Television

Television Station KACY expects to start its test pattern Oct. 25 [1953], according to Ken Atwood, an official of the new UHF outlet here. After three weeks of 12 hours daily testing “so that the advertising agencies will know what they’re selling,” Ken says, the station will begin commercial telecasting in November. From the start, all telecasting will be done with full power.

This new outlet expects to produce an output of 350,000 to 500,000 watts of effective radiated power, although the transmitter has been tested at an output up to 540,000 watts. It is described as “the most powerful station in America.” The transmitter is here now, and all that remains “is to hook it up.”

Perhaps the most potent point of the whole operation is that KACY can be received on a $5 inside antenna, it is said. UHF reception also requires an adaptor or converter. An official of Artophone Corporation made a series of TV tests with a cheap antenna in another UHF area. He reported that reception was excellent, and on the basis of those tests, expects KACY to boom the UHF industry here because of its terrific output.

The tower of the new station is another story. Station officials told the Ad Club Weekly that the tower was actually erected in four days!
(Photos courtesy Leo Tevlin)

Height of tower: 688 feet! Reason: It’s what they call a “guided tower,” and is put up in sections.It was done at KACY’s site because of the immense space around the tower foundation. “It takes about 25 or 30 acres in which to lay out the cables and equipment,” explained Mr. Atwood. “It probably would not be possible in the city,” he added. Tower contractor is Johnnie Andrews of Fort Worth, Texas.

 Officials of the new UHF station are stressing the point that a high-priced antenna is not necessary when you have plenty of power from the transmitter. Some confusion has been apparent because outdoor UHF antenna installations have ranged from $60-$125 and higher. But it must be remembered that WTVI in Belleville, Ill., now telecasting on limited power, and KSTM, will not have full power for a time. Therefore no immediate conclusions can be drawn until they are on full power.

 (Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 10/26/1953).

KSTM-TV, the St. Louis area’s second UHF outlet, expects to start commercial telecasting between October 20 and 31, we hear from president Marshall Pengra.

The station has already run its test pattern. The station’s new offices and studio at 5915 Berthold Avenue will be completed by November 12.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 10/26/1953).

No Extra Equipment Needed To Pick Up Area’s Second VHF Station

“Good evening. KWK-TV is on the air” came the voice as the station’s identification card was picked up by the camera and sent out over the air to thousands of St. Louis area receivers who, for the first time.July 8 used Channel 4 on their television sets. Thus, after six and one-half years of planning and months of intensive preparation, St. Louis’ second VHF television station became a reality.

A special half-hour inaugural program marked the occasion, with St. Louis’ Mayor Raymond R. Tucker; Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman of Temple Israel; Rev. Dr. O. Walter Wagner, executive secretary of the Metropolitan Church Federation; and Father Elmer H. Behrmann, assistant superintendent of education for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, participating.

The area’s latest coaxial offspring – a CBS network affiliate – will operate from 5 p.m. to midnight, with feature movies, news public service films, etc., until those network programs which will be shown through St. Louis are available.

Included in the line-up of CBS shows to be telecast on Channel 4 are “Toast of the Town”; “Studio One”; Viceroy Star Theater”; “Arthur Godfrey and His Friends”; “The Jackie Gleason Show”; “Danger”; “Topper”; “That’s My Boy”; “Four Star Theater”; “Mama”; “Racket Squad”; and many others.

No additional equipment will be needed for St. Louis viewers to receive KWK-TV which began operations with maximum power – a 100,000 video signal.

(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 7/26/1954).

KETC-TV Has Relied On Its Audience For Major Financial Support Over the Years

The three years leading up to Channel 9’s first broadcast were challenging, but the need for educational television had been recognized, and the community was determined. Among the influential founding members of the station’s organizing commission was Arthur Holly Compton, president of Washington University and a Nobel Prize-winning physicist.  Also on the committee were the Reverend Paul C. Reinert, president of St. Louis University, Arthur B. Baer, president of Stix Baer and Fuller, and Ray Wittcoff, a promising young businessman. Filmmaker Charles Guggenheim was appointed general manager, but by the time of Channel 9’s first broadcast, Martin Quigley had assumed the position.

