Wilma Sim has been stirring up audience approval as well as tasty recipes during her first month in the kitchen of the “Homemaking With KSD-TV” program. Miss Sim succeeded Esther Lee Bride on the daily, Monday through Friday television show April 3.
A graduate in home economics education from the University of Minnesota , Miss Sim formerly was associated with the home economics department of Swift & Co.
Miss Bride has returned to her full time duties with Union Electric Co.
Dial Position, Call Letters and Location All Changing
WTVI, Channel 54, has purchased the antenna and transmitter and leased the tower of Channel 36, formerly KSTM, St. Louis, owned by Broadcast House, Inc., subject to the approval of the Federal Communications Commission. WTVI will operate on Channel 36 from the studios and offices adjoining the antenna and tower on Berthold Ave., just east of Hampton Ave.
Also subject to Commission approval, the station proposes to change its call letters from WTVI to KTVI. This is in accordance with FCC regulations which allocate “W” call letters to stations east of the Mississippi and “K” call letters to stations west of the Mississippi.
Before the 1955 baseball season begins, WTVI intends to increase its power at the St. Louis site to one-half million watts, double its present power and twice the power of any UHF station in the entire midwest. An application for the power increase will be filed with the Federal Communications Commission in due course.
The move to the St. Louis site can be accomplished within one week of Commission approval, according to John D. Scheuer, executive vice-president and general manager.
(Originally published in the Ad Club Weekly 2/21/1955).
Changes Are Being Made on St. Louis’ First TV Show For Women
John Roedel, announcer on the KSD staff for six years, became host of KSD-TV’s “To the Ladies” show March 16 [1953], and Betty Barnett of the directing staff took over as its producer-director. The change was made with the departure of Harry Honig, former host and producer, who moved to the West Coast to become associated with a business firm.
The show, to which Betty is now devoting full time, has taken on a new format, and includes interviews with members of women’s organizations as well as vacation tips, fashion ideas, household hints and a variety of other information of particular interest to women in the viewing audience.
The quiz portions of the show have been brightened by the addition of Stanley Kann, popular organist, to the regular complement, which enables inclusion of musical questions. He also provides accompaniment for singers appearing on the show for the first time.
Charlie Sherwood, who worked with Honig for some time, spearheads the special features department of the hour-long program heard at 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.
First Local Color Telecast Originated By KSD-TV On June 11, 1956
The first live color telecast originated by a St. Louis station was presented by KSD-TV on June 11 [1956]. The show originated in a special studio on the ninth floor of the downtown store of Famous-Barr Company and marked the opening of an eight-day color television exhibit and demonstration staged by the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. It was seen in color on approximately 400 sets in the area.
While the Post-Dispatch station has for several years been telecasting films and network programs in color, this was KSD-TV’s first live color show. It was produced by Frank Eschen, director of special events for the station, who also served as master of ceremonies.
Singer Vaughn Monroe headlined the half-hour program. He sang a medley of old favorite tunes, his newest record hit, “There She Goes,” and joined Charlotte Peters, star of KSD-TV’s weekday Charlotte Peters Show in “Share the Luck,” a tune which he recorded. Charlotte sang the song first in the Red Cross musical “Banners High,” which marked the Red Cross anniversary June 4. She learned the tune from Vaughn’s record, since she does not read music.
Appearing on the program were Mayor Raymond R. Tucker; Morton D. May of the Famous-Barr Company; George M. Burbach, general manager of the Post-Dispatch station; Howard Niepp, Midwestern regional sales manager for the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., and Marge Moody, fashion coordinator for the department store, who presented a fashion show.
Others from the Post-Dispatch station appearing on the color telecast were Wilma Sim, home economist on the weekday Homemaking with KSD-TV program, and Harry Gibbs, who is known as Wrangler Texas Bruce to youthful televiewers.
Wilma exhibited a special fruit bowl in front of the television camera, made from a hollowed out watermelon half, and containing colorful cantaloupe balls, cherries, pineapple and other fruit.
Gibbs, who has accepted Hugh O’Brien’s challenge to all television cowboys who think they are faster on the draw than Wyatt Earp, was joined by Vaughn Monroe in a contest before the camera.
Also appearing on the initial color telecast were Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial. They participated in a baseball skit featuring Charlotte Peters on the mound. Charlotte sang a chorus of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” as a finale.
A Dumont color camera was used for the telecast in a special light-protected studio four by six feet in size. The camera was used after the telecast for in-store color telecasts on a closed circuit to 16 receivers.
