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KPLR-TV was founded by Harold Koplar, owner of St. Louis’ famed Chase Park Plaza Hotel. (Per FCC regulations, radio and TV stations east of the Mississippi have call letters that begin with the letter “W.” All stations west of the Mississippi have call letters beginning with “K.”) Our call letters, KPLR, represent the Koplar family name without the vowels.

Harold Koplar signed his new station on the air on April 28, 1959 with the first-ever live telecast of a Cardinal Baseball game in the St. Louis area. (This is disputable. Ed.)

KPLR was the first VHF independent station in St. Louis, located for 40 years in the Central West End at 4935 Lindell Boulevard – next to the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

Edward J. (Ted) Koplar, Harold’s son, became a full-time employee in the mid-1960s and soon after developed KPLR’s first newscast. Within three years after its inception, “KPLR Newswatch” was the number one rated Independent television newscast in the country.

Ted was named President, Koplar Communications in April 1979. The company continued to grow and expand its tradition of innovation in programming and technology.

KPLR installed a satellite receive dish (completed in 1976) making KPLR the first broadcast facility in the county licensed by the FCC to own and operate a satellite earth station.

In 1983, the station installed the area’s first and only satellite uplink transmission facility making KPLR one of the busiest teleports in the Midwest for news and sports transmissions.

In 1984, KPLR became the first station in St. Louis and one of the first in the country to convert to full stereo sound.

One of the most important days for our history occurred in 1988 when Ted Koplar headed the effort to win back exclusive rights to telecast St. Louis Cardinals Baseball on KPLR. This put us back on the map as a strong and major player in the marketplace!

KPLR was one of the original “charter” members of the WB Network headed by Jamie Kellner. The WB did whatever they could to secure KPLR – not because KPLR needed the affiliation, but because the WB needed a strong station that brought with it a rich and credible history. In January 1995, the WB officially “launched” the network and KPLR soon became known as their “crown jewel.” KPLR’s network affiliation basically involved prime programming with shows primarily targeted to young adults and ethnic audiences.

ACME Television Holdings, also created by Jamie Kellner, purchased KPLR in 1977. So after a history of family ownership, KPLR moved into the future as a privately held company. By this time, KPLR was recognized as one of the top WB affiliates in the nation. (During that era we usually ranked as the #1 WB affiliate but never dropped under one of the top three.)

In March, 2003, Tribune purchased KPLR to add to the strength of their television empire. It was under this new ownership and umbrella that the CW Television Network launched its 2006 inaugural television season. “The New CW” featured a mixture of programming from both the UPN and The WB television networks, The CW was no more than a joint venture between CBS Corporation, owner of UPN, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Time Warner, majority owner of the WB. Its name derived from the first letter of the names of these two giants (CBS and Warner Bros.) In trade magazines like Variety, the CW is referred to as the green network, most likely since its first logos and campaigns were in green.

In 2007 Sam Zell agreed to take Tribune private in an $8.2 billion deal that values the company at $13 billion.

(Provided by KPLR)

Hints for Homemakers

Who said that TV is the homemaker’s menace – hypnotizing the little woman in her ringside seat while mirth and music pour forth and housework goes undone? Nay, not in St. Louis at least. For here’s KSD-TV to the rescue with “Open House,” the new program that helps put more “home” in homemaking and takes some of the work out of housework.

This Thursday afternoon show (2:30) is really a clinic on homemaking, where Mrs. St. Louis gets hints and helps to make the daily chores lighter and the old homestead more livable.

Behind the scenes of this locally produced television program is a staff of professional experts whose sole aim is to see that all material conforms to practical home situations and that it is presented in a manner easily understood  by the viewer.

So when the doors of “Open House” swing open at the beginning of every telecast, it represents a considerable amount of planning and “fixing for company.”

For instance, Kay Morton, hostess of “Open House,” appreciates the dilemma of being both housewife and mother. Her 3-year old Jimmy clamors for his share of her attention as she prepares her program every week. But like many an other “working mother” she must arrange her work and time so that all phases of the homemaker’s task plus job is(sic) adequately handled.

Planning her material far in advance of the program, the “Open House” hostess submits her outlines to the program’s Technical Advisor, Miss Esther Lee Bride of the Union Electric Company, for a careful checking before it goes into script form.

Follows then eight hours of rehearsal, two before camera, before the show finally goes on the air.

Fifteen minutes after the door of “Open House” closes and ends the program. the entire staff; actors, producer, director, consultant go into a huddle to begin the round of conference and work of producing the next week’s show.

