Once on the air, there were a number of award-winning programs produced by Mayo Simon, Bill Hartzell, Ran Lincoln and Guggenheim.

It activated its current tower in south St. Louis County in 1970, allowing it to begin color broadcasts a year later.

KETC, meanwhile, ran three hours of local election results hosted by KSDK anchors Mike Bush and Karen Foss.

The telethon featured an appearance by Affton native John Goodman, who now calls New Orleans home and whose family went missing for a time during the storm's peak.

Kennett, MO native Sheryl Crow and her then fiancé Lance Armstrong urged viewers to call when they were interviewed by phone from the region.

KETC has given some leeway as far as some preemptions, such as a case where St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Eric Mink wrote an editorial[when?]

The station also produced The Letter People, an instructional program about reading, which was seen on many PBS and educational television stations in the mid-1970s, as well as A Time for Champions, an hour-long documentary chronicling the Saint Louis University soccer dynasty of the 1960s and 1970s; and Homeland, a miniseries examining the topic of immigration in the United States.

Local programming is highlighted by magazine series Living St. Louis, early-childhood focused Teaching in Room 9, and current affairs show Donnybrook, a weekly panel discussion featuring area media personalities airing on Thursday nights.