WWXL began broadcasting as a daytime-only station on 1580 kHz and was sold in November 1947 to Homer D. Morrow and Myron A. Reck, formerly of WCFL in Chicago.
In the wake of a strike at Caterpillar Inc., it cut its operating schedule to 18 hours a day and moved out of its studios in the Hotel Jefferson.
In January 1952, the Bureau of Internal Revenue ordered WWXL to pay withholding taxes for 1946 and 1947; unable to raise the money, it shut down on February 3, 1952.
[6] After the sale, the station resumed broadcasting on September 1 as WTVH with a music-and-sports format from its transmitter site in Creve Coeur.
Kean and Norman formed the Hilltop Broadcasting Company to run WTVH and filed for a television station on channel 19.