Hostessing the “Open House” show is a “natural” for Kay Morton, who spent 8 years behind microphones of several St. Louis radio stations before going before television cameras. Her specialty was women’s features and fashions. She also found time to serve as a board member for the Girl Scouts, do publicity work and her career since her graduation from Washington University with a degree in Journalism also includes selling in a prominent downtown shop and handling the advertising campaign for a personal appearance of Comedian Bob Hope in St. Louis.

As a radio news and feature woman. she covered the Churchill-Truman appearance and addresses at Fulton, Missouri, has wire-recorded broadcasts from a dirigible and a glider, broadcast the Veiled Prophet Ball and claims to be the only woman to do a lion-cage interview, complete with lions.

Speaking of lions may be a good place to present her “opposite” on “Open House,” Dave Russell, who has done a bit of “kicking-about” himself. His interest in the theater was so compelling that he admits to working as a bouncer to get money to live on while attending the American Repertory Theater, where he studied Acting Technique with Madam Maria Ouspenskaya and was protege of the famed director Alexander Korionsky. Always the man’s man, Dave Russell once became a prospector on the Mojave Desert. No gold was discovered but he did find a deposit of a substance valuable in oilwell drilling  called “rotary mud.”

If Kay Morton and Dave Russell could talk about their own personal experiences on “Open House,” they would in themselves make good program material. But they would rather do the demonstrations of the topics selected for the homemaker’s benefit and talk about the prize of refrigerator and electric range offered for the most valuable Household Hint submitted.

Rounding out this valuable service to women who must shop the food markets is Catherine Brent, Home Economist in Marketing with the Market Extension Service at the University of Missouri. A portion of “Open House” is given over to the Marketing Extension Service for its report on “News for Food Shoppers.” Aside from her professional training, Catherine Brent, too, knows homemaking from the practical angle. She is the mother of three little Brents and women may know that when Catherine makes a recommendation regarding fruits, vegetables, meats and produce on the market, it deserves a full and careful noting. A pencil in hand during her report is definitely advised.

This is what you see on an “Open House” telecast. What you do not see is the importance of the program’s direction handled by Director Bradford Whitney now with KSD-TV but formerly of the St. Louis Community Playhouse; of the contribution of Technical Director Elmer Peters and other members of the studio staff who put the feature on the air; of property manager Bill Speers and his crew, floor manager Mel Randoll, cameramen, control-room men, all cooperating wholeheartedly with Producer Emerson Russell to give the homemaker what may be, for her, one of the most profitable half-hours of the week, in television’s “Open House.”

(Originally published in TV Review 2/2/1951).

In a recent poll by TV Review “To The Ladies” was voted the number one local show by an overwhelming majority. This is not hard to realize when you meet the people who produce and perform on the show. Here’s our formula for a lunch hour treat. Find a place to eat with a television set and watch “To The Ladies” while you eat. It’s a relaxing and entertaining way of enjoying lunch.

But let’s go and get acquainted with Harry Honig the producer and M.C. of the show. Harry is a likable fellow, with a ready wit and a hearty desire for fun and sociability. A graduate of St. Louis University, where he minored in Radio Broadcasting, he now majors in Television for his bread and butter. After school Harry gained experience in various capacities, such as radio staff announcer, and his Market Basket Quiz over KSD. He entered television by the side door, his first job as a TV commercial salesman branched into his first appearance on Television in the program named “Just Make It Music.” Other shows followed such as “Pedro” on the “Dodge Talent Parade” and the Hyde Park Show.

Today Harry holds the top spot on the No. 1 local TV show in the St. Louis area. He’s earned it all the way as our Harry Honig fan mail will testify, No TV show is complete without a secretary, so let’s go see Frankie, as she is known affectionately to her friends. (I don’t see how she could have any enemies.)  Now Frankie’s full name is Frankie Lee Helms, a graduate of Central High, with a background of fashion modeling for Harper’s, Vogue and Mademoiselle. Her current position as secretary handling production scheduling, playing hostess to twenty ladies five days a week, and good will ambassador to visiting celebrities has her pleased as punch, and her interest in her job has her putting her best foot forward. Occasionally she does a bit of the commercial on “To The Ladies.” Born in Virginia, she makes a lovely and charming ambassador from the south.

