channel 13 or wthr channel 13 general eyewitness news newscasts ; visually displayed as 13 eyewitness news slogan indiana s news leader channels digital 13 vhf virtual 13 psip affiliations .1 nbc .2 cozi tv .3 metv owner dispatch broadcast group videoindiana inc. first air date october 30 1957 ; 58 years ago 1957 10 30 call letters meaning channel thirteen former callsigns wlwi 1957 1976 former channel number s analog 13 vhf 1957 2009 digital 46 uhf 1998 2009 former affiliations dt1 abc 1957 1979 dt2 skytrak weather network 2006 2013 dt3 universal sports 2009 2011 transmitter power 42.1 kw height 299 m facility id 70162 transmitter coordinates 39 55 43.2 n 86 10 54.9 w 39.928667 n 86.181917 w 39.928667 ; 86.181917 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wthr.com wthr virtual and vhf digital channel 13 is an nbc affiliated television station located in indianapolis indiana united states . the station is owned by the dispatch broadcast group of columbus ohio and is a sister station to cozi tv affiliate walv cd channel 46 and columbus s cbs affiliate wbns tv channel 10 . wthr and walv share studio facilities located on north meridian south of i 65 in downtown indianapolis ; wthr maintains transmitter facilities located near ditch road and west 96th street in carmel . on cable wthr is available on comcast xfinity and bright house networks channel 12 and at & t u verse channel 13 in standard definition ; and in high definition on bright house networks digital channel 1012 and xfinity and at & t u verse channel 1013 . under dispatch s ownership wthr has a great deal of autonomy and due to its private ownership is less beholden to the constraints of public ownership its local competitors are under along with being the only commercial station in the state not under any large broadcast chain ownership . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 from last place to ratings leadership 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 awards and honors 4.2 notable current on air staff 4.3 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on october 30 1957 as wlwi . founded by the crosley broadcasting corporation it originally operated as an abc affiliate 2 3 taking the affiliation from bloomington licensed wttv channel 4 formerly a cw affiliate now a cbs affiliate which had affiliated with the network one year earlier . wlwi was one of four crosley stations that made up the wlw television network alongside the company s television and the regional network s flagship wlwt in cincinnati wlwc now wcmh tv in columbus and wlwd now wdtn in dayton ohio . crosley also owned wlw radio in cincinnati wlwa now wxia tv in atlanta and woai tv in san antonio . channel 13 and its sister stations in ohio shared common programming such as the ruth lyons 50 50 club the bob braun show the paul dixon show midwestern hayride the phil donahue show and cincinnati reds baseball game telecasts and similar on air branding which reflected their connection to each other . channel 13 called itself wlw i to trade on its association with wlw radio which can be heard in most of the market under the right conditions during the day . from 1957 to 1962 the station was tied up in one of the most heated licensing disputes in early television history . the federal communications commission fcc originally awarded the construction permit to build a television station on channel 13 to a group headed by union federal savings and loan president george sadlier . however after an appeal the fcc reversed its decision and awarded the permit to crosley . one of the other competitors richard fairbanks owner of wibc then sued to force new license hearings . fairbanks contended that the fcc had erred in awarding the last vhf channel allocation in indianapolis to a company based in cincinnati when there were viable applicants based in indiana . the suit however was filed too late to prevent wlwi from signing on under crosley ownership . the district of columbia court of appeals overturned the fcc s decision in 1958 but allowed crosley to continue running the station pending further action by the fcc . in 1961 the fcc awarded fairbanks the channel 13 license but crosley appealed . the following year crosley and fairbanks reached a deal in which crosley traded wlwa to fairbanks in return for being allowed to keep wlwi . amid this instability in ownership wlwi found the going rather difficult . it was also dogged by a weaker network affiliation ; abc would not be on an equal footing with cbs and nbc in the ratings until the 1970s . wlwi spent most of its first 17 years of operation languishing as a third place also ran behind nbc affiliate wfbm tv channel 6 now abc affiliate wrtv and then cbs affiliate wish tv channel 8 now the cw affiliate . in some cases it even fell to fourth place in the local ratings behind then independent station wttv channel 4 now cbs affiliate . from last place to ratings leadership edit wthr s previous logo from 1995 2014 . in late 1974 avco broadcasting corporation which crosley broadcasting was renamed as in 1968 announced it was exiting the broadcasting business in an effort to raise cash . the wolfe family owners of the columbus dispatch and wbns am fm tv in columbus bought wlwi from avco in august 1975 ; the wolfes changed the station s call letters to wthr six months later in february 1976 . 