KPLR-TV

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KPLR-TV
St. Louis, Missouri
Branding CW 11
Slogan Where People are the Story
Channels Analog: 11 (VHF)
Digital: 26 (UHF)
Affiliations CW
Owner Tribune Company
(KPLR, Inc.)
Founded April 28, 1959
Call letters meaning KoPLaR (named after the Koplar family, the station's founding owners)
Former affiliations Independent (1959-1995)
WB (1995-2006)
UPN (secondary, 1999-2002)
Website www.cw11tv.trb.com

KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KPLR is owned by the Tribune Company, and is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. The station's studios are located in Maryland Heights, Missouri, in North St. Louis County, and its transmitter is located in Lemay, Missouri.

Contents

KPLR-TV 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.

The Columbia Broadcasting System was originally granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission to build channel 11 in 1955, prevailing over four other locally-based competitors.[1] 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.[2] The appeal was dropped in November 1958,[3] 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 their own, no longer in the face of opposition.

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

For most of its existence, KPLR-TV was a traditional independent with cartoons, sitcoms, movies, dramas, and news. Channel 11 has also 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-present). 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 -- serious competitor came in 1969, when local interests put KDNL-TV (channel 30) on the air, though KPLR clearly remained the top independent station in St. Louis.

Beginning on May 23, 1959, KPLR-TV broadcasted 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.

KPLR-TV also 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.

KPLR-TV turned down an offer to affiliate with the upstart Fox network in 1986, instead choosing to remain an independent station. In 1995, KPLR decided to affiliate with the newly created 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-TV. 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 they finally gained a St. Louis station in WRBU (channel 46), in 2002.

Koplar Communications sold KPLR-TV 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" 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.

In September 2006, the WB and UPN networks merged into a new network called the CW. Through the CW's partnership with Tribune Broadcasting, KPLR-TV became the network's St. Louis affiliate.

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, 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."

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, leaving KPLR-DT2 to either simulcast the main KPLR channel or air a test pattern.

Traditionally, like most non-"Big Three" stations, KPLR has aired a newscast an hour back of the major stations--in this case, at 9 P.M. Since KTVI moved their news to 9 following their affiliation switch, they have consistently beaten KPLR in the ratings.

KPLR has in the past tried to program their news to a younger audience, with most of their 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 10 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.

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 Westport 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. They also updated their logo, from being blue to being red. In September 2006, the logos were redesigned with the new CW logos and graphics.

  • News Watch 11 At Nine (1980s)
  • St. Louis 11 News at Nine (1990-1997)
  • WB 11 News at Nine (1998-2006)
  • CW 11 News at Nine (2006-present)

  • It's About Time ( -2006)
  • Where People Are the Story (2006-present)
This film, television, or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

CW11 Anchors

CW11 Reporters

CW11 Weather

CW11 Sports

  1. ^ "C.B.S. wins St. Louis TV bid." The New York Times, Sept. 7, 1955.
  2. ^ "Court blocks TV sale." The New York Times, Jan. 3, 1958, p. 44.
  3. ^ "St. Louis TV appeal blocked by court." The New York Times, Nov. 18, 1958, p. 34.


v • d • e
Broadcast television in the St. Louis market  (Nielsen DMA #21)

KTVI 2 (Fox) - KMOV 4 (CBS) - KSDK 5 (NBC)  (NBC WX+ on DT2) - KPTN-CA 7 (HSN) - KETC 9 (PBS) - KPLR 11 (The CW) - KNLC 24 (FamilyNet) - KEFN-CA 28 (EWTN) - KDNL 30 (ABC) - K33GU 33 / K22HG 22 (TBN) - WRBU 46 (MNTV) - W50CH 50 (REL) - KUMO-LP 51 (RTN) - KDTL-LP 64 (DS)
Outlying Areas:
K07SD 7 (NBC) - WSIU 8 (PBS) - KFVS 12 (CBS) - K16FE 16 (TBN) - W29CI 29 (3ABN)

Local cable television channels
Bostel - FSN Midwest - WUTV 22 (Washington University)
v • d • e
CW Network Affiliates in the state of Missouri
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Missouri
v • d • e
Tribune Company
Corporate Directors: Dennis Fitzsimons · Enrique Hernandez · Betsy Holden · Robert S. Morrison · William Osborn · Dudley Taft · Samuel Zell
Newspapers: AM New York · Baltimore Sun · Chicago Tribune · Hartford Courant · Los Angeles Times  · Newsday  · South Florida Sun-Sentinel  · Orlando Sentinel · The Morning Call · Daily Press  · The Advocate · Greenwich Time · Hoy (Chicago and Los Angeles)
Television Assets: CLTV · Comcast SportsNet Chicago (25%) (sale pending) · Superstation WGN · Tribune Broadcasting · Tribune Entertainment · Tribune Studios
Television Stations: CW Network Affiliates: KDAF · KHCW · KPLR · KRCW · KSWB · KTLA · KWGN · WDCW · WGN · WNOL · WPIX · WSFL · WTTV · WTXX

MyNetworkTV Affiliates: KMYQ · WPHL

ABC Network Affiliate: WGNO

Fox Network Affiliates: KCPQ · KTXL · WPMT · WTIC · WXIN · WXMI
Radio Stations: WGN
Other Assets: Chicago Cubs (sale pending) · Tribune Publishing · Tribune Media Services · Wrigley Field (sale pending)
Annual Revenue: $5.73 billion USD (2% FY 2005) · Employees: 23,200 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: TRB

Website: www.tribune.com
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPLR-TV"
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