LOUISVILLE, Ky. — She's a household name around Louisville and one of the area's most respected and beloved journalists. Rachel Platt graced the airwaves of WHAS-TV for nearly three decades, offering viewers a comforting voice and friendly smile every time they tuned in.
Her genuine and heartfelt way of storytelling stretched far beyond Louisville. Chaperoning for Honor Flight became a passion of hers in her later reporting years. Earlier, she traveled to Vietnam to report on a group of veterans from Bardstown as they returned to the country for closure after losing five men there. She also covered the Kentucky National Guard's airlift relief operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and put herself in harm's way to deliver letters from refugees in Louisville to their loved ones in Bosnia.
Her unrelenting grit, dedication, and authenticity recently earned her a spot in the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.
"I was thrilled. I mean journalism has been my whole life since I got out of college," said Rachel. "I will tell you [this was] one of the most humbling things that has really ever happened to me."
Her Hall of Fame induction puts her among an elite class of journalists, including WHAS-TV and radio's Phyllis Knight. Knight was a pioneer for women in the broadcast industry and, although they never worked together, she became a mentor and friend to Rachel during her reporting years at WHAS. When Rachel learned Knight had never been in the press box at the Kentucky Derby because women hadn't previously been allowed, Rachel arranged for it to happen and did a story on that special moment.
"I mean [Phyllis Knight] absolutely blazed the trail for those of us who came behind her," Rachel said. "She was so raw, she was so honest and so relatable and that stuck with me about what made her a good journalist — and it was being true to the profession and true to herself."
Raw, honest, relatable — all are ways many would describe Rachel's own approach to television news. Rachel calls Knight one of her biggest cheerleaders, and as a champion of "girl power," that's a role Rachel has filled for countless young women over the years. A "boy mom" at home, the newsroom gave her an army of girls who lovingly called her "work mom."
"Work mom is one of the best titles I could ever have and I still get calls from young women and I love it. If I can help make a difference and impart any wisdom — I love doing that," said Rachel.
Rachel left WHAS in 2019, after 29 years with the station. She made it clear then that she was not retiring; it was all about the next chapter. That next chapter came in the form of a new adventure at the Frazier History Museum, where Rachel is the director of community engagement. She hosts programs at the Frazier that are raw and timely, facilitates conversations that get to the heart of the community, and of course, she's still telling stories.
"I feel like I have fallen into the perfect thing with my skill set and still hoping to make a difference and be a voice in the community to impact change and make us better here in Louisville," explained Rachel.
Rachel has had several "full circle" moments at the Frazier. She was in Guadalupe in 1999 when athlete Tori Murden made history as the first woman to row the Atlantic Ocean by herself. Rachel recently worked with Murden to incorporate her boat and story into Frazier's "Cool Kentucky" exhibit.
Some of Rachel's recent work includes hosting virtual panel discussions aimed at "Bridging the Divide" in society and the Louisville community. She's also profiled local women in charge, including LMPD Interim Police Chief Yvette Gentry and Chief of Public Safety Amy Hess.
Her new chapter came with a few other welcome changes too, namely, no more hair dye and her very first office.
"Well you know in newsrooms you had a cubicle so when they told me I was going to get an office when I came here I thought, 'Well what am I gonna put in it?' But then anybody who knows me knows my desk at work was never the neatest in the newsroom," Rachel said with a laugh. "You saw my office, right? There's stuff everywhere. Papers everywhere. I'm a packrat."
Rachel has called journalism her "obsession" because she never stops working. True to form, she never stopped telling stories when she left television. With a new audience at the Frazier, she enters the Hall of Fame with an illustrious career behind her and a familiar promise for the future — stay tuned.