Channel 9 received its KETC call letters from the FCC, but needed additional funds move forward. Support came from the community when PTA members from more than 100 school districts went door to door to raise the $100,000 Channel 9 needed. Schools were so eager for televised programs in classrooms that 25 school districts offered to pay Channel 9 for its services at $1 per student. By the fall of 1954, Channel 9 was ready for its first broadcast.

At 9:00 p.m. on September 20, 1954, Channel Number 9 went on the air in a black-and-white broadcast from a temporary studio in the women’s gymnasium of Washington University’s McMillan Hall. After a welcome from Martin Quigley, and the station’s board chairman, Arthur Holly Compton, Channel 9 broadcast its first program, “The Second Opportunity,” a play that dramatized the necessity of free thought in society.

Six months after Channel 9 went on the air, Powell B. McHaney, president of St. Louis Civic Progress, said: “KETC has become an important community institution. It has demonstrated its enormous potential value as a means of improving the quality of instruction in our schools, of providing our young people with helpful entertainment, and of bringing to a significant adult audience stimulating and unfettered discussions of public affairs and the elements of liberal education. It has made an excellent beginning.”

Only one year after its first broadcast, Channel 9 moved into its own building on the northwest edge of the Washington University campus.  Funded by Arthur B. Baer and named in honor of his parents, the Julius and Freda Baer Memorial building.

was the first in the nation to be constructed specifically for educational television, and it would remain Channel 9’s home for the next 43 years. St. Louis artist Fred Conway was commissioned to paint a mural in the entrance. The mural’s title said it all: “Education Through Television.”

Financial trouble struck again in the late 1950s, and Channel 9 was forced to reduce staff, cancel evening programming, and go off the air during the summer. This time, when door-to-door collections failed to provide the necessary funds, Channel 9 began to solicit $10 memberships, and financial stability was ultimately restored. Membership became and remains Channel 9’s primary source of revenue.

In 1970 Channel 9 completed construction of a high-power color transmission center in South St. Louis County, and in 1971 began color transmission. In 1974, the station began broadcasting on Saturday mornings, then in 1976 added Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, and by 1977 Channel 9 was broadcasting from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in non-school periods. In 1978 Channel 9 became one of the first PBS stations to receive programs via the Westar I Satellite.

The founders of Channel 9 were successful educators and business leaders who understood that progress in a new age would require relentless innovation. They did not know how it would be done, but they knew why it should be done. With a groundswell of support from the community, they created and sustained one of our nation’s first educational television stations, and 14 years later would witness its evolution into a public television station known for its innovative programs.

(From the KETC website)

A Look Behind the Scenes at One of the Market’s First Televised Homemakers’ Shows

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 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 a 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 other “working mothers,” she must arrange her work and time so that all phases of the homemaker’s task plus job are 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 and 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 attendiong the American Repretory  Theater where he studies 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 in the Majove Desert. No gold was discovered but he did find a deposit of a substance valuable in oil well 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 homemakers’ benefit and to 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 Marketing Extension Service of 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 Brent 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 impatience 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 whole-heartedly with producer Emerson Russell to give to 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 6/2/1951).

The Last Days at Channel 30 News
After Investing in a News Operation and Staff in 1995, KDNL Pulled the Plug On the Operation Six Years Later

In January 1995, the start of the New Year brought something new to St. Louis television, KDNL (Channel 30), the then-Fox affiliate in St. Louis, began broadcasting a 9 p.m. half-hour newscast seven days a week. Working as an assignment editor at Channel 30, I remember the optimism among the staff. Even though there were some mispronunciations of streets and names, and technical difficulties, there was little doubt we’d succeed. Fast forward to Sept. 28 of this year [2001]. During our afternoon editing meeting, news director Jeff Alan told us regardless of the circumstances, make sure all employees were in the newsroom for the 3 p.m. meeting called by General Manager Tom Tipton. Immediately employees began speculating the 5 p.m. news would be cut because of low ratings. Based on an anonymous tip I received earlier in the week, I braced for much worse. A dismal Tipton walked into the newsroom shortly after 3 p.m. and announced Sinclair Broadcasting was shutting down KDNL’s news operation effective October 12.

