KSDK to leave downtown St. Louis

[nomadcowatbk]

KSDK to leave downtown St. Louis

KSDK (Channel 5) also intends to sell the downtown building in which it has operated for more than 40 years.

www.ksdk.com

 

[Mark Roberts]

KTVI was near the old St. Louis arena off Berthold.
KMOV was at One Memorial Drive near the Arch.
KPLR was at the Chase Park Plaza hotel (which Harold Koplar owned).
KDNL was at 1215 Cole, which has been the site of several stations, originally built in the 1940s when the Globe-Democrat had a short-lived FM station, KWGD.
KETC was in University City; so it's the only one that hasn't been in the city proper.

Where are they now?

 

[Kent]

When Heritage Media bought what was then KRJY 96.3, it moved WIL from 13th and Tucker to 96.3’s Manchester Rd studios. I seem to remember GM Dick Williams saying one of the main reasons he moved to Manchester was because it was outside of the city limits and, thus, wasn’t subject to STL's 1% payroll assessment.

My first thought was similar to yours, Mark. I'll believe KSDK remains in the city when I see it.

 

[Mark Roberts]

When Heritage Media bought what was then KRJY 96.3, it moved WIL from 13th and Tucker to 96.3’s Manchester Rd studios. I seem to remember GM Dick Williams saying one of the main reasons he moved to Manchester was because it was outside of the city limits and, thus, wasn’t subject to STL's 1% payroll assessment.

My first thought was similar to yours, Mark. I'll believe KSDK remains in the city when I see it.

I find it interesting that the tower on DeBaliviere in the Central West End, the original home of KCFM (now KSD (FM)), is still in use, though not by KSD.

KSHE, and later, the other Emmis properties, actually moved into St. Louis city at the Union Station Annex. I'm thinking this was in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

 

[Kent]

KSHE, and later, the other Emmis properties, actually moved into St. Louis city at the Union Station Annex. I'm thinking this was in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Not sure when it moved, but KSHE was there as far back as 1989.

I never have been able to tell if Zimmer consolidated WKBQ and WKKX after it bought the former. Zimmer certainly would consolidate its properties if it could, but both Broadcasting Cable Yearbook and M Street show 'KBQ on Hampton and 'KKX in Westport Plaza. Emmis wasted little time moving them into Union Station. Broadcast Center eventually moved into the old WKBQ studios.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Not sure when it moved, but KSHE was there as far back as 1989.

I never have been able to tell if Zimmer consolidated WKBQ and WKKX after it bought the former. Zimmer certainly would consolidate its properties if it could, but both Broadcasting Cable Yearbook and M Street show 'KBQ on Hampton and 'KKX in Westport Plaza. Emmis wasted little time moving them into Union Station. Broadcast Center eventually moved into the old WKBQ studios.

Recall also that Zimmer swapped the 104.1, then licensed to Jerseyville, Illinois, and 106.5 frequencies. I think they were both at Westport Plaza by then.

Is Broadcast Center still around? If so, where would they be able to place graduates, I wonder?

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Is Broadcast Center still around? If so, where would they be able to place graduates, I wonder?

I suspect they folded around 2015 or 2016. They still have a website but it hasn't been updated in several years, and all their social pages are either very stale or deleted.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I suspect they folded around 2015 or 2016. They still have a website but it hasn't been updated in several years, and all their social pages are either very stale or deleted.

I can't find out much about it in the Post-Dispatch. Interesting enough, Broadcast Center operated WEW for a while, starting in 1989, when the owner, Charles Stanley, ran into financial problems. Stanley later sold it. There was also a sale of Broadcast Center to a Ralph Stanley (not the bluegrass legend) in 2006. And that's all.

 

[Kent]

Recall also that Zimmer swapped the 104.1, then licensed to Jerseyville, Illinois, and 106.5 frequencies. I think they were both at Westport Plaza by then.

Yes, Zimmer slid WKKX to the better 106.5 signal, leaving WKBQ at 104.1.

Is Broadcast Center still around? If so, where would they be able to place graduates, I wonder?

Broadcast Center folded around 2018. According to Google, 2360 Hampton had a for sale sign in front of it in April 2019. People apparently decided not to pay $10,000 for broadcasting training when they could get a better paying job out of high school flipping burgers.

It was sad in a sense, though, because Broadcast Center really was good for people wanting to go into the field. I know both major clusters in Mid-MO used to hire from there. So did Mike Rice. As you know, I worked for both major clusters in Mid-MO at various times, and I was usually impressed with the hires we got from Broadcast Center.

 

[Mark Roberts]

It was sad in a sense, though, because Broadcast Center really was good for people wanting to go into the field. I know both major clusters in Mid-MO used to hire from there. So did Mike Rice. As you know, I worked for both major clusters in Mid-MO at various times, and I was usually impressed with the hires we got from Broadcast Center.

