The station had been on the air for one year, and when he walked into the studios for the first time on that February 1948 day, he said, “This is for me. This is what I want to do.”
Thus began a more than 60-year career at KSDK-5 in St. Louis. Now, the television industry is pausing to pay tribute to Ray Hoffstetter, who has passed away at the age of 98.
His son, Steven Bliss, confirmed his death to the TEGNA-owned NBC affiliate, noting that Hoffstetter had been in hospice care for the past several days. Hoffstetter died on Sunday (10/13).
Hoffstetter in February was inducted into the KSDK Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class; video footage of his commentary can be found on the station’s website.
When Hoffstetter joined the station, it was KSD-TV and had just become an ABC affiliate while also plucking programming from CBS and DuMont to accompany its primary NBC affiliation. In the 1960s, it was the first television station in St. Louis to broadcast in color.
From its 1947 sign-on through 1979, KSD-TV was a sibling to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, each owned by Pulitzer. The sale put KSDK-TV call letters on the facility, and in the hands of the company that would become Gannett Co., and ultimately TEGNA.
Hoffstetter was never a GM, nor was he in sales. Rather, he was a film crew sound man, film cameraman, video cameraman and creative services tape editor, working at the station through his 1992 retirement as its chief archivist. His experiences across the years at KSD-TV and KSDK-TV became the stuff of lore across St. Louis. Ahead of a September 2009 talk to benefit local charity Sappington House, where Hoffstetter volunteered, he said, “I’m a Civil War nut and would talk to various groups, and this time, a retired NFL referee who had worked Super Bowls and Playoff games was also giving a talk. He would talk about things that had happened to him, and I thought maybe people would be interested in things that had happened to me.”
That led Hoffstetter to share his career achievements in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Retirement,” and to an “ageless senior” honor in 2017 at St. Andrew’s Resources For Seniors System’s 15th annual Ageless Remarkable St. Louisans Gala.
Perhaps Hoffstetter’s biggest achievement is capturing St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock breaking the Major League Baseball record for stolen bases. He recalled to KSDK, “Lou Brock was on the verge of breaking the stolen base record; 104 was the record held by Maury Wills. I walked into (Busch Stadium) and almost all of the cameras were up in the press box. I told (sound technician) Bob Kirchhoefer, ‘Let’s stay down here.’ We were right by third base.”
In the first inning of the Cardinals game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 10, 1974, Brock stole his 104th base of the season. “I told Bob, ‘If he steals 105, we’re going down on the field.’ “He said, ‘We can’t … .’ “I said, ‘We’re going down on the field.’ “So he stole it and I got it and the sign flashing ‘105 Lou, 105 Lou.’”
Hoffstetter’s family told KSDK-TV that funeral services will be announced at a later date.
