KMOV Reporter Chris Stanford says that he was called into the bosses office on Friday and told his services were no longer needed. 

"I showed up at 2 p.m. (Friday) with every intention of working for the 10 p.m. newscast," Stanford said in an interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. 

Stanford said that when he met with some station managers to talk about a different matter, "they then told me they were going to exercise an option in my contract" to dismiss Stanford without cause.

Stanford had been a regular contributor to KMOV's coverage of the unrest in Ferguson. His Twitter feed shows his last dispatch from the scene to be: "Calm in #Ferguson tonight."

Stanford said KMOV managers complimented him on his work in Ferguson, and did not point to any specific problems with his previous work.

"They basically were saying that (Stanford's employment at KMOV) wasn't a good fit. I don't know what to say to that, since my last review was around the end of 2013. And at that time, they said I 'met expectations,'" he said.

"It was a surprise to me," he said.

KMOV news director Brian Thouvenot said he could only say Stanford "no longer works at the station."

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