KPLR-TV

KPLR-TV, virtual channel 11 (UHF digital channel 26), is a CW-affiliated television station located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of Tribune Media, as part of a duopoly with Fox affiliate KTVI (channel 2). The two stations share studio facilities located on Ball Drive in the northwestern St. Louis County community of Maryland Heights (though with a St. Louis city address), KPLR's transmitter is located in Lemay.

History

As an independent station

The station first signed on the air on April 28, 1959, as the first independent station in Missouri. The station's call letters were derived from the name of its founding owner, St. Louis real estate developer and hotelier Harold Koplar. Despite losing in his quest to build the station from the ground up, Koplar acquired the station's license in 1958 through controversial circumstances.