The local CBS affiliate gave no timetable for the longtime KC meteorolgist's departure in a press release e-mailed today, just that it would be later this year.
In the statement, KCTV general manager Bobby Totsch said, “We have spent a great deal of time talking about her future and right now she feels she needs some additional time with her young daughters. We discussed several options, but we simply couldn’t figure out a way to make it all work. I’m certain her career as a meteorologist is far from over, it may just be on hold for a bit.”
The statement said Horner had been part of the station and KCTV5 News for more than 17 years.
In the statement, Horner said, “I will miss the day to day excitement that comes with the job and the opportunity to inform our viewers,” said Horner in the released statement. “I believe all meteorologists play a role in keeping people feeling safe in severe weather conditions, and I know we have made that a focus at KCTV over the years. I have met and worked with a lot of great people in the KC area and I will still be happy to call KC my home. I will still be around, and hope to be involved with something that allows me to do what I enjoy and still do what is best for my girls. I just want to say thank you to all of the viewers who allowed me to come into their homes each night.”
Said KCTV News Director Blaise Labbe: “We are not going to let her leave just yet. Having Katie here a while longer will allow us some time to plan our future.”
Meteorologist Katie Horner leaves St. Louis station, returns to KC
As it turns out, TV meteorologist Katie Horner never really left Kansas City.
She had been doing weather at a St. Louis station since January 2013. But she recently quit her gig at KMOV, Channel 4, to return to her home and three daughters here.
“Dear St. Louis friends,” Horner wrote on Facebook May 28, “I have moved back to KC. My children needed me to be home full time. KMOV was supportive of my need to go home. They have been awesome.”
KMOV news director Brian Thouvenot told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Horner had been commuting to and from Kansas City each weekend.
“We hated to see her go, but we also understand her wanting to be with her family,” he said.
On KMOV, Horner delivered forecasts at noon and 5 p.m. weekdays.
She was a fixture — and sometimes a lightning rod for controversy — at KCTV-5 in Kansas City for 17 years. She joined the station in 1994 and became chief meteorologist, replacing Gary Amble, in 1998.
She's selling Real Estate now in KC...I'm sure she points out the basements and door jambs that will make for excellent storm protection. Hope she provides a bicycle helmet with every sale. [Reply]
