current logo for 4.2 subchannel . the right torch and stars element is taken from the state flag of indiana . bloomington indianapolis indiana united states city bloomington indiana branding cbs 4 general cbs 4 news newscasts indiana s 4.2 dt2 slogan indiana s very own channels digital 48 uhf virtual 4 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 independent .3 comet owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting indianapolis llc first air date november 11 1949 ; 66 years ago 1949 11 11 call letters meaning tarzian television after founding owner sarkes tarzian sister station s wxin former channel number s analog 10 vhf 1949 1954 4 vhf 1954 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1949 1956 abc 1956 1957 independent 1957 1995 ; january april 1998 upn 1995 1998 the wb 1998 2006 the cw 2006 2014 secondary abc 1949 1954 dumont 1949 1956 transmitter power 870 kw height 318 m 1 043 ft facility id 56523 transmitter coordinates 39 24 27 n 86 8 52 w 39.40750 n 86.14778 w 39.40750 ; 86.14778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.cbs4indy.com wttk satellite of wttv bloomington indiana kokomo indianapolis indiana united states branding cbs 4 general cbs 4 news newscasts indiana s 4.2 dt2 slogan indiana s very own channels digital 29 uhf virtual 29 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 independent .3 comet owner tribune broadcasting tribune broadcasting indianapolis llc first air date may 6 1983 ; 33 years ago 1983 05 06 call letters meaning wttv kokomo sister station s wxin former callsigns wwki tv 1983 1987 former channel number s analog 29 uhf 1983 2009 digital 54 uhf 2009 former affiliations independent 1983 1995 ; january april 1998 upn 1995 1998 the wb 1998 2006 the cw 2006 2014 transmitter power 550 kw height 300 m 984 ft facility id 56526 transmitter coordinates 39 53 20 n 86 12 7 w 39.88889 n 86.20194 w 39.88889 ; 86.20194 wxin wttk licensing authority fcc public license information satellite of wttv bloomington indiana profile satellite of wttv bloomington indiana cdbs website www.cbs4indy.com wttv virtual channel 4 uhf digital channel 48 is a cbs affiliated television station serving indianapolis indiana united states that is licensed to bloomington . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media as part of a duopoly with fox affiliate wxin channel 59 . the two stations share studio facilities located at 6910 network place near 71st street & i 465 in the intech park office development in northwestern indianapolis ; wttv maintains transmitter facilities located on state road 252 in trafalgar . wttv operates a full time satellite station wttk virtual and uhf digital channel 29 in kokomo which maintains transmitter facilities on a tower shared with wxin located on west 73rd street westlane road on the northern outskirts of indianapolis west of meridian hills . wttk was originally used to bring wttv s programming to areas of central indiana that received marginal to non existent reception of the main wttv signal including the cities of kokomo muncie and lafayette . however post digital transition with the transmitter s relocation into marion county it nearly duplicates the signal contour of wish tv wrtv and wxin ; there is significant overlap between the coverage areas of both wttv and wttk s signals otherwise . on air references to wttk are limited to fcc mandated hourly station identifications during newscasts and other programming along with tuning recommendations for viewers to the north of indianapolis . on cable wttv is available on comcast xfinity bright house networks and at & t u verse channel 4 in standard definition and in high definition on xfinity bright house and at & t u verse channel 1004 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as an independent station 1.3 from upn to the wb 1.4 cw affiliation 1.5 affiliation switch with wish tv 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 wttv dt2 wttk dt2 2.1.2 history 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 local programming 4.1 newscasts 4.1.1 on air staff 4.1.1.1 notable current on air staff 4.1.1.2 notable former on air staff 4.2 other locally produced programming 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on november 11 1949 originally broadcasting on vhf channel 10 . it was the second television station to sign on in the state of indiana debuting almost 6 months after wfbm tv channel 6 now wrtv signed on in may 1949 . it has made the claim to being indiana s oldest continuously operating television station because wfbm tv had experienced a transmitter failure which took it off the air for an extended period of time shortly after wttv signed on . owned by sarkes tarzian a bloomington based radio manufacturer and broadcaster the station originally operated as a primary nbc affiliate with secondary affiliations with abc and the dumont television network . wttv originally transmitted its signal from a shorter tower near cloverdale . in its early years instead of buying most of the expensive items needed to run a television station tarzian had his own engineers and technicians design and build the items needed . for example an overhead microphone boom cost approximately 300 . tarzian employees built one for less than 30 . when tarzian decided to start broadcasting network programs establishing a coaxial cable link from cincinnati would prove impractical so tarzian built his own microwave relay system from cincinnati to bloomington . 