Broadcast Center was around as far back as 1976; most of the people I worked with at KWRE were from there. They would stay a year or two and then move up to bigger markets. Even at that point, the pipeline of recent graduates ready and willing to work in small single-station markets to get experience was reasonably full. That was even before Broadcast Center started blanketing the St. Louis radio stations appealing to younger listeners with ads. I think relatively few actually broke into St. Louis stations, though I think a couple of its graduates made it to KMOX.

I don't remember who originally owned Broadcast Center (I've got an inquiry out to a friend on that one); but that person was brilliant at what would now be called development work: making contacts with potential employers and even getting financial contributions from them. There were quite a few Broadcast Center people who came through KFRU, and Broadcast Center really tried to butter up Mahlon Aldridge, the part-owner and GM, though they once misspelled his name "Maylon" in one of their publications. That didn't seem to bother him. The quality of what we got varied: some were very good; others acted as if they were at KXOK in 1963 and that they were putting on a "show". Though KFRU certainly had outdated elements, including some remnants of block programming, that kind of "look at me, I'm a deejay!!!" approach didn't fly even there, since it was mostly a full-service AC station. Though our news people mostly came from the University of Missouri, most of the announcers came from Broadcast Center. They really could have used some mentoring, but KFRU did not have a program director and didn't even always have a music director. So a lot of these folks were kind of left on their own.

Broadcast Center filled a vacuum for Missouri small-market operators that the University left open. The University had two separate programs, one in journalism, one in speech. There was some overlap, but not a lot. But relatively speaking, most speech majors went on to do something else, while the journalism program increasingly emphasized TV, because that was what students wanted and the market for TV news was expanding while the market for radio news had become static and, in the 1980s, would start shrinking radically as program directors took the knife to the news operations that they had always hated. Mizzou's placement operation, run by a washed-up retread with tenure, also was behind the times while Broadcast Center excelled at placement. This actually frustrated at least one station owner in the state. When I worked for Mizzou briefly in 1984, I attended a Missouri Broadcasters Association meeting. I was introducing myself to various attendees. I introduced myself to Vera Faurot Burk, Sam's widow (and Coach Don Faurot's sister), who owned the Kirksville stations. She immediately fired back, "Why aren't you sending us more graduates?" It became an uncomfortable discussion because I had nothing to do with that particular bureaucracy...and one of my former part-timers at KFRU was then the news director at Kirksville.

 

[Mark Roberts]

I don't remember who originally owned Broadcast Center (I've got an inquiry out to a friend on that one); but that person was brilliant at what would now be called development work: making contacts with potential employers and even getting financial contributions from them.

It was Bill Gebhardt. According to a Post-Dispatch obituary, he came to St. Louis in 1970, founded the school in 1972, sold it in 1988 and retired to Florida. He died in 1994 at the age of 70 from what the obituary described as Alzheimer's complications.

The Post-Dispatch reported in 1988 that he filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition to reorganize.

The newspaper did a profile on him May 7, 1986, where he said that he had placed more than 1,800 students in broadcasting jobs. He was talking about slowing down then and possibly merging with Maryville College. That merger never happened, though.

 

[Kent]

Broadcast Center was around as far back as 1976; most of the people I worked with at KWRE were from there. They would stay a year or two and then move up to bigger markets. Even at that point, the pipeline of recent graduates ready and willing to work in small single-station markets to get experience was reasonably full.

Broadcast Center used to say it would work with you and station owners to place you in your first job. It never offered any guarantees, but it was really successful, especially if you didn't mind working somewhere like Cow Pasture Radio for your first gig!

That was even before Broadcast Center started blanketing the St. Louis radio stations appealing to younger listeners with ads. I think relatively few actually broke into St. Louis stations, though I think a couple of its graduates made it to KMOX.

Looking at the Broadcast Center website, it mentions several talents who have worked in St. Louis over the years. Relative to how many went through there, it might not be THAT big of a number, I suppose.

There were quite a few Broadcast Center people who came through KFRU, and Broadcast Center really tried to butter up Mahlon Aldridge, the part-owner and GM, though they once misspelled his name "Maylon" in one of their publications. That didn't seem to bother him. The quality of what we got varied: some were very good; others acted as if they were at KXOK in 1963 and that they were putting on a "show". Though KFRU certainly had outdated elements, including some remnants of block programming, that kind of "look at me, I'm a deejay!!!" approach didn't fly even there, since it was mostly a full-service AC station. Though our news people mostly came from the University of Missouri, most of the announcers came from Broadcast Center. They really could have used some mentoring, but KFRU did not have a program director and didn't even always have a music director. So a lot of these folks were kind of left on their own.

Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same, doesn't it? Talent coaching in Mid-MO was always pretty bad, or at least that was my opinion. Zimmer did better than the folks on Old 63 N, but only nominally better. KFRU also had problems with the program director and/or executive producer position when I was there. They were technically separate positions until 2003, but the EP often did the PD's job and vice-versa. Right after I started, the EP got sacked for falling too far behind on affidavits. It had a temporary person occupying that position for several months until someone else was hired. That person only lasted a few months himself. It also seemed like MU provided a lot of the news people, at least one of whom I worked with went on to KMOX, while Broadcast Center provided most of the announcers when I was there. There were a few who were picked from KCOU in the 90's, but recruitment from there wasn't common. KCOU really didn't have much to offer in way of coaching or development either, and KBIA had mostly professionals on staff, though students could be considered for a handful of positions. We also got a couple of people, both on the news and announcing side, from MU who were angling for TV but found their Q-scores weren't high enough. I can only think of one Broadcast Center graduate who was a total clunker. He didn't last long and was mostly on weekend overnights. He was lousy on-air and horrendous at the board. He went to the executive producer and asked to be scheduled to run more Cardinals games and was told, "If you learned how to do it right, you wouldn't have to ask." He also got caught surfing inappropriate sites on one of the machines in the studio after the machine got infected with a virus. He didn't last much longer after that, though it was a relatively minor incident caused mostly by bad luck that ultimately got him.

The newspaper did a profile on him May 7, 1986, where he said that he had placed more than 1,800 students in broadcasting jobs. He was talking about slowing down then and possibly merging with Maryville College. That merger never happened, though.

Broadcast Center had an arrangement with one of the colleges in the St. Louis area to provide some of the courses for various broadcasting majors. I thought it was Fontbonne that had that relationship, but it could've been Maryville. I'll have to ask Mike Clayton sometime since I'm pretty sure he went to Maryville University. Don't know how long it had it, but I seem to remember it mentioning it in its last five years in operation.

 

[Brother]

KTVI was near the old St. Louis arena off Berthold.
KMOV was at One Memorial Drive near the Arch.
KPLR was at the Chase Park Plaza hotel (which Harold Koplar owned).
KDNL was at 1215 Cole, which has been the site of several stations, originally built in the 1940s when the Globe-Democrat had a short-lived FM station, KWGD.
KETC was in University City; so it's the only one that hasn't been in the city proper.

Where are they now?

KPLR was the first to move out of the city. They relocated to Maryland Heights around 2001. KTVI joined them in 2009, and their old building at 5915 Berthold was torn down and replaced with a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

KMOV is also in Maryland Heights now. They made their move to a property along Interstate 270 in the fall of 2023.

KDNL seems to have moved to Brentwood Blvd. in Richmond Heights within the past three or four years.

KETC actually did the reverse. They moved into the city several years ago, and are located on Olive Street in Midtown, situated just north of the Saint Louis University campus and around the corner of the Fox Theatre on Grand Blvd.

 

[Steel Nerves]

I'll believe KSDK remains in the city when I see it.

I'm not utterly convinced KSDK will stay in the City. They wouldn't be the first business to announce they're in talks to stay in the City and then announce that they just couldn't work something out but the perfect space magically appeared somewhere else.

But IF they do stay in the City, I'd bet they'll take over KPLR's old space in the Chase Park Plaza. The Central West End is a much better neighborhood, and either they or the Chase will get a huge tax break for renovating the studios.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

who will design the new location?

 

[Steel Nerves]

KSDK announced this week (although I can't even find it on the station's own website) they would move to an existing building near I-64 and Hampton - very close to the old Berthold location of KTVI. (My original guess was off by about 2.5 miles )

In an odd coincidence, the St. Louis Business Journal today announced they would be moving to the same building.

 

[txchipk]

KSDK announced this week (although I can't even find it on the station's own website) they would move to an existing building near I-64 and Hampton - very close to the old Berthold location of KTVI. (My original guess was off by about 2.5 miles )

In an odd coincidence, the St. Louis Business Journal today announced they would be moving to the same building.

Coverage of the announcement to 1001 Highlands Plaza: KSDK to relocate facility to Highlands Plaza in St. Louis

 

[Mark Roberts]

KSDK announced this week (although I can't even find it on the station's own website) they would move to an existing building near I-64 and Hampton - very close to the old Berthold location of KTVI. (My original guess was off by about 2.5 miles )

In an odd coincidence, the St. Louis Business Journal today announced they would be moving to the same building.

And, as you no doubt know, that Berthold location was hit by a tornado in 1959, leaving only the base of the KTVI tower, which was retained for decades afterwards for other purposes. St. Louis city seems to be a tornado magnet sometimes, as demonstrated again this month.

Is "Highlands Plaza" where the St. Louis Arena was?