“Stunned” described the mood. After so many budget cuts and layoffs over the last three years, I looked around the room and thought this is what soldiers must look like after they’ve been told “the war is over, you’ve lost, now just go home.” Some employees reacted with disbelief. Others seemed relieved by the announcement. The bottom line was we were all out of a job.

During the meeting we were told that all full-time employees would be given a severance package based on their tenure at the station. But we were also informed that insurance coverage would also be terminated on our last day of employment. That’s great! Fire an employee. Take away their income and now tell them they have no insurance. A family insurance plan without employer assistance costs approximately $700 a month. I was one of the lucky ones. I had just switched to my wife’s insurance coverage the month before, but the majority of employees depended on their health benefits for their families.

When I arrived for work the following Monday morning, Alan had already begun posting a list of job openings on the bulletin board. Unfortunately for most of us, none of them existed in St. Louis.

The mood was very quiet and somber that day. I don’t think anyone had his or her mind on covering the news, although a short talk with Channel 30 reporter Paul Brown left a lasting impression. Brown called a little after 8:45 a.m., just as he had every day for the past three years. Instead of talking about our fate, Brown was more interested in what we were going to cover that day. He said it wasn’t over yet. “Let’s keep covering news to the end.” For the remaining two weeks, Brown kept that attitude. I have to applaud him. I still don’t know how he could have achieved such enthusiasm. But maybe like the rest of us, he couldn’t stand the thought of something he loved coming to an end so abruptly.

As the week went on it became increasingly tough to perform the job. As expected, employees were calling in sick or had physician appointments. I remember once having one reporter and three photographers to cover the entire day. That Friday, a photographer told me, “Hey, you know I haven’t done much shooting this week and you know I’m going to be doing even less next week.”

The Monday of our final week the newsroom began to resemble a mortuary. Reality was setting in. Whenever you visit a funeral home, although solemn, loved ones always share fond memories about the deceased. In this case we were sharing our favorite stories about a once-vibrant newsroom that was now dead. Each recollection would take on the same mood. We would laugh about it, followed by a brief period of silence and ending with a heavy sigh. In one instance, several people were in Assistant News Director Nancy Tully’s office talking about all the people who had worked at Channel 30. Tully suddenly became misty-eyed and politely asked us to leave. Being the tremendous leader that she is, she didn’t want to show any weakness. She wanted to be strong for the rest of us. Shortly afterward, she came out of her office and apologized. There was obviously no need to be sorry.

The last two days were agonizing. We shot no news. The priority was making sure everyone had time to follow job leads, work on resumes and put audition tapes together. My worst moment came at home that Thursday night. Fearing that Sinclair would pull us off the air a day early, we finished our 10 p.m. news with a sign-off segment that covered the promising beginning and the unfortunate end. Watching that piece brought back so many memories of all the effort, sacrifice and teamwork that went into making the newscasts work over the years. Knowing that I was losing such great co-workers and friends in my everyday life left a tremendous void, and tears in my eyes. I hope I can experience that camaraderie again.

On the last day, the consensus was to get it over with. Everyone was sick of the lingering misery.

After tying up loose ends with management I did something I hadn’t done in my almost seven years on the assignment desk. I went out to lunch. Photographers Julie Taylor and Carol Lawrence and I went to the South City Pizza Hut and had a relaxing meal. This may seem insignificant, but as assignment manager, I never felt comfortable leaving the newsroom for any long period of time. I wonder why I gave so much to a company that cared so little about its employees.

Former Channel 30 reporter Jean Shepherd summed it up best during her speech at the party after the last newscast: “Because we’re professional, we gave Sinclair better than they deserved.”

By Terry Cancila

(Used with permission of the St. Louis Journalism Review. Originally published 11/2001).