Nine Networking From the collection of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis
with the Gateway Harmonica Club during practice and a performance.
St. Louis at 250 As the region prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis on February 14, the Nine Network plans to join the festivities with commemorative programming exploring the city’s rich history. Nine is a media partner of Stl250, the organizing group for all anniversary activities, and we will contribute our historical storytelling expertise to the effort. First up on January 27 and February 3 at 7:00 p.m., Living St. Louis will devote two episodes to favorite St. Louis history segments drawn from the show. Then on February 10 at 7:00 p.m. (repeated February 16 at 11:30 p.m. and February 22 at 4:00 p.m.) is Chouteau’s Journal: In His Own Words, a half-hour special based on Auguste Chouteau’s 14-page, handwritten account of the founding of St. Louis. Producer Jim Kirchherr delves into the document, which resides at UMSL’s Mercantile Library. Generations of historians have cited the journal, which tells the story of Pierre Laclede choosing the site for the town and the teenaged Chouteau overseeing its construction, but have also questioned its accuracy and the author’s motivation for writing it. On February 13 at 9:00 p.m., Stay Tuned will focus on the past, present and future issues raised by the anniversary. 8
Portrait of Auguste Chouteau (artist unknown), circa 1810, and (background photo) a page from his journal.
Through the 250th year, keep an eye on Nine for more features about the people, places and events that made St. Louis.
Living St. Louis— 10 Years and Counting
Ten years and approximately 400 episodes later, Living St. Louis is still the region’s storyteller. Now with a more sustainable once-a-week schedule, Living St. Louis continues to engage the community with interesting, well-told segments. “People come up to me all the time and say, ‘I’m from St. Louis and I had no idea there was so much going on in town,’” relates executive producer Murphy. “Our working model is unusual for television. Our producers find ideas, go into the field, research, write, edit, voice and appear on camera. We do it all. Our passion shows.” Though there is no official record, a quick tally reveals that, by November 2013, at least 773 Living St. Louis segments have been produced. The series has won 13 local Emmys and been nominated for at least double that number of awards. The program’s newest producer, Kara Vaninger, says, “It’s an honor to work on a show that has been such a beloved and valued resource to our viewers for a decade. Telling the stories of people and places in our city is consistently exciting and humbling.” She is working on a series of stories
On January 5, 2004, Living St. Louis debuted on Nine with an ambitious Monday through Wednesday broadcast schedule and a mandate to inform, educate and inspire St. Louisans by telling engaging stories about the good things happening in the region. The first episode featured Baton Bob, a Patrick Murphy story about the joyful, baton-wielding man who kept a regular dance schedule on the streets of the Central West End; a piece by Anne-Marie Berger about Lewis and Clark re-enactors; an interview by Ruth Ezell with artist and Marianist monk Brother Mel; and a visit Living St. Louis producers when the series premiered in 2004. by Jim Kirchherr
January–February 2014 | nineMagazine
A current series of Living St. Louis segments follows the restoration of the Sun Theater.
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