Halls of Fame

Art Holliday – 2009

Art Holliday began his career at Channel 5 in 1979, serving as a sports anchor in his first ten years at the station. He then switched to news anchoring for morning programs and also served as the executive producer of the programs. He received many honors, including election to the Hall of Fame of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists and the Faculty-Alumni Award of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Holliday also received several St. Louis Emmy Awards and has been inducted into that organization’s Silver Circle. He pursued a passion for cinematography by producing several free-lance video documentaries. In 2021 he became the station’s news director.

Russ Carter – 2013

Though he started out as a singer with the Ted Weems Orchestra, Russ Carter is best-known in St. Louis as the host of the wildly popular “St. Louis Hop,” a local, weekly  “American Bandstand” program on KSD-TV. He held that position for 15 years beginning in 1958 and played host to national and local teen music stars of the era.

His teen audience was loyal, following the show through four location changes over its life span. One of those changes came when a venue refused to allow black teens inside, and the next week, Carter found a place where everyone was welcome, thus making the program St. Louis’ first racially integrated show. Carter’s salesmanship made Bonnee Buttered Beef Steaks and Pepsi-Cola staples in the diets of St. Louis area teenagers. TV was still relatively primitive in the St. Louis Hop days, so Carter was even responsible for writing out his own cue cards.

Herb Humphries – 2011

His on-air image was larger than life, which was fitting for Herb Humphries. The 300-pound KMOX-TV/KMOV-TV reporter who showed up at crime scenes wearing cowboy boots and a Stetson hat quickly won the hearts of the viewing public in a love affair that lasted for 20 years. His nighttime reports were quickly dubbed “Nightside,” a franchise that gave Humphries almost blanket access to anyplace the news was happening. Humphries was appreciated in the newsroom for his sense of humor and his ability to quickly assess any news situation and quickly get his stories on the air. Having won national awards for his work prior to coming to St. Louis, and having initially been hired as Channel 4’s news director, Herb Humphries shined brightest doing what he most enjoyed, working as one of the market’s best-remembered street reporters.

Jerome “Jerry” Kleiman – 2008

Jerry Kleiman was one of the first television news camera operators in St. Louis. He worked for what was KSD-TV (Channel 5) first as a freelance camera operator, then worked for several years as the news station’s only full-time camera operator, on call every day. While at KSD-TV, Kleiman filmed Joseph Costello, one of the area’s best-known mobsters, local reactions to the John F. Kennedy assassination, the building of the Gateway Arch and a daylong riot at Menard State Prison in Chester, Ill.

Harold Koplar – 2006

When businessman Harold Koplar put his own TV station on the air in 1958, KPLR-TV was the nation’s fourth independent TV station, having no affiliation with a network. Relying on movies and filmed shows with an occasional live program thrown in, KPLR soon became the source of cult hits with shows like Wrestling At the Chase and Captain 11’s Showboat. Cameras were even moved from the studios in the Chase Hotel out into the lobby for variety programming, and some early news broadcasts were done beside the outdoor pool, where the announcer would float in an inner tube and technicians would improvise with microphones suspended from bamboo poles. Seen as a visionary by many in the industry, Koplar was able to use the station to promote the hotel, which he also owned.

Russ Mitchell – 2009

Russ Mitchell began his TV career as a senior in high school when he took a part-time job as the night switchboard operator at KTVI. He enrolled in the MU-J School the following year, graduated in 1982, and after stops in Kansas City and Dallas, returned to KTVI as a reporter. He joined KMOV in 1987 and was promoted to CBS New York after 5 years. At the network, Mitchell was a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, a contributor to 48 Hours and the CBS Evening News, as well as anchor for The Saturday Early Show and the Saturday CBS Evening News. He won numerous national awards for his work.