St. Louis Media History Foundation’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

The St. Louis Media History Foundation hosted its Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the St. Louis City Center Hotel’s City-View Ballroom, Monday, March 16, 2015. Family, friends, and colleagues gathered to celebrate the achievements of 15 members from the community’s media, advertising, and public relations. While several honorees received their inductions posthumously, all made a lasting impact on their respective fields.

The evening began with cocktails, complimentary appetizers, and a silent auction, where guests could take home some spectacular finds, including the original cover art for the night’s cover art program book drawn by Post-Dispatch artist Dan Martin. Guests then assembled for the program with the option of selecting a limited menu at the table. Ken Ohlemeyer, board president, served as the master of ceremonies and briefly introduced each inductee or designee and presented a framed certificate. Then each awardee or representative could elect to acknowledge the foundation.

The 15 members of the television, print, radio, advertising, and public relations spanned several decades. Their list of accomplishments follows:

Sam Muchnick, a phenomenal showman, promoter and broadcaster, Muchnick became a staple in the sports scene here spanning seven decades. A native Ukrainian, his family moved to St. Louis in 1911. Around 1926, he joined the St. Louis Times, where he covered the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team while developing many influential acquaintances, including Babe Ruth and Al Capone. Muchnick also covered professional wrestling, and in 1932, when the Times merged with the St. Louis Star, he began his career as a long-time sports promoter. His TV series, Wrestling at the Chase, aired on KPLR-TV from May 1959 through September 1983.

Max Roby, a news anchor on KMOX (now KMOV) and KSD (now KSDK) in the late 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, embodied a TV pioneer and one of the most trusted newsmen in St. Louis. The deep-voiced Roby delivered news in the style of Walter Cronkite and seldom lightened up until he delivered his signature line,, “That would be all of the news if it weren’t for…”, followed by a “kicker” or a lighter story at the end of the newscast. Over the years, Roby interviewed half a dozen U.S. Presidents and others who shaped the times.

Zip Rzeppa, a mainstay of St. Louis television for 17 years, changed the way to report sports by providing a fast-paced, entertaining sportscast on KTVI from 1984-88 and on KMOX-TV (now KMOV-TV) from 1988-2001. Previously low-key and conservative, local television sports reporting became transformed with Zip’s trademark Zippo Awards for ‘the best, the worst, and the weirdest performances in the wild and wacky, wonderful world of sports”. His use of video sports highlights-mixed with “weird stuff”, as he once put it-made his sportscasts even more entertaining.

Rick Balis, program director of KSHE-95 since 1979, has kept the station viable and progressive within St. Louis rock radio. Balis started working at KSHE in 1976 and advanced to an on-air shift as the afternoon drive time DJ during 1977. Except for a brief stint at KSD-FM, Balis’ continuous service to KSHE’s Emmis Broadcasting has earned him national recognition. Radio and Records Magazine named him the 2008 Rock Operations Manager/Program Director of the Year. Balis serves as Vice President and Director of Programming for the Emmis’ St. Louis-owned stations, KSHE-95, NOW 96.3 (formerly KHITS 96.3), The Point, and FM New Talk 97.1.

Bob Burns, “The Benchwarmer”, became the first host of KMOX’s Sports On a Sunday, the hugely popular roundup of the previous week’s sports highlights, In addition, he hosted several times per week the station’s Sports Open Line call-in show. Burnes often shared the microphone with other sports reporters on the show, which he broadcasted through the mid-1980’s. Besides his long stint on KMOX Radio, Burnes was a legendary sports reporter and columnist for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Bob Whitney, the national program director for the Balaban Radio Stations, Whitney came to St. Louis and built WIL into a great pop station in the late 1950’s, hiring some of the best on-air talent the market ever had. The included Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy, who went on to become top DJ’s in New York City. Whitney proved instrumental in introducing music television (years before MTV) with the show, The Now Explosion, which aired locally on KDNL-TV.

Frank X. Bick had a firm belief in providing neighborhood news to South St. Louis readers. The founder of the Southside Journal, he later merged his paper with the Neighborhood News. After his death, his son, Frank C. Bick, expanded even more into what became the Suburban Journals. The Journals included the Southside Journal nine other weekly community newspapers delivered on every lawn from Spanish Lake to Jefferson County. Ralph Ingersoll acquired the Suburban Journal chain in 1984 and sold it to Pulitizer Inc. in 2000.

