WRTV

'WRTV', '''"RTV6"''', is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its transmitter is located in Indianapolis.
The station's audio signal can also be heard on 87.7 FM in much of central Indiana. The audio component of television channel 6 is on the same wavelength as 87.7 FM.

Contents

First In Indiana

Affiliations

WRTV today

Newscasts

ABC in the Terre Haute Market

Personalities

Anchors

Reporters

Notable WRTV Alumni

Trivia

External links

First In Indiana

The station signed on the air on May 30, 1949 under the call sign 'WFBM-TV' with a documentary entitled ''Crucible of Speed'' covering the history of the Indianapolis 500, followed by the inaugural live television broadcast of the event. It is Indiana's oldest television station. It was owned by Consolidated Television and Radio Broadcasters along with WFBM-AM 1260 (now WNDE). Consolidated merged with Time-Life in 1957. The station was purchased in 1972 by the McGraw-Hill Companies.

Affiliations

It was originally a CBS affiliate with secondary ABC and DuMont affiliations. When WTTV signed on a few months later, WFBM shared ABC programming until 1954, when WISH-TV signed on and took over the ABC affiliation. In 1956, WFBM took the NBC affiliation from WTTV.
As part of an FCC-mandated sale, WFBM-TV was sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972 along with sister station KLZ-TV (now KMGH-TV) in Denver. At that time, the station assumed its current calls, WRTV. In 1979, WRTV traded affiliations with WTHR and became an ABC affiliate. NBC was the lowest rated network in the late 1970s while ABC rose to the ranks of the highest rated network that same time and was seeking out stronger local stations in many markets, thus motivating this affiliation switch in Indianapolis. WRTV is one of the few stations in the country to have been a primary affiliate of all three original networks.

WRTV today

WRTV has always been a pioneer in Indiana broadcasting. Some of WRTV's innovations have included the first station in the state to broadcast in color, the first use of videotape, the first news mini-cams, the first satellite truck for news (''NewStar 6''), the first cable news on ''NewsChannel 64'' (now ''6 News 24/7''), the first use of non-linear digital editing, the first use of digital news cameras, the first entry into web publishing (TheIndyChannel.com), and the first into cellphone delivery of news and VODcasting.
However, the station has seen a slip in its ratings in recent years. Once a solid runner-up, it fell to third place in the mid-1990s and has remained there for most of the last decade.
On September 10, 2007, the same day the new anchor team of Todd Wallace and Trisha Shepherd debuts, WRTV will launch a 7:00 p.m. newscast, a first for the Indianapolis market (and the second in Indiana). Station Vice President and General Manager Don Lundy contributes the decision to "longer commutes and longer work days" that prevent viewers from being home by 5 or 6. 6 NEWS First at 5:00, the first five o'clock newscast launched in 1988 will remain at 5pm. The syndicated EXTRA will air at 5:30pm followed by 6 NEWS at 6:00pm, the surging World News with Charles Gibson at 6:30pm and the new 6 NEWS at 7PM.

Newscasts

WRTV continues to air the entire ABC network schedule, although the station has no weekend morning local newscasts.

ABC in the Terre Haute Market

When WBAK in Terre Haute (now WFXW) left ABC for Fox, WRTV became the default ABC station for the Indiana side of the market. It is viewable in Terre Haute with a rooftop antenna and is carried by all cable systems on the Indiana side of the Terre Haute market. For the Illinois counties in the Terre Haute television market, many systems offer WICD from Champaign, Illinois or WEHT from Evansville, Indiana.

Personalities

Anchors

★ Todd Wallace - Weeknights at 6, 7, and 11 (Beginning September 10, 2007)

★ Trisha Shepherd - Weeknights at 6, 7, and 11 (Beginning September 10, 2007)

★ Grace Trahan - Weekday mornings

★ Dan Spehler - Weekday mornings

★ Erica Flye - Weekend evenings at 6 & 11
'Weather:'

★ Kevin Gregory - Weeknights (Chief Meteorologist)

★ Paul Poteet - Weekday mornings

★ Crystal Wicker - Weekend evenings at 6 & 11

★ Bob McLain
'Sports:'

★ Dave Furst - Weeknights (Sports Director)

★ Kip Lewis - Weekends

★ Brad Brown

Reporters

★ Jennifer Carmack

★ Ray Cortopassi

★ Norman Cox

★ Emily Gimmel

★ Rick Hightower

★ Cheryl Jackson

★ Renee Jameson

★ Stacia Matthews

★ Ben Morriston

★ Julie Pursley

★ Jack Rinehart

★ Rafael Sanchez

★ Tanya Spencer

★ Derrik Thomas

Notable WRTV Alumni

★ Ken Beckley (former news anchor, recently retired as Vice President of Advertising for the H. H. Gregg appliance store chain)

★ Barbara Boyd (longtime consumer reporter)

★ Phil Bremen (former weekend anchor, currently Telecommunications Professor at Ball State University)

★ Jeremy Brilliant (reporter; now with rival WTHR)

★ Angela Cain (weekend anchor in the late 80s/early 90s; now Community Affairs Director at WTHR)

