KPLR-TV

KPLR-TV

St. Louis, Missouri
Branding	KPLR 11 (general) News 11 (newscasts)
Slogan	The "Ones" To Watch (general) First, Complete, Local (news)
Channels	Digital: 26 (UHF) Virtual: 11 (PSIP)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	The CW This TV (DT2)
Owner	Tribune Company (operated by Local TV, LLC under LMA) (KPLR, Inc.)
First air date	April 28, 1959
Call letters' meaning	KoPLaR (named after the Koplar family, the station's founding owners)
Sister station(s)	KTVI (via LMA with Local TV LLC)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 11 (VHF, 1959-2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1959-1995) The WB (1995-2006) UPN (secondary, 1999-2002)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	288 m
Facility ID	35417
Transmitter coordinates	38°34′24″N 90°19′30″W
Website	kplr11.com

KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KPLR is owned by the Tribune Company, operated by Local TV LLC, and is an affiliate of The CW Television Network. The station's studios are located in Maryland Heights, Missouri, in Northwest St. Louis County (though with a St. Louis address), and its transmitter is located in Lemay, Missouri.

Digital television

KPLR's digital signal on UHF 26 is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
11.1	1080i	16:9	Main KPLR programming / The CW
11.2	480i	4:3	This TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, KPLR-TV shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009, and continued to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel 26. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display KPLR-TV's virtual channel as 11.

History

KPLR commenced broadcasting on April 28, 1959, as the first independent station in Missouri. The station's call letters were derived from the name of its founding owner, St. Louis real-estate developer and hotelier Harold Koplar. Despite losing in his quest to build the station from the ground-up, Koplar acquired the station's license in 1958 through controversial circumstances.

CBS was originally granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission to build channel 11 in 1955, prevailing over four other locally-based competitors. But two years later, in 1957, CBS decided instead to purchase its existing affiliate, KWK-TV (channel 4). As a condition of the channel 4 purchase, the FCC required CBS to relinquish the channel 11 construction permit. CBS did so by transferring it to the Koplar group, known as 220 Television, Incorporated, in a money-less transaction. Almost immediately, the three-way deal was held up after the St. Louis Amusement Company, one of the applicants for channel 11, protested to the United States Court of Appeals in January 1958. The appeal was dropped in November 1958, and the deal was consummated shortly thereafter. CBS renamed its new channel 4 station KMOX-TV—the call letters intended for channel 11—and operated it for 28 years (it is now Belo Corporation-owned KMOV). Meanwhile, Koplar went to work building channel 11 on its own, no longer in the face of opposition.

KPLR's first studios were located within the Koplar-owned Chase Park Plaza Hotel, located on Maryland Plaza in St. Louis' Central West End district. Channel 11 would move into a separate facility adjacent to the hotel several years later. Starting in the mid-1960s Harold's son, Edward J. "Ted" Koplar, began working behind the scenes at KPLR, producing sports programming and developing the station's first regular newscast. Ted Koplar became president and chief executive officer of channel 11 in 1979, and gained complete control of the station upon his father's death in 1985.

For most of its existence, KPLR was a traditional independent with cartoons, sitcoms, movies, dramas, and news. The station was also available on many cable systems in Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas until the late 1980s. Locally, channel 11's first—and only—competitor came in 1969, when local interests put KDNL-TV (channel 30) on the air. KPLR turned down an offer to affiliate with the upstart Fox network in 1986, instead choosing to remain an independent station (the affiliation went to KDNL).

In 1995, KPLR decided to affiliate with the newly created The WB Television Network, but later that same year, KPLR also was offered the ABC affiliation after that network's longtime St. Louis station, KTVI (channel 2) switched to Fox through a group deal with incoming owner New World Communications. Channel 11 turned ABC down, effectively sending them to the former Fox affiliate, KDNL. Beginning in 1999 KPLR also carried a secondary UPN affiliation, running cartoons from UPN's "Disney Block" and select other UPN shows. UPN programming had been previously run on KDNL during overnight and weekend hours, as St. Louis was one of the few large markets that did not have a full-time UPN affiliate, though it finally gained a St. Louis station in WRBU (channel 46), in 2002.

Koplar Communications sold KPLR to ACME Communications in 1997, ending 38 years of local, family ownership. In the sale agreement, Ted Koplar signed a three-year contract to stay with KPLR-TV as its CEO, along with serving as a consultant to ACME. However, Koplar resigned only a year later, citing an irreconcilable rift. [1].

For many years, even after joining The WB, KPLR was known as "St. Louis 11." It often used a logo with the "O" in "St. Louis" (which had a resemblance to the Gateway Arch) converted into its "circle 11" numeric logo. KPLR changed its branding and became known as "WB 11" in 1998.

