WISH-TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WISH-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| Branding | WISH-TV8 (general) 24 Hour News 8 (newscasts) |
| Slogan | We're Indiana's Own Your 24-Hour News Source |
| Channels | Analog: 8 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | LIN TV (Indiana Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | July 1, 1954 |
| Call letters’ meaning | wish (as in making a wish) |
| Sister station(s) | WNDY-TV |
| Former affiliations | Primary: ABC (1954-1956) Secondary: DuMont (1954-1955) CBS (1954-1956) NBC (1954-1956) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 19.5 kW (digital) |
| Height | 305 m (analog) 284 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 39269 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wishtv.com |
WISH-TV channel 8 is the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its transmitter is also located in Indianapolis. It is owned by LIN TV, which also owns area stations WIIH-CA (a Univision affiliate) and WNDY-TV (a MyNetworkTV affiliate). WISH-TV, WNDY-TV and WIIH-TV are co-located at a building on Meridian Street, which also serves as an operations hub for other LIN television stations in the Midwest.
WISH also offers a 24-hour weather service, LWS, to central Indiana cable systems.
Contents |
[edit] History
The station began broadcast operations at 6pm on July 1, 1954, and was owned by C. Bruce McConnell along with WISH-AM 1310 (now WTLC). It was a primary ABC affiliate with a secondary DuMont affiliation. It also carried several CBS and NBC shows turned down by WFBM-TV (now WRTV) and WTTV, respectively. In 1956, McConnell sold the station to the Indiana Broadcasting Company, who also owned WANE-TV in Fort Wayne. The new owners persuaded CBS to move its affiliation from WFBM-TV. Indiana Broadcasting became the Corinthian Broadcasting Corporation in 1957, with WISH-TV as the flagship station.
Corinthian merged with Dun & Bradstreet in 1971. Dun sold its entire broadcasting unit to Belo in February 1984. However, the merger left Belo two stations over the FCC's ownership limits of the time. Belo sold WISH and WANE to LIN Broadcasting (the predecessor of LIN TV) one month later. LIN was headquartered in Indianapolis for many years; it has since moved to Providence, Rhode Island.
From the mid-1980s until 2002, WISH was the leading news station in the Indianapolis market until WTHR took over the position. This was due largely because most of its news team has been at the station for over 20 years. At one time, WISH boasted that "more people in Central Indiana get their local news from 24-Hour News 8 than from any other source" at the close of many newscasts and in promos.
Mike Ahern was the station's main evening news anchor, as well as the de facto face of WISH's newsroom for more than thirty years--longer than anyone in Indianapolis television history. He joined the station as a reporter in 1967 and became the station's top anchorman in 1974. He retired from the anchor chair on December 1, 2004. His longtime co-anchor, Debby Knox, joined him in 1980 and is still on the air today. Stan Wood served as the station's main weatherman for much of the 1960s through 1987, while Patty Spitler was an afternoon news anchor and entertainment reporter from 1982 to 2004. News director Lee Giles, who left the station in 2004, was one of the longest-tenured news directors in local broadcasting.
Currently, WISH is a distant runner-up behind WTHR in most timeslots, except during the early news when it runs neck and neck with WRTV. However, due to the recent strength of CBS' primetime lineup, WISH has recently regained the lead at 11 pm.
WISH-TV's newsroom began to produce WNDY's 10pm newscast in 2005, when LIN purchased WNDY from Viacom.
Since 1991 all of WISH's news music themes have used components of the song Back Home Again in Indiana.
