KPLR

	KPLR-TV / DT-St. Louis, MO
	Channels:11 analog (UHF) ; 26 digital (VHF)
	Slogan:Where People are the Story
	Founded: April 28, 1959
	Affiliation: CW
	Website: cw11tv.com

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KPLR-TV / DT, Channel 11, is The CW television network affiliate in St. Louis, owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting. The station offers a schedule of off network sitcoms, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, cartoons, first run shows from the CW, and a few movies. Its transmitter is located in Lemay.

On September 18, 2006, KPLR became the St. Louis affiliate of the CW, created through a merger of the UPN and WB networks. The newly combined network is co-owned by CBS and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner.

The channel's call letters, KPLR, reflect the name of the family that founded and owned the station for almost 40 years: Koplar.

The station broadcasts in stereo and was one of the first stations in the country to do so. Its analog channel operates on channel 11 while the station's digital channel operates on channel 26.

History

KPLR-TV started broadcasting on April 28, 1959.

Between May 23, 1959 and September 10, 1983, KPLR produced and broadcast Wrestling at the Chase, a program featuring professional wrestling from the local Chase-Park Plaza. Originating from the hotel'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 Afflis and Ted DiBiase among others, and is considered one of the pro wrestling industry's most historic programs. Approximately 1,100 episodes were made during a run of 24 years, and almost 4 months.

For many years, KPLR was the broadcast home of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues. For most of its existence, KPLR was a traditional independent with cartoons, sitcoms, movies, dramas, sports, and news. KPLR turned down Fox affiliation in 1986, instead choosing to remain an independent station. In 1995, KPLR decided to affiliate with the newly created WB television network. KPLR also passed on the ABC affiliation after longtime ABC affiliate KTVI switched to Fox, effectively sending ABC to the former Fox affiliate, KDNL. Koplar sold KPLR to ACME Communications in the mid '90s.

After years of being known as "St. Louis 11", KPLR became known as "WB 11" in 1998. KPLR had secondary UPN affiliation from 1999-2002 running the cartoons from UPN's "Disney Block" and select other UPN shows. After WRBU assumed UPN affiliation, UPN shows disappeared from KPLR. In March, 2003 ACME Communications sold KPLR and sister station KWBP in Portland, Oregon to Tribune Company.

On January 2, 2006, the weekday Monday – Friday Kids' WB block was discontinued.

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and KPLR-TV was announced as the St. Louis affiliate. A ten year affiliation agreement was made between The CW and the Tribune stations in major markets. Former UPN station WRBU switched to News Corp's My Network TV, the sister network to Fox.

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 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 2006 St. Louis Cardinals' baseball season was the last broadcast on KPLR. Beginning in 2007, broadcasts of St. Louis Cardinals' games will return to KSDK.

News Operations

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 St. Louis 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.

KPLR-TV News Sets / Graphics Packages / Music

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.

KPLR-TV Newscasts

Monday-Friday

News 11 at Seven with Rick Edlund and Melanie Moon
John Fuller, Chief Meteorologist
Rich Gould, Sports Director - 9:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Saturday

News 11 at Nine with Jeff Bernthal [Defunct]
Michelle Anselmo, Reporter, Meteorologist
Rich Gould, Sports Director - 9:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Sunday

News 11 News at Nine with Jeff Bernthal [Defunct]
Michelle Anselmo, Meteorologist
Rich Gould, Sports Director 9:00 pm - 9:25 pm
The Fan Show with Rich Gould 9:25 pm - 10:00 pm

KPLR-TV On-Air Personalities

NEWS 11 Anchors

Rick Edlund: NEWS 11 News at Nine (weekdays)
Jeff Bernthal: NEWS 11 News at Nine (weekends) anchor / reporter
Melanie Moon: NEWS 11 News at Nine (weekdays) anchor / reporter

NEWS 11 Reporters

Michelle Anselmo
Christine Buck, Features
Kelly Hoskins
Tony Miller
Theresa Petry

NEWS 11 Sports

Rich Gould: Sports Director, Host of "The Fan Show"
Kurt Labelle: Sports Reporter

NEWS 11 Weather Meteorologists

John Fuller: Chief Meterologist
Michelle Anselmo

KPLR-TV NEWS 11 Past Personalities

Bill Rees, Anchor
Don Clark, Anchor
Dave Erickson, Anchor
Don Bell, Sports (now at KYW-CBS 3 Philadelphia).
Patrick Clark, Reporter.
Cree Craig, Anchor.
Kelli Eggers, Anchor
Kathryn Jamboretz, Anchor CW 11 News at Nine
Keryn Shipman, Chief Meteorologist
Steve Draganchuk, Meteorologist / Reporter.
Dan Eassa, Sports.
Mark Ferree, Chief Meteorologist.
Kara Kaswell, Anchor / Reporter(now at KMOV).
Sandy Miller, Anchor (now at KTVI).
Victor Ojeda, Reporter.
Steve Schiff, Anchor.
Garry Seith, Chief Meteorologist (1999-2006, currently at KTXA, Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas).
Melanie Streeper, Weather Anchor.
Evelyn Wilkerson, Reporter.
Telly Hughes, Sports.

External Links

TV Stations in and around St. Louis (Nielsen DMA #21)
KTVI 2 (Fox) • KMOV 4 (CBS) • KSDK 5 (NBC) • KPTN-LP 7 (HSN) • WSIU 8 (PBS) • KETC 9 (PBS) • KPLR 11 (The CW) • KFVS 12 (CBS) • WPXS 13 (I) • K22HG 22 (TBN) • KNLC 24 (FamilyNet) • KEFN 28 (EWTN) • W29CI 29 (3ABN) • KDNL 30 (ABC) • WRBU 46 (MNTV) • W50CH 50 (REL) • KUMO 51 (RTN) • KDTL 64 (DS)