Next in line let’s introduce Charley Sherwood. A native St. Louisan, he has done quite a bit of traveling, from St. Louis to Dallas, to New York, and then back to St. Louis, doing such things as acting in and producing radio shows, acting in stock, public address announcing and finally in 1952 joining “To The Ladies.” His current position as associate to Harry Honig has him doing pantomime, commercials, assistant MC and helping with time control while the show is “on the air.” Two of the things he likes to recall most are his appearance in the same show with Jane Cowl in “Elizabeth the Queen” and his fifteen years in show business.

Shure’n it’s Danny Shay whose turn it tis now. He’s the junior member of “To The Ladies,” but the audience is getting to know him better as he appears more often in front of the camera. Danny’s acting career consisted of night club appearances as MC and vocal impersonator of movie stars, a stint in the army gave him a chance to appear on radio and stage in the U.S. and in Europe. After the army Danny did radio in Los Angeles and St. Louis. “To The Ladies” is his first venture in Television, and his readiness to cooperate should make his future in television fairly promising.

Last but not least there’s Ted Westcott the Director, he didn’t have much to say when we interviewed him, but we got this much out of him. He’s been in Television four and a half years, and has served as camera director for over 6000 shows. In radio for thirteen years, as a free lance actor and announcer in Chicago, Gary and El Paso. He has directed in the last ten years such shows as the “Land We Live In” which won twelve national and local awards.

There you are folks, you’ve met ’em all, you can’t help likin’ ’em. Would you like to meet them face to face? O.K! then tune in on your Television set to KSD-TV, Channel 5, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and meet them on “To The Ladies.”

(Originally published in TV Review 9/13/1925).

The new Channel 4, KMOX-TV Channel 4, began broadcasting yesterday. Long awaited by Missouri and Illinois viewers, KMOX-TV will present a completely new local, live schedule; expanded network programming; and the biggest first-run feature film library in Mid-America.

Outlining the objectives of the new station, Gene Wilkey, AdClubber and KMOX-TV’s General Manager, said, “Sunday, March 16 marked the beginning of a new era of television entertainment for all St. Louisans. On that day, Channel 4 became the home of KMOX-TV, your CBS owned station in St. Louis.

“We at KMOX-TV feel a responsibility. One that grows in direct ratio with the increasing time each man, woman, teenager and child spends viewing television. We feel KMOX-TV will be the type of station you hoped it would be. A station that stimulates – one that informs as well as entertains. Accomplishing this will be no simple task.”

The new Channel 4 means the continuation of many popular CBS Network shows – STUDIO ONE in Hollywood; PLAYHOUSE 90; PERRY MASON; The BIG RECORD; ED SULLIVAN; and a host of others.

It means exciting new local live programming and personalities. Programs such as GOOD MORNING, ST. LOUIS; TOWN & COUNTRY; ST. LOUIS GO ROUND; THE NOON NEWS ROUNDUP; EYE ON ST. LOUIS; THE SIX O’CLOCK REPORT; THE TEN O’CLOCK NEWS; ST. LOUIS REPORT; and others.

There’ll be new personalities as well as those that (sic) are already St. Louis favorites. CURT RAY and DOTTYE BENNETT star each morning from 7:00 to 8:00 on GOOD MORNING, ST. LOUIS! GOOD MORNING, ST. LOUIS has something for every viewer – live music, news, weather, guests, features – in short, everything necessary to make it the brightest morning show in St. Louis. Viewers go places, do and see things guaranteed to make the morning more pleasant. From 4:00 to 4:30 each weekday ST. LOUIS LIVING features mostly music with the KMOX-TV orchestra under the direction of Carl Hohengarten. A light, bright, variety show, it precedes KMOX-TV’s daily EARLY SHOW which presents the tops in first run film entertainment. From 10:15 to 10:30 each week night, PARKER WHEATLEY moderates EYE ON ST. LOUIS. Calling upon authorities on the subjects being discussed, and utilizing film to thoroughly cover the subject, EYE ON ST. LOUIS examines everything from Khoury League Baseball to Atomic Radiation.

KMOX-TV’s outstanding news coverage will introduce additional new personalities to St. Louis viewers. Under the direction of KMOX-TV’s News Director, Spencer Allen, the News staff writes, edits and airs each day the two five minute news segments of the GOOD MORNING, ST. LOUIS! Show; the NOON NEWS ROUNDUP from 12:00 to 12:15 p.m.; the SIX O’CLOCK REPORT from 6:00 to 6:15 p.m.; the TEN O’CLOCK NEWS from 10:00 to 10:15 p.m.; and the Late News Roundup at 11:45 p.m. In addition, there will be special weekend news features – THE SATURDAY NEWS ROUNDUP from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. featuring Spencer Allen and Newscaster Max Roby; LET’S VIEW THE NEWS,  12:00 to 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and the SUNDAY NEWS SPECIAL, 10:15 TO 10:30 p.m., both featuring Max Roby and the entire News staff.