1 wttv moved to vhf channel 4 on february 21 1954 the vhf channel 10 allocation was later reassigned to terre haute and was used by wthi tv which signed on in july 1954 ; the station lost the abc affiliation after wish tv channel 8 signed on two months later in april of that year . in 1956 the station lost the nbc affiliation to wfbm tv ; wttv rejoined abc after wish tv took a primary affiliation with cbs . that same year it relocated its studio facilities to a site at bluff road on the south side of indianapolis although the station retained its original studios in bloomington as an auxiliary site for many years afterward . in the late 1950s the station began producing some of its local programs in color ; wttv would convert to full color broadcasts in the fall of 1965 after it purchased color capable camera equipment . the station activated its current tower in trafalgar the tallest structure in indiana at 1 132 feet 345 m above ground level in 1957 . the transmitter facility is located farther south than indianapolis other major television stations due to federal communications commission regulations that require a station s transmitter site be located no more than 15 miles 24 km from its city of license in this case bloomington which is 50.5 miles 81.3 km south of indianapolis . wttv only provided a grade b rimshot signal to the city s northern suburbs and could not be seen at all in the far northern portions of the market . as a result most of these areas only got a clear signal from channel 4 when cable television arrived in central indiana in the late 1960s . because of this rule when wttv regained the abc affiliation wlbc tv in muncie channel 49 allocation now occupied by pbs member station wipb served as the de facto abc affiliate for the northern part of the market . as an independent station edit on october 30 1957 wttv became an independent station after losing the abc affiliation to upstart wlwi channel 13 now wthr . in its early years as an independent wttv signed on at 2 00 p.m. each weekday running a test pattern until regular programming began at 4 00 p.m. the station initially ran older movies and low budget syndicated programs as well as some of its own locally produced programming . by the 1970s wttv began signing on by 6 00 a.m. and stayed on the air until at least 2 00 a.m. in addition to local programming wttv aired plenty of movies during the early afternoon hours and in primetime . it also aired cartoons which were mixed in with locally produced children s programs in the afternoons from 3 00 to 5 00 p.m. as well as off network sitcoms in the evenings . as cable expanded in the midwest during the 1970s wttv became a regional superstation . at its height it was available on nearly every cable system in indiana except the northwest . it was also carried in large portions of ohio and kentucky including cincinnati dayton louisville and lexington . due to the syndication exclusivity rule it disappeared from most cable systems outside indiana except for the kentucky side of the evansville market in the late 1980s . sarkes tarzian sold wttv to teleco for 26.5 million in september 1978 ; the station was then sold to the tel am corporation in march 1984 . by the mid 1980s wttv began airing more cartoons and first run syndicated talk shows during the daytime hours as well as an increased number of recent off network sitcoms during the evening . the station also began broadcasting 24 hours a day of programming by that time . although it was one of the strongest independent stations in the country wttv opted against affiliating with the upstart fox network in 1986 one of the few long established independents to do so . this was mainly because most of the markets in its large cable footprint had enough stations to provide fox affiliates of their own making the prospect of being a multi state fox affiliate unattractive to channel 4 . the fox affiliation in the indianapolis market instead went to eventual sister station wxin channel 59 which became a charter affiliate of the network when it launched on october 6 of that year . in 1987 tel am purchased fellow independent station wwki tv channel 29 in kokomo 52 miles 84 km north of indianapolis which signed on the air on may 6 1983 . wwki had found the going difficult because there were not nearly enough viewers in north central indiana for it to be viable as a standalone station and its merger with wttv ensured its survival . tel am converted wwki into a full time satellite of wttv as wttk to improve its over the air coverage in northern portions of the market that could not receive the wttv signal . tel am filed for bankruptcy in 1987 ; raleigh north carolina based capitol broadcasting company purchased wttv and wttk in july 1988 after an attempt to sell the station to locally based emmis communications fell through . the stations were then sold to river city broadcasting in 1991 . in september 1993 the station began carrying programming from the prime time entertainment network syndication service . from upn to the wb edit wttv became a charter affiliate of the united paramount network upn when the network launched on january 16 1995 . in april 1996 river city broadcasting merged with the sinclair broadcast group in a 1.2 billion deal . however due to federal communications commission regulations at that time which prohibited the common ownership of two full power commercial television stations in the same market sinclair had to obtain a cross ownership waiver to retain ownership of wttv wttk and the company s existing indianapolis station intv affiliate wiib channel 63 now ion television owned and operated station wipx tv which the company eventually sold to dp media two years later . in 1997 sinclair signed a deal with the wb to affiliate with several upn affiliated and independent stations that the company either managed or owned outright . 2 while wttv was not included in the original deal sinclair subsequently notified upn that it was not interested in renewing the station s affiliation