Sara Bannoura

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Retired Channel 4 Producer

"Whatever you do, do not let Sara leave."

KMOV was about to go through staff reductions, and as a veteran employee, they called me in and asked for my opinion. It took me about two seconds to tell them what I said above.

Those were dark times. We lost some valuable, hardworking people. As I got up to leave that meeting, I turned and looked back at them one more time.

"You can't lose her," I said.

Thankfully, they didn't.

In the years that followed before my retirement, Sara and I had the opportunity to work closely together on many projects, including those that won Murrow awards and Emmy nominations. Those are nice for the resume, and certainly reflective of her work. But they barely begin to touch the surface of Sara.

Having worked for more than 40 years in newspaper, radio, and television, in small markets, medium and large, I have had the opportunity to watch hundreds, if not thousands of people walk in and out the doors of my journalistic life. And I have had the privilege of working with many outstanding partners.

None better than Sara.

During those years, I had to hire, and sometimes fire people. I would be upfront and tell them all the same thing on the first day. "You have to be good at what you do, and you have to be great at being a human being."

Sara was great at both.

When I think of her, I am always reminded of a short conversation we had one day driving back from an interview. I asked her what she wanted to do with her career. She just smiled.

"I want to produce stories that make a difference for people, stories that help people, stories for the disenfranchised."

These, of course, were certainly more important than whatever stories I was working on.

And she did them, from a refugee family trying to navigate north St. Louis to a food company serving the south side for more than 100 years. You read those stories, and you understand how good she is. And then you get to know her, really know her, and you understand how great she is.

Channel 4 Reporter, Producer

Sara's creativity takes her storytelling ability to another level. I watched her use that ability to edit a 50-minute documentary on the St. Louis fentanyl crisis. 

She took reporting from more than 20 interviews and additional elements and captured a story for an audience that reached more than one million people just months after being published. She was an integral part of the project and showed how teamwork can make a story captivating, thorough, and useful for the community.

Sara also brings a passion to her work as a journalist that cannot be overstated. She truly cares about the community she lives in, which has made her reporting well-rounded and thoughtful. She combines that with a keen eye for editing, which she has developed a serious talent for in her professional career. 

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with her in TV news. 

Channel 4 Reporter, Podcaster

Sara is a very talented storyteller, editor, and collaborator. 

For years we worked together in multiple capacities in the newsroom but our biggest project was producing a weekly podcast that reaches thousands of listeners each week. From planning to editing to capturing footage, she made every workday smoother.

She has a great eye for big-picture storytelling and always sees the interesting antidotes or piece of information that takes a story from interesting to inspiring.