KMOX-TV places special emphasis on farm programming. Each morning from 6:30 to 7:00, TED MANGNER’S TOWN AND COUNTRY features Ted Mangner, an established authority on Mid-western agricultural problems, and KMOX-TV’s Farm Director. In addition, TED MANGNER’S FARM MARKET REPORT is a daily segment of KMOX-TV’S NOON NEWS ROUNDUP. Each day from 12:00 to 12:15 p.m., Ted gives a comprehensive report on the day’s livestock, produce, and grain markets. Special weekend editions of TOWN AND COUNTRY, one on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. and again from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning complete Channel 4’s farm programming.

Rounding out KMOX-TV’s programming will be the biggest first-run feature film library in Mid-America; more than 1600 feature films never before seen on television in St. Louis. Such favorite stars as Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper and hundreds of others will be seen on Channel 4 twice each day on THE EARLY SHOW, 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., and THE LATE SHOW, 10:30 TO MIDNIGHT.

You can be sure, whether it’s live, filmed, local of Network…THERE’LL ALWAYS BE MORE ON CHANNEL 4.

(Originally published in Ad-Vantages 3/15/1958)

Harry Gibbs Was a St. Louis TV Pioneer

As far as kids in and around St. Louis are concerned, this guy Hopalong is strictly a second-rater. When it comes to choosing cowboys, they’ll put all their dinero (that’s money, pardner) on St. Louis’ own cowhand, Texas Bruce, who conducts a daily fifteen minute yarnin’ session known as “The Wranglers Club.” Harry Gibbs is the fellow’s check-signing name, but to his many wranglers, he’s known as “Texas Bruce” and, in their opinion, what he has to say about Western lore is law.

When Harry says “howdy” to his fellow wranglers every day at five o’clock, he’s dressed in a get-up that is as Western as a Bar-X brand on a chuck wagon. Sporting a ten-gallon hat, high-heeled boots, and a brace of six-guns that, incidentally, he knows how to use, the six-foot-two Gibbs perches atop a studio-made log, and by way of his yarns, which he relates in a slow and easy-going drawl, lifts the kiddies right out of St. Louis and deposits them deep in the heart of the rough-riding west.

His small-fry followers may not know it, but Harry’s background makes him the most logical choice as their boss cowboy in these parts. He was born in Wagon Mound, New Mexico, and began riding horses as soon as he was old enough to swing a leg over the horse’s back. From Wagon Mound, his folks moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where, after graduating from high school, he worked as a ranch hand and chased cattle all over the surrounding countryside.

Harry learned a long time ago that improper handling of a rope can result in tragic accidents, so every now and then he reminds his would-be cowboy followers that it is a dangerous sport to lasso each other. “I try to convince the kids that there’s no fun in roping a cat, or a playmate,” Harry says. “I show them how to spin a rope – it’s a fun and cheap sport.”

In addition to passing along useful hints on woodsmanship, inside dope on Indians, and tips on the cattle business, Gibbs teaches his wranglers the Spanish language via the one-word-a-day method. Harry’s Spanish isn’t the variety that one learns out of books. It’s really a rich mixture of Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and English which he had to learn as a boy in New Mexico. “Half the kids spoke English,” Gibbs says, “so we learned Spanish, and they learned English – that way we doubled the number of our friends.”

After the man-to-man type of discussion with his wranglers, the little guys see a portion of a carefully censored western film. In Harry’s opinion, children should be brought up to believe that all sheriffs are honest men, so when he screens a movie to be shown on his program, any sequence even suggesting that the sheriff is a crooked hombre is snipped out of the film with his often-used scissors. Also classified as taboo are such scenes which include wiggling can-can girls, or those involving a bad man whose gunslinging results in murder.

Harry’s job as Texas Bruce does not end with the five-day-a-week telecast – that is, more or less, the beginning. Gibbs is often called upon to perform before various organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and groups of underprivileged children, as well as taking part in benefit shows of all worthwhile civic undertakings.

It’s during these personal appearances that Harry has the opportunity to display his western know-how such as fancy shooting, roping and horsemanship. Tex also gets a kick out appearing in-person because it gives him a chance to let his fans see the one member of the “Wranglers Club” who is often mentioned, but isn’t seen on the television show. We’re talking about “Trusty,” Harry’s beautiful and talented horse.

