Halls of Fame

Leo Tevlin – 2015

An engineering grad of St. Louis University, Leo Tevlin was instrumental in getting KSD-TV, KACY-TV and KWK-TV on the air in St. Louis. He was behind the camera for many great moments in St. Louis history going back the 1950’s “CBS Baseball Game of the Week” with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese, countless “NFL on CBS” games as cameraman and engineer, completion of the Arch and CBS coverage of space exploration with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. Tevlin also earned the distinction of being on the first mini-cam crews in the country as newsgathering transitioned from film to videotape and microwave live signal technology which became the foundation of TV news.
He used his Ham radio expertise to build, reach and establish amateur radio stations in South American jungles & mountainous village missions established by the Archdiocese of St. Louis.  These ‘ham stations’ served as the only live communication link in the 1950’s and 60’s between missionary priests assigned from St. Louis.

Mary Spencer – 2015

The first person in St. Louis television to win a national award was Mary Spencer, who was a public affairs writer and producer for KSD-TV. She had joined KSD-TV in the early 1960s, a time when women were a distinct minority in the business. Mrs. Spencer, her production team and KSD-TV won the national Emmy in 1964 for her first documentary, “Operation Challenge — A Study in Hope,” a program she wrote, produced and narrated about extreme poverty and the social ills in Kinloch. Spencer’s Emmy remained the only one earned by anyone in the St. Louis area until 2002.

In 1966, Mrs. Spencer and her crew spent four months interviewing hundreds of people and filming city hospitals and clinics to illustrate the causes of the increasing number of first-year deaths. “The Lengthening Shadow” prompted an overwhelming response from viewers. The program became a teaching tool at health agencies and medical schools.
In her later years at the station, she did a daily commentary in the evening newscasts. She retired in 1975.

Jim Brady – 2016

Jim Brady was elected to the Hall of Fame for his work as the first news director of KTVI. Management contracted for a cameraman from a local movie company and the station’s local coverage began. Jim’s biggest worry was how his team would pull together enough news to fill a ten-minute broadcast. As news director he would determine who would cover a story, assign cameramen, edit film, write stories and occasionally cover them himself. He was also expected to host a weekly 30-minute “Meet the Press”-type public affairs program. Jim Brady served as KTVI’s news director for 14 years before taking a job as news operations director at KMOX Radio.

Bob Dotson – 2016

Bob Dotson grew up in Webster Groves. Beginning in 1975, working for NBC News, Dotson created a niche for himself in television history as an on-the-road reporter for The Today Show. His regular feature, “The American Story with Bob Dotson” focused on the stories of Americans whose accomplishments were worthy of the spotlight. For his work, Dotson received 120 national and international awards, including six Edward R. Murrow Awards and eight national Emmy Awards.

Don Francois – 2016

Don Francois literally helped build the television industry in St. Louis. He was first hired here to build KACY, the UHF station licensed to Festus. From there he went to KSD-TV, but when KWK-TV was licensed to go on the air in 1954, he moved there to build the new facility.  Then KWK-TV went to color in 1958 and Don was part of the rebuild.  In 1967, Channel 4’s station owner CBS set out to construct a state-of-the-art facility with the world’s first computerized master control room, and Don again rose to the challenge. He retired from Channel 4 in 1997.

Tripp Frohlichstein – 2017

Tripp Frohlichstein worked at KMOX-TV for ten years, working his way to the position of assistant news director. His years there served as perfect preparation for his true career with a company he named MediaMasters. Frohlichstein used what he had observed in television news to prepare his clients for media appearances. His work with major corporations, governments, associations and non-profits helped make his clients aware of the best ways to get their media messages across and avoid the possible pitfalls. He also served as a television critic for the St. Louis Journalism Review, Post-Dispatch and KMOX Radio, and he was an adjunct media instructor at Webster and Washington Universities.