Television HOF

Tom O’Neal – 2019

Tom O’Neal’s first TV job was behind the cameras at KCMO in Kansas City. After college graduation from UMKC, he worked as a news anchor at KFVS in Cape Girardeau, moving to KSD-TV two years later. He was at Channel 5 for 15 years, followed by 25 years at KTVI. Tom received national awards for his medical reporting and was named 2016 Media Personality of the Year by the St. Louis Press Club. He retired in 2015 after an on-air run of 41 years on St. Louis TV.

Tim McCarver – 2019

Tim McCarver won three Emmy Awards for his sports analysis on television. The former St. Louis Cardinal catcher has done play-by-play on all four major TV networks and was in the booth for a record 24 World Series. After he stepped down from network baseball broadcasts he continued in the booth doing Cardinal Baseball for Fox Sports Midwest. In 1992 he served as a host on CBS-TV of the Winter Olympics. McCarver captured the Ford C. Frick Award and was inducted into the announcers’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.

Max Roby – 2014

A news anchor on KMOX (now KMOV) and KSD (now KSDK) in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Max Roby was a TV pioneer and among the most trusted newsmen in St. Louis. The deep-voiced Roby delivered news in the style of Walter Cronkite, and seldom lightened up until he delivered his signature line, “That would be all of the news if it weren’t for …” followed by a “kicker” or a lighter story at the end of the newscast. Over the years, Roby interviewed half-a-dozen U.S. presidents and others who shaped the times.

Dave Murray – 2018

Dave Murray introduced nightly meteorology to local St. Louis news weathercasting. When they hired him in 1976 at age 22, KSD-TV took a chance on the new kid devoted to explaining weather incorporating new technology with moving color graphics. The result made weather more understandable, relevant, and popular. Murray continued introducing new technologies even going on air from his home in the middle of the night during storms. This blend caught the attention of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “World News This Morning” in 1983 when he moved to New York. Later he returned to his beloved St. Louis, weathercasting on KTVI-TV for 28 years. He won 12 local Emmy awards over a 42-year career. 

Rzeppa, Zip – 2001

Zip Rzeppa came to KTVI in St. Louis in 1984, filling his sportscasts with humor, energy, fast-paced highlights and commentary, bringing about a major change in the way television sports was presented in St. Louis.  He moved to KMOV in 1988.  Zip performed his trademark Zippo Awards for “the best, the worst, and the weirdest performances in the wild and wacky, wonderful world of sports” weekly from 1984-2001.

Fred Caesar – 2019

Fred Caesar began his television career as an intern at KMOX-TV. By the age of 20 he was the producer of the station’s weekend newscasts while still a student at Washington University. Upon graduation he became a full-time station employee, even dabbling in on-air reporting. He moved to KSD-TV five years later and became assistant news director, also serving as news director for KSD radio. Later he moved to Harrisburg, PA where he was executive news director for a multi-station broadcast group, then to Portland, Maine, as news director, where he received a regional Emmy.