Ray Preston
News 4 Reporter
Ray Preston has waded through waist-deep floodwaters, chased tornadoes in Oklahoma, strapped on skates and stood in front of a goal blocking hockey pucks - just to get a news story! He co-anchors "News 4 This Weekend" on Saturday mornings and reports for News 4 throughout the week. Preston is a native St. Louisan (Normandy High School class of '77), but he worked in Texas, California and Oklahoma before returning home. Preston joined KMOV-TV in 1997 as a General Assignment Reporter. He has won several awards throughout his career, including an Emmy for his investigative series "Free Ride." Preston exposed people who were using ambulances as taxi cabs by claiming an illness in order to be transported across town. The series led to a change in policy for St. Louis emergency crews.Preston worked as a reporter, photographer, producer and anchor at stations in Amarillo, Texas; Salinas, Calif.; Springfield, Mo.; and Oklahoma City, Okla. As a reporter for KFOR in Oklahoma City, he extensively covered the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, and was sent back to his hometown of St. Louis to cover the Great Flood of 1993. While reporting for KSBW-TV in Salinas, Calif., he covered the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 that caused more than $6 billion in damage and left thousands of people homeless. He traveled throughout much of the United States with his family while growing up and, in 1981, took a semester off from college to backpack around Europe with a college buddy. Preston earned a Bachelor's degree in History and a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri.Preston is married to News 4's Health Team Reporter Lisa Manzo. They have one son and one daughter. When they're not reporting the family enjoys rehabbing a historic building they bought in the city as well as traveling and camping.
E-mail Ray at rpreston@kmov.com.
