KSDK

KSDK, Channel 5, is the NBC-affiliated television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KSDK is owned and operated by Gannett Company, and the station's transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, Missouri. The station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 35, using its former analog channel assignment of channel 5 as its virtual digital channel via PSIP. KSDK also carries The Local AccuWeather Channel (branded as "NewsChannel 5 Weather PLUS") on digital subchannel 5.2 and Charter Communications digital cable channel 127.

KSDK produces and airs about 35 hours of local news and other local programming per week, all in high-definition and streamed live online on KSDK's website. The station broadcasts in stereo and broadcasts a Secondary Audio Program (SAP) channel that is used mainly for Descriptive Video Service (DVS).

Digital television

KSDK's digital signal on UHF channel 35 is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, KSDK shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009,^[2] and continued to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel 35.^[3] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as 5.

History

Channel 5 first went on the air on February 8, 1947 as KSD-TV. It was owned by the Pulitzer Publishing Company along with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KSD radio (550 AM, now KTRS). It was the eighth television station in the United States, the first television station in Missouri, and the second west of the Mississippi (after Los Angeles' KTLA, by two-and-a-half weeks). Because of a freeze imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it was the only St. Louis television station until 1953, when WTVI (channel 54, now KTVI channel 2) signed on.

Channel 5 has always been an NBC affiliate, owing to KSD's long affiliation with NBC radio. It is currently the longest-tenured affiliate of any network. In its early years, it also carried secondary affiliations with CBS, DuMont, and ABC. Channel 5 was also the first St. Louis television station to broadcast in color.

After KSD radio was sold by Pulitzer to Combined Communications Corporation in 1979 (prior to Combined's merger with the Gannett Company that same year), KSD-TV's call letters were changed to the current KSDK. In 1983 Pulitzer traded channel 5 to Multimedia, Inc. in return for WFBC-TV in Greenville, South Carolina (now WYFF), in was a rare instance of one company's flagship station being traded for another.

During the 1980s and 1990s, KSDK was the best-performing NBC affiliate in the country. To this day, KSDK is the highest-rated NBC affiliate in the top 30 markets, despite the NBC network's overall ratings slide since the 2004-2005 season.

KSDK has had a long history of producing local TV programs, including the Wranglers Club with Texas Bruce (1950–1963), Corky's Colorama with Clif St. James playing Corky the Clown (1963–1980), Newsbeat hosted by Dick Ford and John Auble (1976–1984), and Midday A.M. (c. 1979-1986).

During the mid 1980s, Sally Jessy Raphaël's talk show originated from St. Louis. In 1995, Multimedia Inc. merged with Gannett and on September 5, 1995, KSDK began producing and airing Show Me St. Louis from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. each weekday. The multiple-award-winning program highlights local attractions and events that are family oriented. In 1998, KSDK debuted the "Window on St. Louis," a streetside studio located in the same downtown St. Louis building that also houses KSDK's other studios. Show Me St. Louis is aired from this studio, which welcomes the public to take part in the broadcasts. The Window on St. Louis is modeled on Today's "Window on the World." In 2000, KSDK launched its website: www.ksdk.com.

In an attempt to provide St. Louisans with local and national election results available during the 2004 elections, KSDK partnered with KETC, St. Louis's PBS affiliate, to simulcast election coverage. The partnership was first utilized to broadcast a gubernatorial debate between Secretary of State of Missouri Matt Blunt, a Republican), and then State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill (D). On election night, KSDK aired NBC's primetime election coverage with Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert as well as segments of local results; on KETC, Mike Bush and Karen Foss hosted three hours of all local election results. Viewers could also watch election results online.

In 2004, KSDK sponsored and was the official media partner for "Celebrate 2004," a yearlong event that commemorated the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (or St. Louis World's Fair) and the 1904 Summer Olympics (The Games of the III Olympiad, which were the first Olympic Games held in the United States). Throughout 2004, there were special events held to honor the anniversaries.

"Celebrate 2004" began on New Year’s Eve 2003 with "’04 Eve," which was held in Forest Park. Beginning with ’04 Eve and throughout 2004, a giant Ferris wheel was constructed in Forest Park much like the one that existed for the 1904 World’s Fair. River Splash was a series of concerts held on the St. Louis riverfront beneath the St. Louis Arch featuring a "waterwall" upon which there were laser shows and projections. The newly remodled St. Louis Eads Bridge was transformed into the "Eats Bridge" when local restaurants opened on it to serve customers. The Missouri History Museum opened a Lewis and Clark exhibit and the United States Postal Service issued a commorative bicentennial stamp. On its way to Athens, Greece, the Olympic Flame arrived for an overnight stop in Forest Park amid much fanfare in July (KSDK anchors Rene Knott and Kelly Jackson were among the torchbearers). St. Louis also hosted the U.S. Women's Marathon Trials in April as well as the U.S. Diving Trials. "Celebrate 2004" came to a close on New Year's Eve 2004.

