Sister Act Anchors Television News in Kansas City

As the anchor of one television news program here wraps up her daily broadcast, her sister is ready to face the cameras on a competing station.

Lili Bliss, who anchors the noon news on KCTV, said she doesn’t consider her sister a rival--even though Katherine Bliss is anchor for the 11:30 a.m. news on WDAF.

“We want us both to be rated No. 1,” she said.

The Blisses are believed to be the only sisters in the media who come so close to being head-to-head rivals on network affiliates.

Katherine Bliss, 28, is finishing her first year at Channel 4 and Lili Bliss, 30, has spent six years with Channel 5.

The women say they talk almost every day and share ideas about their work, but each understands that the job is to get the most interesting midday interviews.

Instead of feeling competitive, Lili said, “It’s a wonderful support to have. If you have a bad show or a bad day, there’s always someone in the business who understands. We pick each other up.”

“It’s really nice to be able to call up and say ‘Boy, you’ll never guess what happened today,”’ said Katherine, known to family and friends as Kitty.

The sisters both like working in their hometown. Outside of an occasional mistaken identity, they say, there is no drawback to the situation.

While both women have anchor and interview duties, Lili books her own interviews. Because of her 6:30 a.m. anchor duties, Katherine works closely with producers to arrange her interviews. Lili wakes up watching her sister on TV each morning.

Although they have taken similar professional paths, their personal lives differ. Lili and her lawyer husband have a 2-year-old son, Curtis, and are expecting a second child. Lili had been co-anchor for both the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts on KCTV until March, when she reduced her hours to spend more time at home.

Katherine is single and jokes that her social life suffers because her only free time is in the afternoon.

“When the 4 a.m. alarm goes off, I groan,” Katherine said, “but then I think, ‘Well, Jane Pauley has already been up for a couple of hours.’ ”

The sisters say their family watches a lot of television. Their father takes some ribbing, but he won’t leave his office TV for lunch until both daughters’ shows are over.

After growing up together with two older sisters, Lili and Katherine can size each other up easily.

“Lili is very motivated. If one dream doesn’t work out, she always has another,” Katherine said. “And she’s very much in control of every situation. She has a much calmer response to this business.”

Lili describes her younger sister as “very outgoing, very friendly, very relaxed meeting people, with a great sense of humor. I’m really proud of Kitty and what she’s done in TV.”

Lili earned an economics degree from Stanford and completed the 10-week summer program at Stanford’s Mass Media Institute. Her first job was at KOLR-TV in Springfield, Mo. She joined KCTV in 1983.

Katherine got a communications degree from Tulane University, then returned to Kansas City and worked in advertising. With Lili’s encouragement, in 1983 she also attended the Stanford institute.

From there she drove to Reno, Nev., to submit her audition tape. The first two stations turned her down but the news director at KCRL offered her a job at $4 an hour--provided that she changed her first name. The station was worried that in Nevada, “Kitty Bliss” might sound like the wrong kind of working girl.

Katherine called Lili for advice. She was emphatic: “Use your real name and take the job.”

After nine months in Reno, Katherine spent two years in Tulsa, Okla., as reporter and weekend anchor at KTUL, and another two years as weekend anchor at KTVI in St. Louis before she joined WDAF a year ago.

She might have sought work in Kansas City earlier but feared that no station would be interested because of her relation to Lili.

WDAF news director Joyce Reed said she looked at Katherine as an individual, not as Lili’s sister. “She is such an energetic, enthusiastic journalist,” she said. “There was no question that she would fit well into our organization.”

The family ties don’t bother Reed.

“It hasn’t made any difference,” she said. “Katherine has a different style. Viewers accept her as an individual.” Moreover, Reed said, ratings have doubled since Katherine joined weatherman Dave Dusik on the morning show.

Stan Carmack, Lili’s co-host on Channel 5, is equally enthusiastic about his partner of six years.

“In a business where what we call ‘twinkies’ are running rampant, here is a lady who has a professional attitude--and is a fine journalist.

“We have different ideas about how the show should be put together and sometimes the discussions get intense, but 90% of the time we’re pretty much in accord about what goes on and how it should go.” He said he sees no negative side to the filial competition.

“It’s a competitive situation, but they are family and they are very close. We have never encountered any problems with the situation.”

And there is no end in sight to the Blissful competition, with both sisters saying they are where they want to work.

“With satellite hookups, I can go anywhere or get an interview from anywhere,” Lili said.

“I’ve done my moving,” Katherine agreed.