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Television
Station
Turns 50
Note: This story was published originally
in the fall 2003 issue of MIZZOU, the magazine of the MU Alumni
Association.
The oldest TV station in the Columbia
and Jefferson City, Mo., area recently celebrated a big birthday.
KOMU-TV, a University-owned NBC
affiliate, officially turned 50 on December 21.
The station marked the birthday
with a giveaway of 50 TV sets in 50 days, taped birthday wishes
from NBC personalities and a retrospective program late in
the year.
When it was founded in 1953, KOMU was
affiliated with not only NBC, but also the ABC, CBS and DuMont
networks. “We
cherry-picked the best offerings from all the networks,” says
Matt Garrett, director of audience development. “We
were the only station on the air at the time, so we had that
luxury.”
KOMU also had more local programming
then. As time went by, national
programming became the norm, and the community aspect of
broadcasting shifted to the daily newscasts. Along with
professional anchors and staff, students of MU’s School
of Journalism work as reporters, anchors and videographers.
KOMU was the first television
station
to broadcast a signal in mid-Missouri.
On the first
news team were Phil Berk,
anchor and news director; Dale
Spencer, weathercaster; and Jean
Madden, sportscaster.
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A
goal since KOMU’s inception has been to give those students
hands-on experience and an advantage over others in the job
market.
“Many of them leave here, in effect, with their first job
on their résumé,” says Marty Siddall,
KOMU’s
general manager.
The occasional rookie mess-up aside,
the students have done their jobs well over the years. KOMU
won the national Edward
R. Murrow Award for outstanding TV journalism in
1994, and it regularly wins Missouri
Broadcasters Association awards. Successful alumni
abound, including Elizabeth Vargas, BJ ’84, ABC
NEWS correspondent and anchor; John Anderson, BJ ’87,
anchor for ESPN’s SportsCenter;
Bob Horner, BJ ’70, president of NBC News Channel;
Jann Carl, BJ ’82,
host of Entertainment Tonight; and Jon Murray,
BJ ’77,
executive producer of The Real World.
“Missouri is consistently ranked
No. 1 in the country — in the world, really — in
broadcast journalism education,” says Dean Mills, School
of Journalism dean. “Our broadcast students are baptized
in the fire of real-time television news experience. They
learn by reporting and producing news, under the pressures
of real deadlines, real sources, real audiences,” Mills
added.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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