The KSDK/KETC partnership continued through September 2005, when, along with radio partners KYKY (98.1 kHz.) and KEZK (102.5 kHz.), a telethon for Hurricane Katrina relief was simulcast that raised more than $5 million.

The first broadcast of any local program in St. Louis in high-definition was the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, 2005. Incidentally, the 2005 parade also marked the end of an era for KSDK: The parade, which had been a Thanksgiving Day tradition on KSDK, moved to KMOV for the 2006 edition.

Throughout 2007, KSDK celebrated its 60th anniversary with special programming and segments during news broadcasts.

KSDK in the Community

• "A Place to Call Home" is a weekly Emmy Award-Winning segment that features one child who is in need of adoption. Since August 2003, 50% of the children who have appeared on KSDK have been adopted. A secondary program, "Little Wishes" allows viewers to are unable to adopt the child to add a little happiness to the life of a foster child by purchasing a gift for him/her.
• "Friend to Friend" is a program that reminds viewers on the fifth of each month to perform a breast self-exam to catch breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. Viewers can also contact KSDK for a packet that includes information and reminders on performing a breast self exam. KSDK is also a major sponsor and partner of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation and the St. Louis Race for the Cure, which in 2006 overtook Denver as the largest in the country with more than 64,000 participants, and in 2007 raised more than $2.5 million with more than 65,000 participants.^[4]
• Volunteer 5 is a weekly, week-long program that features a local charity or other community organization in need of donations, but most importantly volunteers. KSDK's Volunteer 5 operates as a telethon, with phone operators taking calls between 4 and 7pm each weeknight from anyone wishing to donate time or money. Volunteer 5 has provided more than $5 million annually in services and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to local non-profit organizations. The program began in 1993 to help those affected by the Great Flood of 1993. Volunteer 5 has been absent on KSDK since November 2005, though it still appears on KSDK's website.
• The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon airs each Labor Day on KSDK. Mike Bush hosts the local telethon that, in September 2007, raised $2 million, of which every penny stays in St. Louis.

Programming

Since Show Me St. Louis first went on the air in 1995, it has been a popular show highlighting local entertainment and other, mostly family oriented, attractions around St. Louis. Show Me St. Louis is usually broadcast from the Window on St. Louis where local groups and organizations can bring signs to advertise for their events, but occasionally it leaves the studio to broadcast from local attractions (The St. Louis Zoo, Busch Stadium, The Fox Theatre, etc.). Show Me St. Louis also leaves the studio to broadcast from surrounding communities (Florissant, MO, Waterloo, IL, etc.) that have uncommon or unknown attractions of interest to viewers. These Great Escapes (as the show is titled) usually occur during summer months.

Show Me St. Louis has also drawn criticism, however, because some of its segments and a few entire episodes are sponsored, pushing it into the ever-growing realm of advertainment. Preceding and following each episode, a disclaimer states that "portions of Show Me St. Louis have been paid for." After individual segments, a card with information is shown. If it was paid for, the card will also say "Segment paid for by insert business name here . Simply Irresistible is a primetime program that interrupts regularly scheduled NBC programing for what is essentially a local infomercial.

During the 1980s, Sally Jessy Raphaël's talk show Sally originated from KSDK's studios. Over the years, KSDK has aired syndicated programs like Martha Stewart Living (which Gannett stopped airing when she was sent to prison; later on WRBU-TV, channel 46, now on the Hallmark Channel), Montel (which aired on KMOV until 2008), Entertainment Tonight (currently on KMOV) and The Jane Pauley Show. When The Jane Pauley Show was canceled, it was replaced by Today at Ten and the previous day's episode of Show Me St. Louis. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is broadcast by KSDK at 1pm every weekday. KSDK has long been the home of syndicated programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show (since 1986), Jeopardy! (since 1984), and Wheel of Fortune (since 1983).