In March 2003, ACME Communications sold KPLR and sister station KWBP in Portland, Oregon to the Tribune Company. On December 30, 2005, the weekday Monday–Friday Kids' WB block was discontinued.

In September 2006, The WB and UPN networks merged into a new network called The CW Television Network. The new network signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with most of Tribune's The WB stations, including KPLR.

On Sunday, April 9, 2006, The Fan Show, hosted by Rich Gould, debuted. It is a live sports-related show broadcasted from The Casino Queen's Club Sevens for the first year and a half, but starting in December 2007 it is hosted at AJ's Bar and Grill, with audience-participation games and discussion. Gould remarked in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview about the show that "it's live TV in its rawest form. It's essentially a time machine back to the 1950s... in fact, some of the games I stole from Beat the Clock." The show's last episode aired on September 7, 2008.

KPLR's former The CW logo from September 2006 until the beginning of November 2008, which is a variant of the logo of WPIX in New York.

On Wednesday, May 31, 2006 The Tube debuted on 11.2 on ATSC broadcast. The Tube began broadcasting on Charter Cable channel 136 on August 2, 2006. The Tube suspended operations on October 1, 2007.

On September 17, 2008, Local TV, which had recently bought KTVI, and Tribune announced that they would merge the operations of KTVI and KPLR under an local marketing agreement. KTVI will be the senior partner in the LMA, with KTVI general manager Spencer Koch as general manager of the combined operation. However, the two stations will be housed at KPLR's studios. The move was done to allow both stations to combine news operations and share certain programming. The LMA officially took effect October 1, 2008.

On November 1, 2008, the station was rebranded as KPLR 11 as part of Tribune's shift away from the common The CW branding with its CW stations, and returned to a logo featuring the Gateway Arch. The logo is essentially a revised version of the logo used by the station when it was a WB station under Tribune ownership.

On September 8, 2008, KPLR launched a unique schedule where the station's 9 pm newscast moved to 7 pm and stretched to an hour-long show, with The CW lineup airing from 8 pm-10 pm instead of its traditional 7 pm-9 pm berth in the Central Time Zone. The station cited an underserved younger audience in the 9 pm timeslot with the Big Three stations airing network programming meant for older viewers and KTVI's 9pm newscast, and had acquired permission from the network itself before going forward with the experiment.

On February 16, 2009, KPLR became the fourth station in St. Louis to broadcast in 1080i High Definition a day after sister station KTVI, and behind KSDK which has been in HD since 2006 and KMOV which has been in HD since 2008.

On April 6, 2009, KPLR debuted a new newscast called "News 11 at Noon". The newscast is anchored by Christine Buck, and Chief Meteorologist John Fuller does the weather. Also, McGraw Milhaven from KTRS in St. Louis, does feature stories on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Later that month, the station announced that it was dropping its coverage of the Blues, airing their last game (a 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs loss to the Vancouver Canucks) on April 21.

Rumors have abounded that ABC is considering moving its affiliation to KPLR, in part because KDNL has been one of the weakest ABC affiliates in the nation in the 15 years since joining the network. However, ABC did extend its affiliation agreement with KDNL and Sinclair's other ABC affiliates for five years on March 26, 2010, which will keep KDNL affiliated with ABC until August 2015.

On December 23, 2011 KPLR alongside KTVI launched a Downtown bureau overlooking Market ST in the newly renovated Peabody Opera House to better serve the Downtown & metro eastern regions.

Programming

Sports programming

KPLR-TV has served as the home broadcaster of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team (two stints, 1959–1962 and 1988–2006), the NBA's St. Louis Hawks (1959–1968) and the NHL's St. Louis Blues (three stints, 1967–1976, 1982–1983, and 1986–2009).

Beginning on May 23, 1959, channel 11 broadcast Wrestling at the Chase, a professional wrestling program produced first from Chase-Park Plaza's Khorassan Ballroom (until 1970). The show featured the most famous wrestlers in the National Wrestling Alliance, which was controlled in part by St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick. Participants included Ric Flair, Harley Race, former NFL player Dick the Bruiser, and Ted DiBiase, among others, and is considered one of the pro wrestling industry's most historic programs. About 1,100 episodes were produced during the show's run, which ended on September 10, 1983.

Children's programming

KPLR aired and produced Captain 11's Showboat, an after-school program for children, that introduced The Three Stooges to St. Louis area television viewers, from 1959 until 1968. Captain 11 was played by long-time radio personality Harry Fender.

Ted Koplar also diversified the Koplar family's entertainment holdings during his time at the helm of KPLR, most notably through World Events Productions, which distributed the animated series Voltron: Defender of the Universe and Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, and later developed and co-produced another, Denver, the Last Dinosaur.

News operations

Traditionally, like most non-"Big Three" stations, KPLR has aired a newscast an hour behind the Big Three stations — in this case, at 9 pm Since KTVI moved its late evening newscast to 9 pm following its affiliation switch, it has consistently beaten KPLR in the ratings.