Tom Engelhardt drew more than 8000 editorial cartoons for readers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1962-1997. His creative sketches always produced thoughtful perspective, strong composition, and a wide variety of creative devices to convey a message in support of the Editorial Page. Throughout his career, he espoused four criteria for good editorial cartoons: the truth, or one side of it; humor; moral purpose; and good drawings.

Virginia Irwin, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, became the first woman reporter to sneak into Berlin to cover the Russian Army’s invasion of the German capital. She reached Berlin three days before Adolph Hitler committed suicide. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army delayed her stories for 10 days until afer Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945. The first of her three stories splashed across the Post’s front pages the next day to the delight of Publisher Joseph Pulitzer II, who rewarded Irwin by giving her an extra year’s pay as a bonus.

Antonino Lombardo has run the helm of IL Pensiero (The Thought), the only Italian-language newspaper in Missouri and Southern Illinois-and one of the few in the United States-since 1967. His bimonthly newspaper has established a mainstay in St. Louis’ Italian-American community for more than 110 years. Published in Italian and English, IL Pensiero has helped members of the Italian-American community maintain their strong Italian heritage throughout the region.

Herbert S. Gardner, a St. Louis businessman, entrepreneur founded Gardner Advertising of St. Louis in 1904. Over time, Gardner Advertising ultimately grew into an international agency with offices in St. Louis, New York, Los Angeles, and six European cities, generating annual billings of $65 million. Clients included Ralston, Purina, Proctor & Gamble, General Electric, Bristol-Myers, American Brands, John Deere, A&P,and Anheuser-Busch.

Tim Rodgers is considered one of the leading advertising strategists in the region. Rodgers had a notable, twenty-year career at DMB&B, after which he co-founded Rodgers-Townsend with Tom Tomnsend in 1996. They led the company into one one of the most successful, award-winning agencies in the Midwest. In addition to gaining every major creative award, the agency received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and was presented the Mayor’s “Spirit of St. Louis Award”  for their ongoing commitment to pro-bono advertising and marketing assistance to worthwhile charitable and community organizations. The agency also regularly ranked among St. Louis’ “Best Places to Work”, cited for its egalitarian culture. In 2006, Omnicom acquired the agency.

Tom Townsend, co-founder of Rodgers-Townsend, grew the agency into an advertising powerhouse representing many sought-after regional and national clients.Townsend, who often has been considered the creative force behind the agency’s top campaigns, retired last summer. He has since founded a music and art festival in Savannah, GA and “A-Town Get Down“, and a nonprofit organization, Pianos for People, that gives pianos to underprivileged kids.

Marie Casey founded Casey Communications, Inc. in 1983, after serving as editor of St. Louis Construction News & Review. She carved a niche in providing award-winning marketing communications services to architectural, engineering, construction, labor-management and real estate development entities. She currently is a director of the Missouri History Museum and the St. Louis Mercantile Library and serves on the Midwest Bank Centre Clayton Advisory Board. Casey’s honors include the 2009 Distinguished Service Award for Campus-Wide Service by the University of Missouri-St.Louis (UMSL), the 2004 Influential Business Women by the St.Louis Business Journal, and the 1991 UMSL Distinguished Alumni Award.

Dave Garino specializes in financial and corporate communications with Fleishman Hillard for more than 27 years. He has managed a wide variety of investor related programs, including developing strategic messaging, targeting analysts and money managers, and generating stories in key financial media. He long has espoused transparency in financial communications. Garino also spent over 16 years as a Wall Street Journal reporter, consisting of 13 years handling the St. Louis bureau chief. Additionally, he worked five years as a securities analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons.

The St. Louis Media History Foundation actively is involved in pursuing all aspects of preserving local media history. It has an oral history effort in which media veterans are encouraged to share their memories for posterity.

The Foundation also maintains the St. Louis Media Halls of Fame and has established a college scholarship in the name of Joe Pollack, an original board member. Research is conducted and compiled on St. Louis media artifacts and memorabilia, including hundreds of photos, audio and videotapes, St. Louis Advertising Club archives and equipment used at the advent of radio and television in St. Louis.

The Foundation accepts both financial and historical contributions to develop and expand its St. Louis media history collections, its website, local archives/repositories, oral histories, and the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame. You can view much of the collection at the downtown St. Louis Public Library.