Sports programming

KSD's first year on the air was also the beginning of a long association with the St. Louis Cardinals as their flagship station. On May 8, 1966, in the ceremony for the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium, Bill Houska Sr. flew home plate from Sportsman's Park to the new downtown stadium in "Chopper 5." It aired Cardinals games from 1947 to 1958 before losing the rights to KPLR-TV for three years. The Cardinals returned in 1963 and remained on channel 5 until 1987--long after many other Big Three stations dropped local play-by-play coverage. On December 7, 2006 when station management announced that, beginning with the 2007 season, it will once again be the flagship terrestrial (over-the-air) television station of the Cardinals Television Network after an 19-year run on KPLR.^[5] KSDK aired an average of 20 locally produced Cardinals games a year. On July 15, 2010, Fox Sports Midwest signed a new exclusive broadcast contract with the Cardinals, ending the team's broadcasts on KSDK following the 2010 season.^[6] The final Cardinals telecast on channel 5 aired on October 3, 2010, between the Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies.

News operation

Appropriately for a station with roots in the Post-Dispatch, KSDK has long dominated the news ratings in St. Louis. It has been in first place for most of the time since records have been kept. KMOX-TV took the lead in the late 1960s, but KSDK regained the lead in the early 1980s and has held it for all but a few time slots since then, with some of the highest (and by some measures, the highest) rated newscasts in the nation. One factor behind KSDK's dominance is talent continuity: all of KSDK's main anchors have been at the station for at least ten years. At one point, its newscasts ended with local elementary schoolchildren flashing the hand signs for "5" and "1", signifying that, as a promo featuring the kids said, "Even a 2nd grader could tell you that Channel 5 is Number 1."

KSDK broadcasts a total of 32 hours of local news a week (four hours on Sunday-Fridays and 3½ hours on Saturdays). KSDK operates a Bell 206B3 JetRanger called "Chopper 5", to cover breaking news and track severe weather. While KSDK still dominates the St. Louis news scene, its dominance is not as absolute as it once was. During the spring 2004 sweeps, it lost the lead at 10 p.m. to KMOV, and the two stations have traded the ratings crown at 10 several times since then. KMOV has also closed the gap in several other timeslots, due in part to NBC's weaker ratings in recent years.

Jennifer Blome and Art Holliday have had one of the longest anchor pairings in U.S. local television, as both have anchored the station's weekday morning newscast since 1989; this will end in September 2011, as Blome will remain on the morning newscast with Pat McGonigle (formerly of WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York) serving as co-anchor, and Holliday becomes anchor of a new half-hour 4 p.m. newscast.^[7]

In 1989, KSDK dropped the Eyewitness News branding to become NewsChannel 5, and also began broadcasting 24 hours a day. When NewsChannel 5 Weather PLUS debuted in June of 2005 on its digital subchannel, KSDK became the first local St. Louis television station to launch a secondary channel on cable. On September 12, 2005, KSDK began airing Today at Ten, an additional half-hour long weekday mid-morning news program airing at 10 a.m., immediately following NBC's Today. Today at Ten was discontinued in September 2009, and KSDK now airs Today from 7-11 a.m., followed by The Dr. Oz Show.

On February 6, 2006, KSDK became the first St. Louis television station, and seventh station in the country, to broadcast all news and local programming in high definition. KSDK also became the first local St. Louis station to stream all of its newscasts on its website. On August 13, 2007, KSDK debuted Online @ 9, a 10-minute news-webcast tailored to an online audience and streamed exclusively on its website. In December 2008, KSDK affiliated its NewsChannel 5 Weather PLUS digital subchannel with the Local AccuWeather Channel, following the discontinuation of NBC Weather Plus.

On November 11, 2010, it was announced that KSDK would enter into a news share agreement with ABC affiliate KDNL (channel 30, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group). This resulted in KSDK producing nightly half-hour newscasts at 5 and 10 p.m. on KDNL, which began on January 3, 2011; additional KSDK-produced content was expected to air weekends on KDNL although the only content that currently airs on KDNL on either of the two weekend days so far is a rebroadcast of KSDK's entertainment/features program Show Me St. Louis.^[8] KDNL has not broadcast local newscasts since it shut down its news department in 2001. Tom Tipton, KDNL's general manager, stated that the station did not want to run simulcast or repurposed newscasts in its efforts to return daily newscasts to channel 30.^[9] The arrangement is unusual given KSDK and KDNL are both affiliates of "Big Three" networks, and the two station's newscasts compete against one another. The newscasts on KDNL are pre-taped.

