Lou Knight

Lou Knight (born Alasdair Lewis McKnight; 7 October 1932 – 11 May 2022) was a Scottish-born American network television journalist and author. He was the sole anchor and managing editor of RKO National News for 27 years (1979–2006).

Knight started his career in the 1950s, hosting news and information programmes for and later the BBC General Overseas Service (now the ). In 1963, after a brief period working for the, he was tapped by the RKO Network to host RKO Afternoon News. He became a foreign correspondent in 1968.

Knight returned to anchoring duties in 1975 as part of a four-anchor setup for RKO National News, and he was promoted to sole anchorman in 1979. In addition to anchoring, he was the host of many RKO News special reports. Knight, who became an American citizen in 1976, extensively covered both American and international politics.

Knight was one of the "big four" news anchormen, along with Tom Brokaw of NBC, Peter Jennings of ABC and Dan Rather of CBS, who dominated American evening network news from the early 1980s until his retirement in 2006, which closely followed the retirements from anchoring evening news programs of Brokaw in 2004 and Rather in 2005 and the death of Jennings in 2005.

Early life
Alasdair Lewis McKnight was born in, on 7 October 1932 to Lachlan McKnight (born 1900) and Maura McKnight (née MacCabe; born 1901).

At age 16, McKnight ran away from home to join the. Following his discharge from the merchant service, he began pursuing a career as a newsreader. He took the professional name Lou Knight, which he eventually adopted as his legal name.

Early career
Knight began his career on in 1955, doing brief news updates every few hours. He later moved to the BBC Overseas Service, now the, in 1957, where he was a newsreader for four years, occasionally also presenting on the. In 1961, he left the BBC and moved to to work for the  as a reporter. In July 1963, he was sent by the CBC to cover the launch of from. There, he ran into John A. Edgren, then president of the RKO Network's news department, who offered him a job as a correspondent for the American network. Since Knight was unpleased with how he was treated by the CBC, he accepted the offer and moved to the United States.

Early days with RKO Network and RKO Afternoon News anchor
Knight started reporting for RKO News' bureau. At the time, the RKO News division was fledgling, propped up mainly by the experienced George Beckingham and the RKO Morning News and fellow Scot Norman McDuff and the RKO National News.

In October 1966, RKO News plucked the young Scottish reporter from the field and put him behind the desk for the RKO Afternoon News, a 1-1:30 pm newscast, replacing Ted Outhier, who had been reassigned to the weekend evening newscast of WRKO-TV in New York after an altercation with John A. Edgren.

Barely experienced with anchoring a newscast, being primarily trained in radio newsreading, Knight had a hard time keeping up with his rivals at the other networks. Some viewers disliked Knight's "trans-Atlantic" accent he adopted over the years, and others felt he wasn't a good anchor. After close to two rocky years, Knight quit to become a foreign correspondent.

Foreign correspondent
Knight attempted to build his journalism credentials abroad. In 1970, he established RKO News' Southeast Asia bureau in, the first American television news bureau in the region. In 1973, Knight married Josephine Yeoh, a Malaysian photographer.

On August 4, 1975, Knight returned to anchoring duties as part of a four-anchor setup for the revamped RKO National News, with George Beckingham in, Ed Danneberg in , Helen Oxford in and Knight in. Knight's official title was "International Anchor", but he was still the network's chief foreign correspondent.

As part of the "four-anchor" setup, Knight continued to cover major international issues, especially in Asia. With Knight's nightly appearances from an anchor desk in London, RKO promoted itself as being more dedicated to international news than any other network.

Death
Knight died on the morning of 11 May 2022 at his home in from complications from a botched bone marrow transplant. He was 89 years old. Todd Benkow broke into Wake Up America in the eastern U.S. and regular programming in the west to announce Knight's death.

Knight was cremated and his ashes were divided into three halves. Half of his ashes remained in his home in, another half was scattered in the and the rest remained at his summer home in.