Why this reporter's TV segment video goes viral every year
Back in 2016, he was told by his boss to get out of his "comfort zone" -- and the report he turned in struck such a chord with viewers that every February, it goes viral all over again.
ByAllison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 18, 2022 4:38 PM EDT
|
Updated Jan 31, 2023 5:55 PM EDT
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St. Louis reporter Kevin Killeen delivered a passionate broadcast in 2016 about the bleakness of the month of February. (Credit: KMOX News)
Most people favor certain months of the year, and typically the warmer seasons win us over. But a reporter at KMOX radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, didn't mince words about how he felt during his now-viral broadcast: There's no doubt about it, February is the pits.
"February is the worst month of the year, but at least it's honest," reporter Kevin Killeen declares as his video segment opens atop a parking garage in downtown St. Louis.
The two-minute segment shows Killeen in a dark trench coat surrounded by dull, dark gray buildings as a low fog blankets the downtown skyline.
"The buildings don't even look like they have any lights in them during a workday. Something great happened here, but it's over with, and that's the way February is," he says with a straight-face and deadpan tone.
At one point, he describes life as "stripped down to the starkness of February" as the camera pans around to show a number of bare trees on a dismal and dreary weekday.
The video then brings the viewer down to the street level, showing how dull and tired the city looks on this particular February day.
"Look around downtown on a February workday," Killeen says in an incredibly droll voice-over as the video zooms in on a gray and bleak-looking downtown. "This looks like a place where people who are being punished are sent."
February is so bad, Killeen pines, that it's even manifested in the way people walk and how they look.
"Nobody is tap dancing or breaking into a Rodgers and Hammerstein song," he said, referring to the famed Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical-writing team of the 1940s and '50s. "It's their lunch hour, and they're just barely able to get across the street and hunker over a bowl of chili."
"Something great happened here, but it's over with, and that's the way February is."
Kevin Killeen
Wrapping up his witty look at February, Killeen passes along some sage advice: "My father used to have a saying: 'If you can live through February, you can live another year.'"
Every year since the video report was created in 2016, it resurfaces and circulates around St. Louis. But this year was different. Killeen's funny deadpan report has resonated further, and a national audience picked it up.
"Here is a time in our lives when we're sick of politics, we're sick of the pandemic, and along comes this little feature where the enemy is the month of February, and everyone is like, 'Yeah! I hate February, too!' and so they all jumped on board, and there is not one disparaging word," Killeen said in an interview on St. Louis Talks on Feb. 4.
Many people even took to Twitter to share the video, admiring Killeen's accurate description of the month.
"I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry, but this is indeed the best description of February ever," one user wrote on Twitter.
Many people wonder how the story was pitched to management at the radio station, but Killeen told St. Louis Talks show that it actually wasn't something he pitched.
"[The] program director Steven Moore called me into his office...he said, 'Kevin, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Why don't you do some videos?' and I said, 'Uh, ok.'"
That's when Kevin started making videos for a side project called "Whole 'Nother Story," which included his now-famous "February" report
According to his bio on KMOX's website, Killeen was always getting in trouble for injecting humor into the news, but this side project was an opportunity for him to showcase a variety of people and ideas.
Killeen, noticing the traction his video was getting, took to Twitter on Feb. 4 and tweeted his thanks for "all the kind words."
Thanks for all the very kind words about my report on February. I thought it was just me, but apparently a lot of us feel near to flickering out this month. I avoid all major decisions in February—vacuuming, haircuts, swing dance lessons. The right path will emerge by spring.
Killeen told St. Louis Talks in 2022 that "my general feeling is, you do miss the sunlight and after the holidays and you get to the middle of February, and the tank is really low."
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Why this reporter's TV segment video goes viral every year
Back in 2016, he was told by his boss to get out of his "comfort zone" -- and the report he turned in struck such a chord with viewers that every February, it goes viral all over again.
By Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 18, 2022 4:38 PM EDT | Updated Jan 31, 2023 5:55 PM EDT
St. Louis reporter Kevin Killeen delivered a passionate broadcast in 2016 about the bleakness of the month of February. (Credit: KMOX News)
Most people favor certain months of the year, and typically the warmer seasons win us over. But a reporter at KMOX radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, didn't mince words about how he felt during his now-viral broadcast: There's no doubt about it, February is the pits.
"February is the worst month of the year, but at least it's honest," reporter Kevin Killeen declares as his video segment opens atop a parking garage in downtown St. Louis.
The two-minute segment shows Killeen in a dark trench coat surrounded by dull, dark gray buildings as a low fog blankets the downtown skyline.
"The buildings don't even look like they have any lights in them during a workday. Something great happened here, but it's over with, and that's the way February is," he says with a straight-face and deadpan tone.
At one point, he describes life as "stripped down to the starkness of February" as the camera pans around to show a number of bare trees on a dismal and dreary weekday.
The video then brings the viewer down to the street level, showing how dull and tired the city looks on this particular February day.
"Look around downtown on a February workday," Killeen says in an incredibly droll voice-over as the video zooms in on a gray and bleak-looking downtown. "This looks like a place where people who are being punished are sent."
February is so bad, Killeen pines, that it's even manifested in the way people walk and how they look.
"Nobody is tap dancing or breaking into a Rodgers and Hammerstein song," he said, referring to the famed Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical-writing team of the 1940s and '50s. "It's their lunch hour, and they're just barely able to get across the street and hunker over a bowl of chili."
Wrapping up his witty look at February, Killeen passes along some sage advice: "My father used to have a saying: 'If you can live through February, you can live another year.'"
Every year since the video report was created in 2016, it resurfaces and circulates around St. Louis. But this year was different. Killeen's funny deadpan report has resonated further, and a national audience picked it up.
"Here is a time in our lives when we're sick of politics, we're sick of the pandemic, and along comes this little feature where the enemy is the month of February, and everyone is like, 'Yeah! I hate February, too!' and so they all jumped on board, and there is not one disparaging word," Killeen said in an interview on St. Louis Talks on Feb. 4.
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Many people even took to Twitter to share the video, admiring Killeen's accurate description of the month.
"I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry, but this is indeed the best description of February ever," one user wrote on Twitter.
Many people wonder how the story was pitched to management at the radio station, but Killeen told St. Louis Talks show that it actually wasn't something he pitched.
"[The] program director Steven Moore called me into his office...he said, 'Kevin, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Why don't you do some videos?' and I said, 'Uh, ok.'"
That's when Kevin started making videos for a side project called "Whole 'Nother Story," which included his now-famous "February" report
According to his bio on KMOX's website, Killeen was always getting in trouble for injecting humor into the news, but this side project was an opportunity for him to showcase a variety of people and ideas.
Killeen, noticing the traction his video was getting, took to Twitter on Feb. 4 and tweeted his thanks for "all the kind words."
Killeen told St. Louis Talks in 2022 that "my general feeling is, you do miss the sunlight and after the holidays and you get to the middle of February, and the tank is really low."
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