KPLR-TV

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Template:Infobox Broadcast KPLR-TV/DT is the WB television network affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri. It is currently owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting. The station offers a schedule of off network sitcoms, talk shows, court shows, reality shows, cartoons from WB, first run shows from WB, and a few movies.

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

KPLR's current logo is almost the same as the one used by its now-sister station, New York's WPIX.

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.

KPLR airs about 4 hours of local news per week.

1 History
2 News Operations
3 External links

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History

KPLR-TV started broadcasting on April 28, 1959.

Between May,1959 and September, 1983, KPLR produced and broadcast Wrestling at the Chase, a program featuring professional wrestling from the local Chase-Park Plaza Hotel. 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.

For many years, KPLR has been 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 "WB11" 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 to Tribune Company.

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

In April, 2006, KPLR will debut a new Sunday-night local sports program.

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. Current UPN station WRBU will switch to News Corp's My Network TV.

On Sunday, April 9, 2006, The Fan Show, hosted by Rich Gould, debuted.

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News Operations

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Newscasts

Monday-Saturday

WB11 News at Nine - 9:00pm-9:30pm

Sundays

WB11 News at Nine - 9:00pm-9:25pm
The Fan Show - 9:25pm-10:00pm

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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 tenet 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 have also updated their logo, from being blue to being red.

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