4 5 6 with new ownership in place the quality of the station s programming began to improve but wthr remained stuck at third place in the ratings behind wish and wrtv . meanwhile abc gradually rose to first place during the decade and was seeking out stronger affiliates in many markets . at the same time nbc tumbled to last place among the big three networks . under the circumstances long dominant wrtv was very receptive to an offer from abc . wthr and wrtv swapped networks on june 1 1979 with channel 13 becoming the market s nbc affiliate and channel 6 becoming an abc affiliate . 7 the switch to nbc eventually provided a major windfall for wthr starting when the nfl s indianapolis colts moved from baltimore ; until nbc lost the rights to the nfl to cbs in 1998 effectively moving the games to wish tv and later wttv in 2015 wthr aired the bulk of the team s regular season games under the afc package . ratings gradually improved in the 1980s with nbc s powerful primetime lineup but not enough to get the station out of third place . on april 7 1991 wthr participated in an experiment in which it moved nbc primetime programming one hour earlier mirroring the scheduling of the network s primetime lineup in the central and mountain time zones the half hour late evening newscast also moved from 11 00 to 10 00 p.m. as a result 8 the experiment which lasted until the fall of 1992 was succeeded by similar efforts by kron tv and kpix tv in san francisco and kovr in sacramento later in the decade . channel 13 first saw a significant ratings boost in the mid 1990s buoyed by nbc s stronger programming as well as improvements in its news department . it has long since left its ratings challenged past behind and is now one of the strongest nbc affiliates in the nation . on september 2 2007 wthr celebrated its 50th anniversary ; 9 the station used the song carousels dreaming of tomorrow by columbus based rock band alamoth lane in an image campaign to promote the event the song was also used in a market campaign by columbus sister station wbns to promote its upgrade to high definition newscasts . 10 11 12 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 13 13.1 1080i 16 9 wthr hd main wthr programming nbc 13.2 480i 4 3 cozi tv cozi tv 13.3 metv metv simulcast of walv cd logo for 13.3 metv indianapolis . wthr formerly operated the skytrak weather network which was carried on digital subchannel 13.2 which in turn simulcast walv lp channel 50 now on channel 46 where the service first launched in 2000 . 14 the service carried local weather forecasts rebroadcasts of wthr s noon and 6 00 p.m. newscasts and five minute news updates throughout the day ; in 2005 the station began producing an eight minute weather segment at 10 00 p.m. for the service titled first forecast . in march 2013 walv cd wthr dt2 affiliated with the classic television and lifestyle network cozi tv . on december 14 2011 the dispatch broadcast group signed an agreement with metv to affiliate with wthr ; the station began carrying the classic television network on its second digital subchannel which is also carried on comcast digital channel 248 and bright house networks channels 93 and 358 on january 1 2012 replacing universal sports which converted into a cable and satellite only network on that date . 15 analog to digital conversion edit wthr shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 13 at 12 37 a.m. on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 46 to vhf channel 13 for post transition operations . 16 17 due to reception problems in parts of central indiana with its vhf digital signal including in areas on the fringe of its grade b coverage such as bainbridge and crawfordsville that did not occur with stations broadcasting on the uhf band following the transition wthr filed a request with the fcc in june 2013 to increase its transmitter power to 77 000 watts which would exceed the commission s maximum power limit in effect at the time . 18 programming edit wthr clears the majority of the nbc network schedule with the exception of the second hour of the saturday edition of today and the early morning newscast early today which air instead on walv cd wthr dt2 the latter program moved to that station on february 24 2014 due to the expansion of its weekday morning newscast . 19 syndicated programs broadcast by wthr include the ellen degeneres show the dr. oz show dr. phil jeopardy and wheel of fortune the latter two game shows both moved to wthr in 2002 after airing for more than a decade on wish tv . wthr also produces the brain game a weekly televised quiz bowl competition for indiana high school students which debuted in 1972 . the program which airs saturdays at 7 00 p.m. is currently hosted by weekday morning meteorologist chuck lofton . 20 sports programming edit from the arrival of the indianapolis colts in 1984 until 1997 wthr through nbc s rights to the team s american football conference division aired regular season games televised locally with wish channel 8 from 1984 until 1993 for select games televised by cbs in which the colts play against an nfc opponent with wrtv until 2005 carrying non preseason games via abc s monday night football on occasions when a game involving the colts was scheduled . since 2006 regular season games currently televised over the air locally are split between wish from 1998 and since 2015 wttv channel 4 through cbs rights to the team s afc division wxin channel 59 for select games televised by fox in which the