Television HOF

Dianne White – 2006

Dianne White Clatto became the first African-American weather forecaster in the nation when she was hired by KSD-TV in 1962. A veteran of more than 40 years in St. Louis radio and television, she demonstrated wide-ranging skills as a reporter, anchor, producer, writer and public speaker. Her career at KSD-TV, which became KSDK, spanned more than 26 years of excellence in features, anchoring and hard news. After leaving KSDK, she continued her career in media as an independent television producer and as a special assistant to the mayor of St. Louis.

Harry Fender – 2012

Harry Fender liked to tell anyone who would listen that he walked away from a great job offer by entertainment entrepreneur Flo Ziegfeld. Returning to St. Louis from New York, Fender became a member of the city police gambling squad. But as WW II ended, he found a niche in local show business on radio stations KXOK and KMOX. Those eventually led to the electronic media stage of local television where he finished his career at Captain 11 on KPLR-TV. It was in this 1960s daily kids’ show that Clarence “Harry” Fender endeared himself to thousands of youngsters, hosting live audiences of kids in the studio and introducing many to the antics of the Three Stooges each day.

Don Marsh – 2012

Don Marsh won 12 Regional Emmy Awards for his television work in St. Louis, most of which was at KTVI, where served as a news anchor and specialized in political reporting. While at KTVI and KDNL, Marsh produced and hosted over 1,600 public affairs programs. He also found time to teach broadcast journalism at the college level, write three books and work as a host of talk programming on two local stations. Marsh was cited by the St. Louis Association of Black Journalists in 1998 for his work and received the top three major local awards for his journalistic contributions over the years.

Robert Guillaume – 2006

Robert Guillaume was born Robert Williams in St. Louis. Before pursuing an acting career, he studied at St. Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army. Guillaume made his television debut in the series “Soap”, playing the butler, Benson DuBois, from 1977 to 1979. That series’ success led him to a spinoff series, “Benson”, which ran until 1986. He won Emmy Awards for both series. A later TV role as television executive Isaac Jaffe on “Sports Night” (1998-2000), allowed Guillaume to break new ground when the stroke that he suffered in real life, along with his subsequent recovery, was written into the scripts of the show for his character.

Wilma Sim – 2013

In television’s infancy, “live and local” was the daily reality and one of those pioneers in St. Louis was Wilma Sim. Taking over the “Homemaking with KSD-TV” from Esther Lee Bride, who had been on loan from Union Electric, Sim made the show her own through most of the 1950s and is rightly seen as one of St. Louis pioneering TV stars. She appeared on the first local color television broadcast and was active in American Women in Radio and Television. In later life she was a columnist for Farm Journal Magazine. Named as a distinguished graduate of the University of Minnesota for her professional accomplishments, Wilma Sim was also recognized as one of the Top 10 Women in Advertising in America in 1972.

Keith Gunther – 2007

Keith Gunther began his broadcast career immediately after graduating from St. Louis University in 1940. After a short stint in New York and four years in the Navy, he moved to St. Louis to help put KSD-TV, the nation’s first post-war television station, on the air. He worked there as program buyer, production manager, public affairs director, and producer before being promoted to Program Manager, later becoming VP of Program Development for the Pulitzer stations. Gunther was a founding member of the St. Louis branch of NATAS, which later presented him with its Governor’s Award. He also received a national Emmy for the documentary “Operation Challenge.”