The special program was directed by Keith Gunther, chief producer-director for KSD-TV. Technicians from the station working on the telecast included Elmer Peters, Eugene Burnett, Paul DeWitt and Monte Walpole. Also assisting were Charles Leroi and Bud Noerterman, stagehands.
(Originally published in the P-D Notebook, 7/1956).
Construction plans for a $200,000 plant for KSTM-TV were announced by William Ware, president of Broadcast House, Inc.
The 50 by 100 foot building for the Channel 36 UHF station will be built one block south of the Forest Park section. Construction bids are now being accepted.
KSTM-TV, an affiliate of Radio Station KSTL, will be a basic ABC network station and will also carry many CBS shows as well as local programs. Bill Ware says the station , with 275,000 watts of power, will be on the air no later than Sept. 1 [1953].
(Originally published in Ad Club Weekly 2/20/1953).
In a Large Newspaper Advertisement, the New UHF Station Addresses Viewers’ Frustrations
WTVI – Channel 54 – went on the air August 10th, only a month ago. Since then we have been flooded with questions about UHF television – questions from people who have converters and from people who don’t but are thinking of buying them, questions from servicemen making UHF conversions; questions from our advertisers.
We have bought the space for this advertisement to answer those questions. We want to tell you what we have done and how we overcame some serious problems.
Frankly, our signal strength – and thus, the picture on your TV screens – was not what it should have been during our first days on the air. We had to cut down our power on a number of occasions. Then we ran into a shortage of vital power tubes.
But today we are operating with rated power output from the antenna of 20,000 watts. Our pictures are coming in strong on television set screens in more than 95% of the Greater St. Louis area. Then, too, many of the early UHF installations were, we realize, hard to make. UHF was new to everybody concerned. By now, the television installers have gained experience. Competent installers, making careful installations with good equipment, are getting good pictures for their customers. Conversions are taking less time and costs are down.
Recently, we asked the nation’s largest service company to find out how WTVI was doing. Here is a report, dated September 3, from the manager of that company’s St. Louis district:
“We immediately made arrangements to have a truck equipped with tower and signal checking facilities to conduct a survey which would encompass the entire St. Louis and Belleville area. The results of that survey were, as you know, very gratifying, to say the least. There was no longer any doubt that WTVI had lived up to their obligation, and were providing the area with a very good UHF signal.
“Since that time we have completed many UHF conversions and installations with excellent results, with the percentage of failure being a small one indeed.”
We also hired the firm of George C. Davis of Washington, D.C., prominent consulting radio engineers, to examine WTVI and UHF in the Greater St. Louis area. The Davis firm has acted as consultants for dozens of television stations. Here is their report, in part:
“The results of a field intensity survey on Television Station WTVI indicate that for operation with rated power output from the transmitter, excellent television signals are provided over the entire St. Louis metropolitan area and environs except in areas receiving immediate shadowing from hills, buildings or other obstructions which receive lower field intensities. Satisfactory pictures are obtainable in these areas where normal care is exercised in the receiver installation, such as the employment of a good and properly located outdoor antenna, the use of a high quality transmission line, and the use of well designed and carefully tuned receiver or converter.”
To sum up, at first, WTVI had the technical difficulties that probably were inevitable with anything as new as UHF. Today we are putting out a first-class television picture with first-class programs.
If you don’t have UHF conversion yourself, look at the set of someone who does. You’ll see what we mean.
There is one vitally important point to remember about UHF television. You must have a proper conversion. In most cases, a proper conversion must include an outside UHF antenna for your set.
Here is what one of the largest service organizations in St. Louis has to say:
“There are very few locations in the 25-mile area surrounding your station where a satisfactory signal cannot be obtained. These specific locations where the signal is weak are usually down in ravines with heavy foliage, hills or buildings obstructing the signal.”
And here is a large electronics distributor talking:
“For the first two weeks of operation, more cuss words were expelled by the TV installers of St. Louis than the Navy personnel emits in a year. But gradually the installers have learned that a careful installation, using good equipment, will produce the finest pictures ever seen in St. Louis in well over 95 per cent of the area.”
You may still have questions about conversion. Any competent service company will, we are sure, be able to answer them.
This, in brief, is our story – a new enterprise, that had problems like any new enterprise. And it is the story of what we did about those problems.
WTVI provides entertainment for the whole family – fine network shows from Dumont and CBS, interesting local programs, top sporting events and feature-length movies.