On May 24, 2011, KSDK announced that its weekday news output would be expanded (to six hours a day) on September 12, 2011; Today in St. Louis will expand from 2½ to three hours on weekday mornings, now running at 4-7 a.m., along with an added hour-long 10 a.m. newscast (pushing the fourth hour of Today back one hour); KSDK will also debut a half-hour 4 p.m. newscast (the second such newscast in that hour in the St. Louis market), replacing The Oprah Winfrey Show in that timeslot, while the noon newscast cut down to a half-hour with Show Me St. Louis being moved to fill the remaining half-hour; with these additions, KSDK will be reduced to only three hours of syndicated daytime shows to back up its newscasts outside of NBC network programming.^[10][11]

Awards

KSDK News / Station presentation

News environments, graphics packages, and music

In 1997, a new news set was introduced, along with a new graphics package, which reinforced KSDK's 1989 rebranding from Eyewitness News to NewsChannel 5. The new set had a backdrop of the newsroom during all newscasts except NewsChannel 5 at 6, during which a backdrop of the St. Louis skyline was inserted; a special backdrop was also used during the Olympics and various local and national elections. The graphics package introduced with the new set was replaced in 2001 with one almost identical as those found at sister station WUSA in Washington, D.C. (the only differences were the station logos and the images of various local buildings in the news opens, apparently, this may have been an early effort by Gannett to introduce standardized graphics).

Shortly before Rene Knott was hired to replace Mike Bush as Sports Director in early 2004, the SportsPlus set and graphics package were replaced. Though the logo stayed the same, the title officially changed from Mike Bush's Sports Plus to just Sports Plus. With the addition of Rene Knott to the sports department, Sports Plus became Sports Plus with Rene Knott & Frank Cusumano.

In May 2004, KSDK began broadcasting from a temporary news set while their main news desk and weather center underwent remodeling. There were no major changes besides a change in color scheme and the addition of several plasma screen monitors. The color scheme of the new set shifted from blue and brown to tan, silver, and red to match the colors in the "5" logo. A window with a semi-transparent NBC peacock partially blocked the view of the newsroom behind the anchors. The Volunteer 5 phone-banks were not updated but the rest of the set refreshment was complete in August 2004.

KSDK debuted a new graphic package, music (NBC Flagship), and news environment on February 6, 2006 (consisting of a sit-down interview set, a smaller reporting desk, a color-changing backdrop used for demonstrations like cooking segments, a new main news desk, and a new "WeatherPlus Weather Center") due to KSDK's switch to high-definition. The new news graphics were the first in nearly five years (though the Show Me St. Louis and SportsPlus graphics had been updated and the weather graphics were updated in early 2005 with the introduction of WeatherPlus to St. Louis), the Show Me St. Louis and SportsPlus graphics were updated as well. The set occupies the studio space that formerly housed the SportsPlus and Volunteer 5 sets. KSDK also debuted an updated logo that is essentially the same as the old one but in the new logo the grey has been replaced by shiny silver and the red seems deeper and darker (and is also shiny), and also includes an oval with "HD" inside it.

Starting in 2007, the Gannett-owned stations began revamping their graphics and started using a new news music package to be more closely aligned with each other. The stations now have standardized graphics and news music (Rampage Music's Gannett News Music Package) on October 21, 2008 on their noon newscast.

KSDK Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1947–1953)
• AP News & Views (1953–1958)
• KSD-TV News (1958–1969)
• Eyewitness News (1969–1976)
• Channel 5 Eyewitness News Central (1976–1979)
• Channel 5 Eyewitness News (1979–1990)^[12]
• NewsChannel 5 (1990–2006)^[13]
• NewsChannel 5 in High Definition (2006–2008)^[14]
• In High Definition - NewsChannel 5 (2008–present)

KSDK Station slogans

• "Channel 5, St. Louis' Very Own" (early 1970s)
• "You're With Friends on 5" (mid 1970s)
• "Channel 5 is Your Place to Be" (late 1970s; not to be confused with 1990-1992 "NBC, The Place to Be!" ad campaign)
• "Channel 5 Calls it Home" (early 1980s–1984)
• "Show Me 5!" (1984–1993)
• "St. Louis NewsChannel" (1988–1991)
• "Where The News Comes First" (1991–present)
• "In the New Millennium, See Us Shine" (1997–2000; used during period station used Frank Gari's "The NBC Collection: New Millennium")
• "St. Louis' News Leader" (2000–present)

