Megan Lynch joins Tom Ackerman starting Tuesday, May 30th on the extended hours of Total Information AM from 8 to 10 a.m. This follows the retirement of longtime KMOX anchor and host Carol Daniel.
In this case, we can't use the cliché promotional phrase "you'll hear a new voice in your morning," because Megan Lynch has been a trusted KMOX voice for a quarter of a century.
A native of Granite City, Megan's done it all at KMOX. Her work has been judged the best in the nation -- and many of those awards you see in KMOX newsroom photos are the direct result of her smart and hard work.
Upon arriving at KMOX in 1997, Megan paired with Captain Rodger Brand, flying over the highways and relaying traffic updates from "Airborne Two," a fixed-wing airplane, every ten minutes in the mornings and afternoons.
"I got a job doing traffic to get my foot in the door. At my interview, I didn't even know that I was going to be in an airplane," Megan says. "I just got a call that said 'we have this opening; do you want to do traffic reports?'"
HARD-DRIVING REPORTER
But Megan's background is rooted in rooting out the truth.
"I don't think a lot of people realized I had a news background -- I'd been an assistant news director in public radio -- before I ever came here," she says.
She has a Masters Degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the former Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois. She was assistant news director at public radio station WSIU-FM in Carbondale, Illinois.
Megan says she embraced the challenge of shifting from roaming the halls of the capitol and writing rural news features ... to describing drive time car wrecks and other breaking news from a noisy airplane on the fly while in the sky. She says it taught her to ad-lib and think on her feet.
Still, she found her way back to the newsroom.
Soon enough, she was working on a ten part series on drunken driving in Missouri. That was 20 years ago. "Unheard of" in commercial radio to get the commitment to that kind of investigation, she says. But Megan has continued delivering that kind of in-depth reporting to KMOX listeners for years now.
She also recalls other investigative, multi-part series, on addiction, on doomsday preppers (one of her favorites), on school bus safety, and her most recent, on online student surveillance by schools.
Her 2007 series on "PlayBoys" -- a look at the behaviors of professional athletes, teams, and fans -- earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award. The Alliance for Women in Media honored her with a Gracie award for her series "The COVID Recession -- Worse for Women."
Megan has been there for St. Louisans during emergencies and trying times.
She was lead on-scene reporter during KMOX's coverage of the shooting at Kirkwood City Hall. She reported for CNN during the Praxair explosions. Megan and Bill Reker stepped in to co-host Total Information AM the morning after anchor Nan Wyatt's shocking death.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Several years ago, you might've noticed hearing Megan's voice less often on KMOX. She was still on the air with in-depth stories, but not heard as much on a daily basis. That's because she made a tough decision -- one that, as a young reporter, she didn't even think was possible.
Megan says early in her career she did an interview with an author who claimed that women could step away from their careers, raise their kids for a time, continue to network, and step back in when they're ready.
She remembers thinking at the time, "this isn't reality."
But then it became her reality when she decided to focus on being a mother.
"If it hadn't been for a couple of people at the station that said 'can we just keep you on for a few hours a week, doing what you do?' I wouldn't be here today. They allowed me that," she explains. "When the time came that I said 'hey can I get a few more hours?', they gave me that. And then they started asking, 'when are you going to come back full time?'"
Megan returned full-time and took to the anchor desk during the fast-paced 5-8 a.m. Total Information AM about a year-and-a-half ago.
NOW, MEGAN AND TOM
You've heard Megan with Carol during the extended Total Information AM over the last couple of weeks. From Tuesday onward, Megan and Tom will continue to be backed by the efforts of KMOX's experienced group of reporters, editors, and producers.
"Number one, it's going to be more of the same," Megan says.
But she says she'll bring her own approach and personality to the news-intensive mid-morning show.
"I think what people know about me is that I'm curious. I do my research. It's never really about me. It's about the person I'm talking to and allowing them to tell their story," she says. "Yeah, we're going to ask the tough questions. We're going to have a broad range of stuff, like we do now."
Expect Megan to be in-touch with the issues and decisions you're facing in your daily life as a St. Louis area resident. One of her recent awards, for innovation, was for creating a role in the newsroom as "Virtual Consumer Editor." She recognized that being an Amazon consumer today is much different than a Sears consumer years ago.
You'll now hear that same savvy voice taking deep dives every morning.
"It's going to be the same thing that you've come to trust," Megan says. "The in-depth interviews, the investigative work, and then some fun along the way too. Just enjoying our community and the people in it."