ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- The Voice of St. Louis is home to Cardinals Nation, to entertaining talk shows, and to award-winning local news coverage. Now, for 2022, the KMOX newsroom has been recognized with awards that are among the most prestigious in news: six regional Edward R. Murrow awards.
St. Louisans consume KMOX News' reporting through Total Information AM every morning, newscast updates at the top of every hour, Facebook live streams, “print”-style web stories, podcasts, talk show/sister radio station debriefs of our reporters, and more.
The Radio Television Digital News Directors Association says the Murrow awards "exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community" and demonstrate the excellence Ed Murrow set as standard.
Awards are presented to organizations, not individuals. These six entries are now automatically entered into the national Murrow competition. Winners of that are expected to be announced this summer.
Here are KMOX's six winning entries:
Breaking News - The Death of Bobby Plager
St. Louis Blues legend Bob Plager died in a car accident on a St. Louis highway. The newsroom confirmed this emotional news and then KMOX became the community hearth. Stories about the local icon from journalists and former players took over the afternoon and evening programs. Phone lines were jammed. Meantime, our reporters checked out the scene and talked with those outside the team's arena.
Continuing Coverage - St. Louis is Grooming Unicorns
After relentless bulletins of corporate mergers, relocations, and bankruptcies, stripping away pillars of civic pride, St. Louisans have new reason to hope. The rust-belt river town is reinventing itself as a technology hotbed. In 2021, two homegrown start-ups achieved 'unicorn' status. Learning that term's definition was just the beginning of St. Louis' innovation education via KMOX. Our established credibility in the field prompted founders to give us exclusive access. From accelerator programs to new career options, KMOX aimed to explain this upheaval with context and objectivity.
Innovation - Media Literacy Project
Learning to analyze media messages should be considered a 21st Century survival skill. The average American adult spends more than 11 hours a day interacting with some form of media, according to Nielsen. Gallup and Pew have documented the dwindling trust in legacy media. Nearly half of Americans turn to social media for their "news." KMOX News wants to empower our audience to think critically about the media messages they consume and share -- even messages from KMOX. In 2021 we created the KMOX Media Literacy Project.
News Series - When Will it End?
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COVID has taken a tremendous toll. The last year has brought enormous loss and sacrifice. We're weary and anxious to get beyond the pandemic. KMOX News is searching for answers to the question so many of us have been asking: "When Will It End?"
Newscast - Total Information AM 3/24/21 6 a.m.
St. Louisans are on the verge of a major decision. KMOX brings clarity on the essential issues and fosters discourse in the campaign for mayor. We're answering pandemic-era questions like 'when can my coffee shop reopen?' and 'is my company ditching the office?' Our reporters are watching the eviction schedule and standing up for the public's interest at closed-door meetings. Neither state nor U.S. capitols are news deserts; in fact, we have a resident correspondent at Missouri's. Our health editor tracks local vaccine developments. This is Total Information AM at 6 a.m. on March 24th, 2021. (National news, commercials, traffic, weather, and Bloomberg business reports are excluded.)
Overall Excellence - KMOX News
2021 was a year of disruption and evolution. KMOX News brought St. Louisans closer to understanding and helped them make informed decisions.
We moderated a mayoral debate. Created a new podcast and franchise to spread media literacy. Investigative series asked the pandemic question: "When will it end?" Our continuing, explanatory coverage of the region's economic upheaval and innovation reinvention was unmatched. We had live, extended play-by-play of a riot at the city jail, sound-rich political dispatches, a profile of a transgender activist, and always end with a smile.