Brad Schmitt

brad@tennessean.com

Anne Holt, Nashville's most veteran TV news anchor, will leave WKRN-News 2's anchor desk at the end of the month, she announced to colleagues.

Holt has been at News 2 for 40 years, and she has served as primary anchor there since 1980.

"It’s a bittersweet thing," Holt told The Tennessean hours after an emotional staff meeting in her newsroom. "Even as rough as the business becomes, the people around you is the reason you do it."

Hold will remain with the station to do on-air and community projects. Her first will be a 30-minute special for Black History Month in February.

Beyond that, Holt hopes to do feel-good stories about positive community initiatives and leaders.

"When I first started out in this business, there was a lot to prove," she said. "I plunged into every beat to prove that I could do any story. And I’ve done them all. Mission accomplished.

"Over the years, I've figured out doing the soft [stories] makes you feel a lot better. And they do more for other people. And I want to be able to introduce our viewers to iconic people, who have made the foundation for what Nashville is now."

Colleagues from News 2 and its competitors had kind words for Holt.

"Needless to say, I will miss having Anne by my side night after night but this her decision," Bob Mueller, who has sat next to Holt for more than 30 years, posted on Facebook. "You are a tremendous role model for all of us."

Veteran Channel 4 anchor Demetria Kalodimos called Holt a trailblazer.

"Newer viewers may not realize the obstacles and hurdles Anne had to conquer to get to where she is in our profession. When you look at today's newsrooms you see far more women than men. And you see diverse faces as well," she said in an email to The Tennessean.

"It wasn't always like that and it wasn't that long ago. Anne Holt had to convince the deciders to 'take a chance' on her. Hard to believe."

Holt hopes her replacement on the anchor desk will be a person of color.

"Of course I do. It’s a very diverse city. It is more diverse now than it has ever been. The newsroom should reflect the diversity of the community it serves."

Holt said she grew up poor, one of 12 children of sharecroppers in the rural small town of Henning in West Tennessee. She took advantage of financial aid to go to the University of Tennessee's main campus in Knoxville, where she landed her first TV news job as a weathercaster in 1973.

Reach Brad Schmitt at 615-259-8384 or on Twitter @bradschmitt.