Television pioneer Joe Franzgrote always had ideas, whether it was starting a health fair or stationing the weather announcer in “the backyard” at 9News.
Franzgrote, who was retired general manager and president of KUSA-Channel 9 in Denver, died at his Cherry Hills Village home Wednesday. He was 75.
A service is planned at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Christ the King Catholic Church, 830 Elm St.
He had a neurological disease called progressive supranuclear palsy that gradually erodes a person’s ability to move.
Franzgrote was one of the 9News people who came up with the ideas of “9Health Fair” and “9Cares.”
Franzgrote was determined the public would be reminded of 9News: He put the station logo on bus benches and lapel pins for news announcers and designed the jackets for the on-air people.
“If tattoos had been in fashion, he would have had ‘9’ all over his body. He had a flair for innovation, a sense of responsibility to the viewers, and was fun,” said Larry Deutsch, former vice president of general sales at the station. Deutsch now works for another company.
It was Franzgrote’s idea to add five minutes to the 10 p.m. news, to have a more expansive morning news program and to add a sitcom after the 10 p.m. news, such as “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” in the 1970s, Deutsch said.
“Joe was smart and very creative but a hands-off manager,” said 9News general manager Mark Cornetta “He’d bounce things off the staff and mostly was supportive of the staff.”
Franzgrote had the idea for putting the weather announcer outside in the “backyard” of the station, something he had started at a Minneapolis TV station, Cornetta said. “But there he had penguins.”
Franzgrote always wanted to be in television but was never interested in being on the air, preferring to be in the background, said his wife, Helenn Franzgrote. He began working at the Notre Dame University station while he was a student “in the days when shows were live and it was more fun,” she said.
Joseph H. Franzgrote was born April 10, 1934, in Peoria, Ill., graduated from high school there and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Notre Dame. He married Helenn Reitsch on July 2, 1960.
Franzgrote did promotion and sales for TV stations in South Bend, Ind., Peoria and Rockford, Ill., Minneapolis and Seattle. He worked at Channel 9 from 1968 (when it was KBTV) until 1983, then moved to Minneapolis for six years and came back to KUSA in 1989, retiring in 1999.
He was on the Colorado Symphony board, president of First Night Colorado, active in the National Association of Christians and Jews, was one of the founders of Colorado’s Ocean Journey and volunteered for several other nonprofit organizations.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, John Franzgrote of Highlands Ranch; one granddaughter; and his brother, Ernie Franzgrote of Shoreham, Vt.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
