In November 1924, the city’s first permanent radio station, , devoted its introductory night of operation to election returns. However, actual newscasts were not common during the early days of radio. Most stations left news reporting to the daily papers. By the early 1930s broadcasting’s immediacy and competition for advertising began to challenge the print media. Newspapers subsequently pressured the major wire services, Associated Press (AP), United Press (UP), and International News Service (INS), to not provide radio with news reports. By 1936, however, UP had established a special radio wire service, and AP began one five years later.
WFBM’s Ken Ellington became the city’s first regular newscaster in 1933-1934. He was a popular reporter and became known for leading his station’s five-day, 24-hours-a-day coverage of the Ohio River flood in January 1937. Following Ellington’s departure for WBBM in Chicago the next month, WFBM hired who became one of Indiana’s most famous newscasters during his 24-year tenure. The local voice of World War II news, Forbes served as a war correspondent in France after D-Day, reporting on Indiana troops involved in the fighting. It was during the war and postwar years that modern news broadcasting was born.
During the 1950s all five Indianapolis radio stations had organized news staffs. Reporting on a newsmaker or an event became easier as recording technology improved, though it still proved to be difficult because the equipment remained rather bulky and cumbersome. By the end of the decade, some stations had acquired the capability to report live from the site of a news story. Bill Anderson and Bob Rutherford often broke into regular programming with reports from their “newsmobiles.” Both WFBM and had mobile news units. WIBC’s was manned by former newspaper reporter , who became legendary for his field reports.
While broadcast news had been the exclusive domain of radio, television entered the local picture by the 1950s. The earliest television news programs were essentially radio scripts read on camera and seldom longer than 15 minutes. Gilbert Forbes anchored newscasts on WFBM-TV (later ) Channel 6, while Channel 8’s first newscasters were John Fraim who was following by Vince Leonard. When WLW-I (later ) Channel 13 first aired in 1957, former WIBC news reporter Gordon Graham handled the anchor duties. Channel 4 also aired news with former WIBC and WISH newscaster Frank Edwards, who had returned to Indianapolis in 1955 following a stint with Mutual Radio in Washington.
With the arrival of the 1960s, radio newsgathering demonstrated a growing dependence on new technologies. Recorders were smaller, and live radio transmissions improved in quality. Remote radio broadcasts were routine by October 1963, when Bob Hoover drove the WIBC mobile unit onto the bloodstained ice of the State Fairgrounds Coliseum following the tragic that killed 74 and wounded hundreds. Television remained hampered by existing technology. News stories were shot on film, which required lengthy processing and editing. During the decade, however, local television news, like the networks, came of age and gained sophistication. To cover the news of the day, the major networks expanded their news programming, and local stations quickly followed. WFBM’s “early report,” with Ken Beckley and Howard Caldwell, expanded to one hour in 1966. WISH-TV Channel 8 began its own one-hour news program in 1968 anchored by former radio news reporter Mike Ahern.
A larger public appetite for news and a greater maturity in the industry followed in the 1970s. Live reports and expanded news staffs drove the increasingly competitive Indianapolis market. The personality of broadcasters, and attention to the cosmetics of sets, graphics, and lighting, also became important for the success of news programming. In 1975 competition for viewers became stiffer when the new owners and management of WTHR Channel 13 selected Paul Udell to anchor their news program.
The 1970s saw legitimate news departments disappear from all but a few radio stations. WIBC, led by news director and a full complement of reporters, built its reputation on local news and information. WIRE and WTLC also maintained full news staffs, while WNTS operated a news-talk format on its daytime-only programming. One of the city’s major news events, the 1977 abduction of Richard Hall by , directly involved Heckman with whom Kiritsis kept in contact. The Kiritsis story also showed how television technology had changed. Electronic news gathering (ENG), satellite technology, and the advent of the videotape camera all gave television the power of immediacy.
During the 1980s the business of news broadcasting began to drive decision-making at the stations. News promotion became part of the tactics of the operation, as did the use of consultants, research teams, talent development coaches, and graphic design specialists. Once again, newscasts, responding to public desires for more news and information, expanded in length, with WRTV and WISH-TV adopting 90-minute, early-evening programs in 1987 and 1989, respectively. Male-female anchor teams also became the norm at all three network affiliates, as did sending local personnel to cover national stories. In 1989, for example, WTHR used its satellite truck to broadcast live each night from Washington, D.C., during the celebrations surrounding Dan Quayle’s inauguration as vice-president. The changing economics of radio, however, resulted in further thinning of staffs. WIFE adopted an all-news format in 1981 but abandoned it two years later. At the end of the decade, only WIBC and WTLC had viable news operations.
By the early 1990s most Americans were getting their news from television, and local stations responded with more changes. Besides the regular midday news program, the stations produced morning news shows to precede the networks’ morning programming. WRTV began producing a nightly half-hour newscast at 10 P.M. on WTTV after that station dropped its news department. WISH-TV started a 24-hour headline service and expanded its full-time news staff to 55 (up from 8 in 1963). WTHR adopted a news and public affairs format on its low-power facility, Channel 27, in January 1994. WXIN Channel 59, which produced a short-lived newscast in 1984, reestablished a news department in 1991 and offered a nightly newscast at 10 P.M. Demonstrating the importance of news programming to the stations’ success, in the early 1990s, the three main stations derived an estimated 33 to 38 percent of their profits from local newscasts.
Anchor teams for the stations in the early 1990s included Diane Willis and Clyde Lee on WRTV Channel 6, Mike Ahern and Debby Knox on WISH-TV Channel 8, Anne Ryder and Tom Cochrun on WTHR Channel 13, and Bob Donaldson and Caroline Thau on WXIN Channel 59. WRTVs longtime-anchor Howard Caldwell retired in 1994 after 35 years with the station. In radio, WTLC cited money as the reason for scrapping its news department, while Fred Heckman resigned from WIBC in 1993 after disputes with new management over changes in the news department. By 1994 only WIBC and WFMS presented any locally originated news on radio.
As of the early 1990s Indianapolis television stations boasted great stability in their news anchor positions. Compared to the industry’s average of five years, many local anchors had held their positions much longer, which lent credibility to their reporting of local news. At the same time, however, communication critics have claimed that local stations lack the aggressive journalism and “hard news” capabilities of earlier years. Nevertheless, local broadcast news provides an important service to the community, offering quick coverage of breaking news and valuable information to the city’s residents.
*Note: This entry is from the original print edition of the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (1994). We are currently seeking an individual with knowledge of this topic to update this entry.
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