When Gibbs bought “Trusty,” who stands about fifteen hands high and is between five and six years old, he bought a five-gated American saddle horse – which corresponds to a thoroughbred in racing lines. This sort of horse is fine for the fellow who intends to use it strictly for that Sunday morning ride along the bridle paths, but, according to the kids, a cowboy’s hoss has to be able to perform a few tricks, for example, counting up to ten, stealing handkerchiefs out of the cowhand’s pocket, nod yes and no, and a few others. So after many hours of working with “Trusty,” Harry transformed him from an aristocrat of horsedom to what is known as a rodeo horse, or one that does tricks in addition to looking beautiful. The name “Trusty” is the result of a contest that Gibbs conducted on the “Wranglers Club,” and for submitting the winning name, wrangler Sumner Patterson, Jr., of Ferguson won a handsome pony.

Every now and then during a personal appearance, some young buckaroo will exercise the right of all Missourians and will call upon Harry to show him that Texas Bruce actually knows how to use those six-guns he carries. When that happens, former Marine major Gibbs doesn’t make with the excuses such as “my powder ain’t dry, pardner.” Instead, if at all possible, he puts on a pretty convincing exhibition of fancy shooting – thanks to the pistol training he received while in the Marine Corps.

Harry’s popularity among his fans is on solid ground now, but some time ago, the versatile Gibbs took a modeling job that nearly had his Wranglers deserting the ranks about as fast as a Communist during a Red investigation. The kids just didn’t cotton to the idea that their bossman was going dude on them. When Gibbs heard of this minor revolution within his fold, he lost no time in shucking the dude clothing in favor of his cowpuncher duds. – at least while standing in front of a TV camera.

About the only time of the day he doesn’t have to lead a double life is when he gets home to his wife Jean and their three boys Christopher, David, and Buckner. His sons aren’t too impressed with his television status. “I’m only the guy who puts them to bed,” says Harry, “and personally, I like it that way.”

(Originally published in TV Review, 10/6/1951)  

Who said New York and Hollywood has (sic) all the talent? Just to prove a point tune in on the Ozark Barn Dance every Friday at 8:30 p.m. over TV station KACY – Channel 14, and you will be entertained by local talent of network quality. Even the set which forms the background for this show is so original, so complete and so big that one can almost smell the invigorating odor of fresh-mown hay. Skeets Yaney, originator and MC of this show, is one of the most amiable and friendly sort of entertainers (he is just as likeable off the show as in front of the cameras). It is a pleasure to watch as he performs on his guitar with or without vocal arrangements, and his direction of the show is so natural you get the feeling that you are just as much a part of it as he is. But that isn’t all. Skeets has gathered a group of people that are so likeable, homey and down to earth that everyone in the family will find equal enjoyment in such entertainment, as he presents “The Range Riders,” a trio consisting of Roland Gaines and Shorty Mason, who sing as well as play their guitars, and Wally Proctor with his electric guitar as well as vocalizing. By the way, Wally plays a left-handed guitar. (If you don’t believe it, watch him on the show.) Now meet Tommy Watson, a triple-threat man with a trumpet, a fiddle or a banjo; next, Frank Krajir, the accordianist, and Eddie Burke, bass fiddler. Frank can really tickle that accordian and Eddie is a very accomplished musician. Of course the fair sex hasn’t been left out and the love and beauty interest is supplied by pretty Linda Fields, the featured vocalist. Another standout vocalist should be mentioned here and that is little Larry Keith. He’s only about six or seven years old, but how you’ll get to love that smile – and he smiles while he sings – and he can sing. Try it sometime and you’ll see how hard it is to keep a smile on your face while singing. Every once in a while when Larry’s singing, he gazes around like any other youngster would, Skeets would call his attention to the camera and boy, you should see him break out in his best smile.

Of course, no complete show is complete without its comedian, and the Ozark Barn Dance has a honey. He is Shucks Austin, who supplies the antics and comedy that is (sic) so proper and filling to liven up a barn dance. Each week a great artist is invited to appear on the show  which adds another touch of network quality to the show.

Some of you viewers have noticed that another picture is sometimes superimposed on the corner of the screen. This is done with a Montage amplifier, the same as is used on the Arthur Godfrey show. The square dancing that you see is supplied by visiting groups and very shortly folk dancing will be introduced along with the square dancing. 

We’ve introduced the Ozark Barn Dance, now tune in and really enjoy it.

(Originally published in TV Review).