KPLR has in the past tried to program its news to a younger audience, with most of its anchors being under 35 and with a more fast-paced style of broadcast. However, in a city where most television personalities have been around for years and the perennial ratings winner, KSDK, does not have a main presenter who has less than ten years tenure, this has for the most part caused them to struggle, in addition to what is perceived as a "soft" approach to news. Nevertheless, KPLR has often been pointed out by Post-Dispatch television critics as a good "sweep story" station, where during November, January and May sweeps the station will plug one or more major investigative pieces. KPLR's stories have been seen as much more broad-based and less sensationalistic.

The primetime newscast moved to 7 p.m. and was cut to airing Monday through Fridays only (on account of The CW having programmed Sunday nights at the time of the move) on September 8, 2008. On September 17, 2008 both Local and Tribune announced that they would merge the operations of both KTVI and KPLR. Both stations will be co-located at KPLR under the management of KTVI GM Spencer Koch. The move was done to allow both stations to combine news operations and share certain programming. The LMA took place on October 1, 2008.

On April 6, 2009, KPLR ventured into the midday news market with a new newscast called "News 11 at Noon". The newscast is anchored by Christine Buck who has been with the station for over 30 years, and Chief Meteorologist John Fuller.

On June 17, 2010 is was announced that KPLR will debut an hour-long weekday 4 p.m. newscast on September 20, 2010. The hour-long newscast is anchored by Patrick Clark. The weather is done by John Fuller, and sports director Rich Gould is the sports anchor.

News/station presentation

News sets, music and graphics packages

In 2003, KPLR moved out of its traditional home at the Chase Park Plaza (which by that time had gone from a gutted complex in which the station was the only major tenant into a boutique hotel) into a new purpose-built building in Maryland Heights with a new newsroom and studio. A new WB11 logo was debuted along with new graphics and music. In late January 2006, KPLR updated its graphics. It also changed its logo from blue to red. In September 2006, the logos were redesigned with the new The CW logos and graphics. In November 2008 the logos were once again changed, returning the arch to the logo, it now goes around the silver letters that say KPLR-11. The silver letters formerly said CW11 without the arch.

In December 2008, KPLR began broadcasting from KTVI's studios as KPLR's facility began remodeling to accommodate both KPLR and KTVI's newscasts. The temporary set includes an anchor desk, green screen, and a mini-weather center.

On February 16, 2009, KPLR first began its high-definition newscasts in its newly remodeled studio located a few feet adjacent to KTVI's studio. The new studio contains pieces from the "old" KTVI Studio B set along with a new modern news desk and a state of the art weather center.

Newscast titles

• Channel 11 News (1966–1972)
• KPLR-TV News Watch (1972–1977)
• News Watch 11 (1977–1990)
• St. Louis 11 News at Nine (1990–1997)
• WB 11 News at Nine (1998–2006)
• CW 11 News at Nine (2006–2008)
• CW 11 News in Prime (2008)
• News 11 (2008–present)

Station slogans

• The Ones to Watch (1977–1990 and 2009–present)
• Your Movie Station (late 1980s–1990)
• Count On Us (1990–1997)
• It's About Time (1998–2006)
• Where People Are the Story (2006–2008)
• First, Complete, Local (2008–present; news slogan)

News music packages

• Tuesday 4 (?-1984)
• KPLR News (1984–1989)
• WHAS News (1989–1991)
• Impact (1996–1998)
• Magnum (1998–2001)
• Production Music (2001–2003)
• Power News (2003–2006)
• Momentum News (2006–2008)
• Extreme (2008–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

+ denotes personnel also seen on KTVI
Anchors

• + Christine Buck - weekdays at noon; also 4 p.m. reporter
• Patrick Clark - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also noon and 7 p.m. reporter (sometimes appears on KTVI)
• Dan Gray - weeknights at 7 p.m.
• Melanie Moon - weeknights at 7 p.m.

News 11 Weather

• John Fuller - chief meteorologist; weekdays at noon and 4 p.m., and weeknights at 7 p.m. (occasionally seen on KTVI's 11 a.m. newscast)
• + Michelle Anselmo - meteorologist/anchor; Sunday at 7 p.m.

Sports team

• Rich Gould - sports director; weekdays at 4 p.m., and weeknights at 7 p.m.
• Kurt LaBelle - sports and general assignment news reporter

Reporters

• Jeff Bernthal - lead story reporter
• + Kim Hudson - general assignment reporter
• + Shawndrea Thomas - general assignment reporter

Notable former staff

• Julie Piekarski - news reporter

External links

• KPLR-TV website
• KPLR-TV's MySpace page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KPLR
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KPLR-TV
• Google Book search: Meet Me in the Lobby: The Story of Harold Koplar and the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, which features information on the early years of KPLR-TV