★ Howard Caldwell (anchor for many years, now retired)

★ Tom Carnegie (longtime Sports Director and public address announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; retired in 1985)

★ Bill Crawford (former weatherman, died in 1964)

★ Chris Denari (former sports reporter; now Indiana Pacers play-by-play announcer for FSN Indiana)

★ Gerry Dick (reporter, now host of Inside Indiana Business)

★ Reid Duffy (feature reporter, critic, and pundit; now correspondent for "Across Indiana" on WFYI)

★ Paul Emmick (weekend meteorologist; now evening meteorologist at WDRB in Louisville)

★ Frances Farmer (former actress, hosted ''Frances Farmer Presents'' afternoon movie show; died in 1970)

★ Gilbert Forbes (first news anchor; died in 1961)

★ Hal Fryar (aka "Harlow Hickenlooper"; host of the Three Stooges show, now with a Senior Relations firm in Indianapolis)

★ Bob Gamble (longtime news director/editorial commentator; retired in 1986)

★ Jim Gerard (midday talk show host, now retired)

★ Brian Hammons (sports anchor, now with The Golf Channel)

★ Scott Hoke (former sports anchor; currently at WFYI-FM 90.1 and TV 20)

★ Shane Hollett (meteorologist/reporter; now Associate Director of the National College Access Network)

★ Tracey Horth (reporter/anchor, now with the Domestic Violence Network of Greater Indianapolis)

★ Sy Jenkins (reporter, now owns his own local video production company in Indianapolis)

★ John Johnson (reporter; now Journalism Instructor at Eastern Illinois University)

★ Durward Kirby (sidekick of Garry Moore and Allen Funt)

★ Clyde Lee (anchor 1976-2001, now married to former co-anchor Diane Willis)

★ Barbara Lewis (anchor from the late 1980s to mid 1990's, now health reporter for Inside Indiana Business)

★ Dave McGhee (former reporter/assignment editor; died 7-23-07)

★ Mindy Mintz (reporter; currently with Maryland Public Television)

★ Marilyn Mitzel (reporter; now Adjunct Professor at Florida International University)

★ Gerald "Curley" Myers (personality/performer; still performs with Hal Fryar, among others, on occasion)

★ Jim Parsons (reporter, now at WTAE in Pittsburgh)

★ Joe Pickett (former booth announcer and personality, now retired)

★ Dave Piontek (former NBA star later sports anchor, died in 2004)

★ Phil Ponce (reporter, now at WTTW in Chicago)

★ Rob Powers (sports reporter; now Sports Director at WTVG in Toledo)

★ Jake Query (sports reporter; now at WIBC radio)

★ Rick Sallinger (reporter, now at KCNC in Denver)

★ Lou Sherman (booth announcer/personality; died in 1998)

★ Hendrik Sybrandy (reporter, now with KMGH in Denver)

★ Greg Todd (weekend anchor 1980-1994 now Managing Editor at Fox 6 News XETV in San Diego, CA)

★ John Totten (former sports anchor, deceased)

★ Brian Trauring (reporter; now News Director at WTVG in Toledo)

★ Jerry Vance (aka Captain Starr, co-star of local children's show "All Hands On Deck"; died in 1975)

★ Martha Weaver (main anchor 1995-2007; moved home to Minnesota with her husband and their daughter)

★ Diane Willis (anchor 1987-2001, now married to former co-anchor Clyde Lee)

Trivia

★ One of WRTV's current news staff is Emily Gimmel. Gimmel is the youngest of news reporters at WRTV at the age of 22.

★ Kevin Gregory (the chief meteorologist) is the son of former WTHR chief meteorologist Bob Gregory.

★ Bob McLain, who still appears occasionally, was the station's primary meteorologist from 1972 to 2001; he covered the Super Outbreak of 1974 and the Great Blizzard of 1978.

★ In 1993, local video of hockey game and the station logo is used in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

★ Hal Fryar (aka "Harlow Hickenlooper") was one of nine local Three Stooges show hosts from across the country cast as villains in the Three Stooges full-length feature "The Outlaws Is Coming! The Outlaws Is Coming!"

★ Bill Crawford, weatherman during the 1950s and early 1960s, was really a dentist by profession. Meteorology was only his hobby.

★ One of the station's newest projects is a hilarious online series of videos called "Off the Cuff" featuring their meteoroligist Paul Poteet and traffic reporter Tom Davis. The shows features random comedic antics from Paul and Tom and other player such as Morning News Anchors Grace Trahan and Director Betty Barista.

★ Harlow Hickenlooper's famous rendition of "Happy Birthday", which always resulted in his getting a pie in the face, was patterned after Jerry Colonna who always exaggerated certain songs. It can be heard on Hal Fryar's website www.harlowhickenlooper.com.

External links

★ TheIndyChannel.com (Official Website)

★ WRTV History at TheIndyChannel.com

★

★ HarlowHickenlooper.com (Hal Fryar's website)

★ ToddandTrisha.com (6News Launching Local News at 7PM)