KSDK News music packages

• Un Homme et Une Femme: Aujourd'hui C'est Toi (19??-19??)
• Classical Gas (1977–1981)
• KSD 1981 News Theme (1981–1984)
• KSDK 1984 News Theme (1984–1986)
• Channel 5 Eyewitness News (1986–1990)
• KSDK 1991 News Theme (1991–1993)
• Prime News (1993–1997)
• NBC New Millennium (1997–2006)
• NBC Flagship (2006–2008)
• Gannett News Music Package (2008–present)

KSDK On-air staff

Current on-air staff (as of Septemper 12, 2011)^[15]

NewsChannel 5 Current anchors

• Jennifer Blome - weekday mornings Today in St. Louis (4-7 a.m.) and Today in St. Louis at 10 a.m.
• Mike Bush - Sunday-Thursdays at 5 and 10 p.m., and Monday-Thursdays at 6 p.m.
• Art Holliday - weekdays at Noon & First at 4
• Kelly Jackson - weekend mornings Today in St. Louis, and Saturdays at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Pat McGonigle - weekday mornings Today in St. Louis (4-7 a.m.) & Today in St. Louis at 10 a.m.
• Kay Quinn - weekdays First at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.; also health reporter
• Mike Rush - weekdays First at 4; also reporter
• Ashley Yarchin - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m. (on KDNL); also reporter
• Leisa Zigman - Fridays at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.; also investigative reporter ("I-Team")

NewsChannel 5 First Alert Weather
In addition to providing forecasts on KSDK-TV, the NewsChannel 5 First Alert Weather Team also provides forecasts for NewsChannel 5 First Alert on cable and WIL-FM radio.

• Cindy Preszler (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays 4, 5 and 10 p.m. Fridays at 6 p.m.
• Scott Connell (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings Today in St. Louis
• Mike Roberts (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; Sundays at 5 and at 10 p.m. and Monday-Thursday 6 p.m.; also substitute meteorologist
• Anthony Slaughter (AMS Seal of Apporval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings Today in St. Louis (fill-in)
• Bree Smith (AMS Seal of Apporval) - meteorologist; Saturdays 5, 6 & 10 p.m. (fill-in)

NewsChannel 5 Sports Team

• Rene Knott - sports director; Monday-Thursdays at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.; also Sports Plus and This Week in Cardinal Nation co-host
• Katie Felts - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6 and 10, and Sundays at 5 p.m.
• Frank Cusumano - sports reporter and co-host of Sports Plus

NewsChannel 5 Reporters

• Kathleen Berger - general assignment reporter
• Dana Dean - weekday morning reporter
• Ryan Dean - weekday morning reporter
• Heidi Glaus - weekday morning feature reporter
• Courtney Gousman - general assignment reporter
• Kasey Joyce - general assignment reporter
• Talia Kaplan - general assignment reporter
• Casey Nolen - general assignment reporter
• Ann Rubin - general assignment reporter
• Mike Rush - general assignment reporter
• Jeff Small - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Sharon Stevens - education reporter

Show Me St. Louis

• Wendy Erikson - "Show Me St. Louis" host
• Julie Tristan - "Show Me St. Louis" reporter

Notable former KSDK on-air staff

• Fran Charles - reporter (1991–1992; also worked at WNBC-TV in New York City; currently host on NFL Network)
• Brian Edwards - St. Charles bureau chief
• Karen Foss - anchor (1979–2006; currently the vice president for public relations at AmerenUE)
• Paul Goodloe - chief meteorologist (1997–1999; currently at The Weather Channel)
• Jasmine Huda - weekend anchor/reporter (now 6 p.m. at KMOV)
• Janice Huff - meteorologist (1987–1991; currently at WNBC-TV in New York City)
• Julius Hunter - reporter (1966–1974; later at KMOV; currently with Saint Louis University)
• Al Naipo - reporter (1985–1990; currently at KTTV in Los Angeles)
• George Noory - News Director (Early to mid 1980s) now host of Coast To Coast AM
• Sonny Randle - sports reporter (1965–1970)
• Bob Richards - chief meteorologist (1983–1994)
• Anne Thompson - consumer reporter (1983–1986; currently at NBC News)
• Debbye Turner - Show Me St. Louis anchor/feature reporter (1995–2001, Miss America 1990; currently at CBS News)
• Matt Winer - sports reporter (formerly on ESPN, currently at Turner Sports)
• Trey Wingo - sports reporter (currently at ESPN)

External links

• 5 KSDK.com - Where The News Comes First - Official Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSDK
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSDK-TV

References