On April 25, 2007 WISH-TV debuted a new state of the art FX Group set and Giant Octopus Graphics.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.[1]
[edit] Current Staff
[edit] Anchors
- Scott Sander, morning anchor
- Joy Dumandon, morning anchor
- Deanna Dewberry, Noon and 5 PM anchor
- David Barras, Noon and 5 PM anchor
- Karen Hensel, 5:30 and 10:00 (WNDY) anchor
- Rob Youngblood, 5:30 and 10:00 (WNDY) anchor
- Debby Knox, 5, 6, and 11 anchor
- Eric Halvorson, 5, 6, and 11 anchor
- Daniel Miller, Weekend morning anchor
- Ruthanne Gordon, Weekend morning anchor
- Mike Corbin, Weekend evening anchor
- Gene Rodriguez, Weekend evening anchor
Dick Wolfsie Reporter
[edit] Weather
- Randy Ollis, Daybreak and Midday Meteorologist
- Steve Bray, 5pm Chief Meteorologist and Technology Reporter
- Angela Buchman, 5:30pm, 6pm, 10pm on MyNdy, and 11pm Meteorologist
- Ken Brewer, Weekend Daybreak Meteorologist
[edit] Sports
- Anthony Calhoun, sports director
- Chris Widlic, Sports reporteer/fill-in
- Jenae Coakley, weekend sports anchor
[edit] Reporters
- Julie Patterson, traffic
- Rick Dawson investigative reporter/fill-in anchor
- Jeannie Crofts, weekday morning reporter/fill-in anchor
- Jay Hermacinski, reporter
- Phil Sanchez, reporter
- Liza Danver, reporter/fill-in anchor
- Jennifer McGilvray, reporter
- Pam Elliott, investigative reporter
- Mary McDermott, reporter
- Jim Shella, reporter
- Leslie Olsen, education reporter
[edit] Notable WISH-TV Alumni
-
- Doug Garrison, investigative reporter (2003-2004)
- Mike Ahern (anchor 1967-2004, now retired)
- Bill Aylward (news anchor 1964-1967 later anchor WJZ-TV Baltimore, WABC-TV NY, WRC-TV Washington NBC News Now retired)
- Sandra Chapman (reporter, now at competitor WTHR)
- Chet Coppock (sports director, 1975-1981)
- Bill Crafton (former co-anchor)
- Marlee Ginter (reporter, now at KOMO in Seattle)
- Anthony Ponce (reporter, now at WMAQ in Chicago)
- Nicole Manske (sports anchor/reporter, current host of NASCAR Now on ESPN)
- Ed Harding (former sports director, now at WCVB in Boston)
- Rick Hightower (1993-2006, now at competitor WRTV)
- Renee Jameson (reporter, now at competitor WRTV)
- Shana Kelley (weekend evening news anchor)1997-2006
- Josh Littman (reporter, deceased)
- Cliff Nicholson (chief meteorologist in the early 1990s, now at competitor WTHR)
- Mark Patrick (Sports Director until late 1990's and former host of Hoosier Millionaire on WTTV, current radio host on Sirius Satellite Radio)
- Jane Pauley (former co-anchor, former anchor/correspondent for NBC News)
- Joe Pickett (host of the afternoon "Money Movie", now retired)
- Dick Rea (sports anchor 1981-1998, now with Methodist Health Network)
- John Samples (Nightbeat & Daybreak Anchor/Producer 1982-1985, now with Christian HolyLand Foundation)
- Twila Snyder (feature Weekend Morning News Reporter, now director and narrator for several WFYI-TV programs)
- Patty Spitler (noon anchor/film critic/reporter, now retired)
- Ray Sparenburg (Horror movie host known as "Selwin", deceased)
- AJ Sterling (reporter, now at WFLD Chicago)
- Anne Marie Tiernon (anchor, now at competitor WTHR)
- Stan Wood (chief meteorologist until 1987, now retired)
- Chris Wright (meteorologist, now chief meteorologist at competitor WTHR)
- Patty Spitler (noon news anchor, entertainment reporter)
- Sage Steele (sports reporter, now at ESPN's First Take)
- Vince Welch (sports reporter, now at ESPN/ABC)
- Sean Ash, Weekend evening meteorologist Now Weekend Meteorologist at WXYZ-TV in Detroit
[edit] External links
- WISH-TV website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WISH
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WISH-TV
- What Columbus Watched... - History of television in Indianapolis and Central Indiana from the perspective of a Columbus, Indiana resident
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
