journals before taking his first job in television in 1989 at KURL in Billings, Montana.

He also worked in El Paso, Texas, and Hartford, Connecticut, before being hired at KMOV in 1994.

After he was laid off from KMOV, he went to work as lead anchor at KOLR in Springfield, Missouri, and as substitute football announcer for the Missouri State Bears. When his contract there expired last year, he came back home to 最新杏吧原创.

Savard is in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He serves on the board of directors of the National Football Foundation, and was on the board of directors of 最新杏吧原创 Honor Flight for four years.

He starts the new job on Aug. 13.