Longtime KAMR News Anchor Says Farewell

It's not very often that the people you watch on an Amarillo news station become the news. I mean I can remember a time or two. That is not always a good thing. Then this bombshell was dropped by Jackie Kingston herself.

Now I have known Jackie since 2010. I was fortunate enough to meet her when we both served as loaned executives for United Way. We would run into each other for work things over the years. Even more, since we have KAMR Local News 4 as a media partner here at the radio station.

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She was out covering our Help 4 the Holidays event right before Christmas. We got to catch up and chat. We shared a few laughs. She was out with us on that Monday and Tuesday. Then we didn't see her the rest of the week. It was getting close to Christmas so I thought she was off on assignment or started vacation.

Where is Jackie Kingston?

Then the questions kept hitting social media. I saw more than one post asking where Jackie was. What was going on with her? I am not going to say that I have not wondered where the heck Jackie Kingston had been as well. I even chatted about this very topic with some of my coworkers.

Christmas vacation we expect people to take time off. Then the new year hit and she still wasn't back. It had been over a month. Where is our Jackie? I feel in Amarillo we really get attached to certain news people who have been around forever. You know, like Jackie and her on-air partner Andy Justus.

The News We Were Waiting to See

Then it finally seemed like everything was right with the world again when Jackie popped back up on her Facebook page.

I will tell you people were excited to see that. We come to expect to see Jackie and Andy every day. When one of them is missing we notice. Things were going to be ok. Until this next post, when I started to worry.

It was that big announcement coming on Monday that got me. I read between the lines and figured I was not going to like it. I get it. We don't have to like it. Oh, but all selfishness aside for all of us in Amarillo we are happy for Jackie.

I will say we are very thankful for the time Jackie spent on our TVs bringing us the news. I will also say that we are even more thankful that she came back for these few weeks and gave Amarillo news a proper goodbye. I know we would have hated it if she never came back and we always had to wonder.

That happens a lot in the media anyway. So kudos to Jackie. Kudos to KAMR Local News 4. We have nothing but respect for all of the years of hard work and friendship from Jackie.

We wish her nothing but success and hope that she knows Amarillo loves her.