WRTV set will have augmented-reality capability

INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Something new is coming this fall to WRTV 6 ABC.

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The station is getting a brand new set. It marks a major investment from our owner, Circle City Broadcasting CEO DuJuan McCoy, and will be a significant change from what viewers currently see on air, which is the station’s temporary set for the daily newscasts.

But first, there are months of construction underway with dozens of lights, and miles of wires inside a cavernous room on the second floor of our television studios in downtown Indianapolis.

Artist renderings show a blue, gold and white, augmented-reality-capable set that can change with the touch of a button.

“When you can move the camera and have set pieces that move, and screens that move that interact with the character or the host walking across the set,” said Bill Bennet, a graphic design engineer with ENCO, one of the companies helping to design the new WRTV set. “It will be much more fun to look at.”

The WRTV anchor team, including main evening anchors Derricke Dennis and Karen Hensel, will broadcast inside a news wonderland of sorts, with different backgrounds, moving graphics, video walls and screens, and a few surprise elements you won’t see anywhere else.

“You know the advantage is you don’t have to spend really as much money on a hard set, and you can change the background and make it unique as the years go on,” said Justin Gutierrez of FX Designs and Qimera, two more companies helping with the WRTV set design.

Many of WRTV’s longtime viewers have emailed the station, and chimed in the station’s social media pages asking what’s the deal with the current set. It’s just temporary for now. Change is on the way.

McCoy recently led station staffers on a tour of the construction space, pointing out different parts of the room that will be used for different backgrounds and news presentations.

WRTV’s longtime chief engineer Glenn Edwards, calls the project a game changer in the Indianapolis market.

“I’ve done three of these in 52 years,” Edwards said. “This is the biggest (new set) by far.”

The new look comes together this fall when the WRTV 6 News team gets a new, high-tech home.