The History of WRTV

For more than 75 years, WRTV has been part of the story of Central Indiana.

The station that would become WRTV signed on the air May 30, 1949, as WFBM-TV, becoming the first television station in Indiana. Its original call letters matched sister radio station WFBM-AM, which had been broadcasting in Indianapolis since 1924.

WFBM-TV’s first day on the air was fitting for a station that would become deeply connected to Indianapolis history. The station’s first television program was “The Crucible of Speed,” followed by a live broadcast connected to the Indianapolis 500.

From WFBM to WRTV

During its history, Channel 6 has been affiliated with all three of the country’s original major television networks.

WFBM-TV began as a CBS affiliate, switched to NBC in 1956 and became an ABC affiliate in 1979, an affiliation WRTV continues today.

Another major change came in 1972.

When McGraw-Hill purchased the television station from Time-Life, WFBM-TV was separated from the WFBM radio stations. In June 1972, Channel 6 adopted the call letters WRTV, the name the station still carries today.

A History of Innovation

As television changed, WRTV helped introduce new ways of gathering and delivering local news to Indiana viewers.

In 1975, WRTV became the first television station in Indiana to use portable live remote equipment. The technology, known as the “InstaCam,” allowed journalists to broadcast live from the field in ways that had not previously been possible for local television in Indiana.

Over the decades, the tools used inside the WRTV newsroom changed dramatically. Typewriters gave way to computers. Film was replaced first by videotape and later by digital video. Portable cameras, satellite technology, live trucks, smartphones, streaming and digital publishing transformed how quickly journalists could report from across Central Indiana.

The technology changed, but the mission remained the same: tell the stories that matter to Hoosiers.

Journalists Who Made History

Generations of broadcasters have called Channel 6 home, and several helped break barriers in Indiana television.

Among the most influential was Barbara Boyd, who joined then-WFBM in 1969. Boyd became Indiana’s first African American woman broadcast journalist and was among the first women to anchor a television newscast in the state. She spent 25 years at the station before retiring in 1994.

Boyd’s journalism went far beyond the anchor desk. In 1973, after undergoing a mastectomy, she reported from her hospital bed and later traveled the country raising awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.

Other familiar names who helped shape WRTV’s legacy include Howard Caldwell, Clyde Lee, Diane Willis, Tom Carnegie, Tom Alvarez and Jim Gerard, along with generations of reporters, anchors, meteorologists, photographers and producers who covered Indiana’s biggest stories.

Covering Indiana Through the Decades

From the Indianapolis 500 to elections, severe weather, major breaking news, championship sports and the everyday stories of Central Indiana communities, WRTV has documented generations of Indiana history.

The station has also given viewers a look behind the scenes at how local journalism is produced. In 1979, WRTV aired “Inside the News,” a special that took viewers inside the station’s news operation and introduced them to the people and technology responsible for producing a local newscast.

Through every era, WRTV has evolved alongside its audience. Television expanded from a handful of over-the-air channels to cable and satellite, then to websites, mobile devices, social media and streaming. WRTV expanded with it, reaching viewers wherever they choose to watch and read the news.

A New Era for WRTV

WRTV entered another chapter in its history on March 31, 2026, when Indianapolis-based Circle City Broadcasting completed its $83 million acquisition of the station from The E.W. Scripps Company.

The acquisition brought WRTV together with fellow Indianapolis television stations WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23, along with Circle City Broadcasting’s growing portfolio of digital and media properties.

Under local ownership, WRTV continues to build on a legacy that began more than seven decades ago while investing in the future of local television, digital journalism and new ways to serve viewers across Indiana.

Indiana’s First Television Station

The technology, the people and even the name on the building have changed since that first broadcast in 1949.

What has remained is WRTV’s connection to the community it serves.

From WFBM-TV to WRTV, from black-and-white television to high-definition broadcasts and digital streaming, Channel 6 has been there to document Indiana history as it happens.

And more than 75 years after becoming Indiana’s first television station, WRTV continues telling the stories of the people who call Indiana home.