In depth: KSDK's Mike Bush heads to retirement

On the Powers That Be podcast, we examine the players and currents behind today's most consequential decisions. Join us, listen to the Powers That Be, wherever you get your podcasts. Mike Bush, he's been a Channel 5 mainstay for four decades, and he's signing off after anchoring tonight's 6 p.m. news. His final 10 p.m. newscast was last night. But this morning, our own Michael Calhoun sat down for an exit interview. with a man whose career has been about bringing people together. First through sports and laughter, and then through heart and knowledge. Here's Mike Bush. I'm sure you were very busy, so thank you for taking the time to do this. It's my pleasure, Michael. How are you feeling? It's just a very weird feeling and very bittersweet. When you first came to St. Louis, were you thinking this is a city and a station, a newsroom where I can, you know, put down roots and settle down? Or were you thinking, heck, Janice Huff just came through here and went to WNBC. Maybe I can follow her. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, my first job was in Tucson, Arizona, and then I went to New Orleans, and then I went to Kansas City. and then to St. Louis, and that was all in about five or six years. So I just thought this would be another stop because back then, the idea was to go up in markets in order for you to make a living. And, I mean, my first job in Tucson, Arizona was for $8,500 a year. So you tried to make your way up so you could, you know, support a family and that kind of thing. And so when I first got to St. Louis, I didn't know. And, you know, I remember distinctly July 8, 1985. I'm driving to work on Highway 40, headed downtown, wondering how long this would last. And 41 years later, I'm still here. I can remember watching with my dad during your big transition, and I always thought it was so cool how you would walk from the anchor desk through the cameras to the Sports Plus set. Yeah. What was it like? What led to the transition from sports to news? What was that like for you? I had been asked to move to news in the late 90s, and I thought... Why would I want to do that? We were having such a good time in sports. You know, again, back then, we had a big sports staff. It was me, and it was Frank Kusumano, and we had Trey Wingo in there, and Malcolm Briggs, and we had a couple of producers, and we were putting on our Sports Plus show, which at that time was an hour long, and when you were doing sports back then, and you had reasonable success, you had a lot of autonomy. Like we could make decisions, but on our content, whatever we decided, you know, as long as it didn't cost too much. So, you know, that was a lot of fun, and I was having a good time doing it, and I had no desire to go into news. And then 9-11 happened. And...

We probably didn't do sports for about a week, and I was trying to help the news department in any way I could. And when they asked me again, I started thinking about all the stories that I might be able to tell, you know, coming from a different angle besides sports, and that's when I said yes. So I think the opportunity to tell all different kinds of stories and meet all kinds of different people was something that I wanted to take on, and I'm glad I did. What is it like in this era? People have so much mistrust of not just the media, but institutions in general. You know, talking with people of different political persuasions, backgrounds. you might be the most trusted person in St. Louis. Do you think maybe that background in sports, people thought of you as a friend? And so when you made the transition, they thought he's going to be a straight shooter with me. Well, I do. I don't think it's me. I do think it's local news. I have never once been in an editorial meeting. So every day at 2.30 in the afternoon. we have an editorial meeting about what's going to be on our newscast that day at 10 o'clock. And never once has anybody said, well, you know, we need to lean this way or we need to lean that way. The entire job of everybody who is sitting in that editorial meeting is we're focused on the viewers and getting them the facts. And getting facts and getting it right, getting to the truth is hard work. That requires oftentimes research or requires talking to more than just one person to get your story. But in local news, that's our responsibility. Our responsibility is to the viewer. Our opinion does not matter. What you want to do is present the story to the viewers so they can make up their own mind. And at least here at KSDK, but I do think this is something that goes on all over the country in local news. We care about the local viewers. We live in our towns, and we just want the viewers to get, you know, important information, but to get both sides of that information and get to the truth. as a kid we went to the opening of a mercantile bank on manchester road and they had a hot dog stand out there and my dad said these hot dogs are not nearly as good as the place that was in this building before the bank which was mike bush's hot dog yeah what's the story behind well no it was all my brother so my brother rob for some reason he thought maybe it would help just you know get the place off the ground if he named it after me I'm not sure that helped at all. So he had that place, the Mike Bush Hot Dog Zone, for a very short time. But it was a lot of fun while it was here. And I remember we did a radio show there when I was working with J.C. Corcoran on his morning radio show. And we did it there. And my brother really loved it because people were coming to see the radio station and the customers were coming in. That was a big day for him.

Hey, gang, it's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves, and we are going to move. We are going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Well, what is next for you? Might it be, speaking of nostalgia? Might it be some sports in my shorts morning radio hits? Or what would you like to do now? I, well, so one of the reasons that I've made this decision at this time is, you know, when you talk about the news every single night, you have to report on the news every single night, it's a lot of murder and mayhem. For many, many years, I was able to compartmentalize that. As I've gotten a little older, I've had a harder time letting it go when I get home. It often keeps me up at night. That terrible story that we had just a week or two ago about the couple that ended up in Guatemala when the husband was deported and they ended up murdered. And I... I mean, I just really had a hard time dealing with that. And it just stayed in my head how awful that was. And so one of the things I did early on when I became a news anchor was focus on the positive, try to tell China light on people who. We're making a difference in the community. And so what I want my next chapter to be is that I want to focus on the positive in St. Louis. I'll continue to do the Musial Awards, which also focuses on sportsmanship and kindness. I'm going to do occasional making a difference report still for Channel 5. I won't be on the anchor desk, but I'll occasionally show up doing that. And then we'll see what else, how I'm not quite sure how that will manifest itself. I have a couple of ideas that, you know, I just haven't worked out yet. And I will say this, you know, I wanted to be a broadcaster since I was five years old. It never changed. I never said, oh, maybe I'll be an accountant or maybe I'll be this or that. I always wanted to be a broadcaster and I've gotten to live it for. 50 years and I still want to do it. It's not that I want to, you know, retire to a rocking chair. So I'll have a much more flexible schedule. I'll spend a little bit more time with my family and my grandkids and try to enjoy that. But I will hopefully continue to tell stories and but focus on the positive and trying to shine a light on these ordinary people who do extraordinary things. in helping mankind. Karen and Mike and watching Channel 5, Art and Jennifer in the morning. I mean, that is why I'm doing what I'm doing. Well, I mean, the fact that we were some kind of inspiration is, I think that's great. And you do a fantastic job. And so I'm very pleased that we met something to you. And that's our Michael Calhoun with Mike Bush, whose last newscast is at 6 p.m. tonight.

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