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The spotlight shines this week on two things obscured by government, though it appears one has come back into view.
The first involves a landmark advertising beacon:
Watchers of news on local television stations, such as KTVI (Channel 2), often see remote camera shots from different locations throughout the metropolitan area. These are known as “bumper shots,” and provide some eye candy before going into a commercial break.
“Some of the shots that we use are from our own webcams we have around town, and others are from the state, like ones along the highways,” said Suzi Mahe, KTVI’s creative service director.
The camera is operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and monitors air quality for the department’s environmental services program. Pointing east, the camera provides a nice shot of the downtown St. Louis skyline.
It also made the “big Amoco sign” disappear.
After seeing the St. Mary’s bumper shot one night, an astute KTVI observer asked why the television station would go to the trouble to block out the locally famous sign.
A directional landmark for most St. Louisans — “get off the highway at the big Amoco sign” — the 40-foot advertisement has towered since 1932 above a gas station at Clayton Road and South Skinker Avenue.
The first sign touted “Standard Red Crown” products. A new sign erected in 1959 advertised “Standard.” In the early 1970s, it was modified to read “Amoco.”
“That’s not us” blocking out the sign on the camera view, Mahe said. “That’s the state.”
Sure enough, the state had been placing a gray box over the sign.
The Post-Dispatch contacted Tom Bastian, a spokesman for the natural resources department, Wednesday afternoon. Several hours later, he sent an email:
“Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention. The issue should be fixed,” he wrote, providing a link to the site that showed the box had been removed.
But Bastian’s email did not explain why it was blocked in the first place, and he did not respond to follow-up emails or phone calls.
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