please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message wrtv indianapolis indiana united states branding rtv6 general the news at time newscasts slogan the indy channel primary working for you news channels digital 25 uhf virtual 6 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 grit .3 laff .4 escape owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date may 30 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 05 30 call letters meaning we are television former callsigns wfbm tv 1949 1972 former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1949 2009 radio 87.7 fm 1949 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1949 1956 nbc 1956 1979 secondary paramount 1949 1955 dumont 1949 1955 8 abc 1949 1956 dt2 hometown sports and news htsn 2009 9 30 16 dt3 lwn 2011 2015 transmitter power 1000 kw height 294 m facility id 40877 transmitter coordinates 39 53 56.6 n 86 12 3.7 w 39.899056 n 86.201028 w 39.899056 ; 86.201028 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.theindychannel.com wrtv virtual channel 6 uhf digital channel 25 is an abc affiliated television station located in indianapolis indiana usa owned by the broadcasting division of the e. w. scripps company . wrtv maintains primary studio facilities on meridian street in northwestern indianapolis in the middle of indianapolis television row with a secondary studio located at monument circle in downtown indianapolis ; its transmitter is located on the city s northwest side near meridian hills . 1 on cable wrtv is carried on comcast channel 5 on bright house networks channel 7 and at & t u verse channel 6 in standard definition and on comcast and at & t u verse channel 1006 and bright house networks channel 1007 in high definition . contents 1 history 1.1 wfbm tv 1.2 wrtv 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit wfbm tv edit the station first signed on the air on may 30 1949 as wfbm tv . founded by the consolidated television and radio broadcasters subsidiary of the bitner group owners of radio station wfbm 1260 am now wnde it is the oldest television station in the state of indiana . the first program broadcast on the station was a documentary titled crucible of speed about the early history of the legendary indianapolis 500 auto race ; this was followed by the inaugural live television broadcast of the event . the station originally operated as a cbs affiliate although it maintained secondary affiliations with abc and the dumont television network . wfbm tv began to split abc programming with bloomington based primary nbc affiliate wttv channel 10 which moved to channel 4 in february 1954 when that station signed on in november 1949 ; both stations lost their affiliations with abc to wish tv channel 8 which maintained a secondary affiliation with the network when that station signed on in july 1954 . wfbm tv also aired programs from the short lived paramount television network among them time for beany 2 dixie showboat 3 hollywood reel 4 cowboy g men 5 and hollywood wrestling . 6 in 1956 wfbm tv became the market s nbc affiliate taking the affiliation from wttv . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 7 bitner merged its broadcasting interests with magazine publisher time life in 1957 . 8 9 in the mid 1960s wrtv became the first television station in indiana to begin broadcasting its programming in color . in late october 1970 wfbm tv and its sister radio stations wfbm am and wfbm fm 94.7 fm now wfbq were sold to mcgraw hill in a group deal that also involved time life s other radio and television combinations in denver san diego and grand rapids michigan ; and kero tv in bakersfield california . 10 in order to comply with the federal communications commission s new restrictions on concentration of media ownership that went into effect shortly afterward mcgraw hill was required to sell the radio stations in indianapolis denver san diego and grand rapids to other companies . time life would later take wood tv in grand rapids out of the final deal and retain ownership of that station . 11 by the time the sale was finalized in june 1972 the purchase price for the entire group was just over 57 million . kero tv klz tv now kmgh tv in denver and kogo tv now kgtv in san diego were retained by mcgraw hill along with wfbm tv which subsequently changed its call letters to the present wrtv on june 2 . 12 wrtv edit by the late 1970s nbc s national ratings crashed to third place becoming the lowest rated of the three major u.s. broadcast networks while abc rose to the ranks of first place around that same time ; as a result it sought stronger stations to serve as its affiliates in several markets . the two networks swapped affiliations in indianapolis on june 1 1979 with wrtv becoming the market s new abc affiliate and wthr channel 13 becoming an nbc affiliate . 13 as a result wrtv became the third television station in the indianapolis market to affiliate with abc and in the process the first television station in the indianapolis market wttv would become the second indianapolis station 35 years later when that station became a cbs affiliate and became one of the few television stations in the united states to have served as a primary affiliate of all three heritage broadcast networks . on january 31 1995 14 wbak tv in terre haute which changed its call letters to wfxw in 2005 ended its 22 year affiliation with abc to become that market s original fox affiliate citing the low viewership it had suffered due to the then overabundance of higher rated abc stations in adjacent markets including wrtv that were receivable in the area . this left viewers with only fringe access from wrtv which can be received in terre haute via an outdoor antenna and became the default abc affiliate on cable providers on the indiana side of the market and other out of market abc stations from evansville indiana and champaign illinois both of which were carried on cable on the illinois side of the market as terre haute did not have enough stations to support full time affiliations from four networks only three commercial full power stations wtwo wthi tv and wbak are licensed to the market and abc opted not to relegate itself to a secondary affiliation . on september 1 2011 wfxw which changed its callsign to wawv tv voluntarily disaffiliated from fox and rejoined abc as part of a long term affiliation renewal between abc and the nexstar broadcasting group which manages the station through owner mission broadcasting involving the company s existing abc stations in nine other markets ; 15 wrtv was dropped from most terre haute area cable providers by may 28 2012 . wrtv became the first television station in the indianapolis market to launch its own website www.theindychannel.com in the late 1990s ; it later became the first to offer a mobile website 6news onthego the following decade . in 1998 the station changed its on air branding to rtv6 however its newscasts were instead branded as 6 news until 2001 and again from 2006 to 2012 . on october 3 2011 the mcgraw hill companies announced that it would sell its seven station broadcasting division including wrtv to the e. w. scripps company for 212 million . 16 the sale received fcc approval on november 29 2011 and was formally consummated on december 30 . 17 in june 2012 wrtv opened a secondary facility at the studios of news talk radio station wibc 93.1 fm in downtown indianapolis ; most of the station s newscasts are produced out of the monument circle studio which underwent renovations to house production facilities . this resulted from a multi year agreement with wibc s owner emmis communications that was signed that april in which wrtv also provides news content for wibc with some staff appearing on both stations . 18 in may 2014 scripps announced that wrtv s north meridian street studios would begin handling the master control operations of the company s 19 television stations as early as july of that year expanding upon an existing regional centralcasting hub built under mcgraw hill ownership resulting in the hirings of about 10 staffers . each of the stations will continue handling the downloading of network and syndicated programs via high speed network feeds . 19 scripps renewed abc affiliations for wrtv and nine other stations through 2019 on december 10 2014 . 20 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 21 6.1 720p 16 9 wrtv hd main wrtv programming abc 6.2 480i htsn grit 6.3 lwn laff 6.4 4 3 escape on march 17 2010 wrtv announced a partnership with hometown sports indiana htsi to air live high school and collegiate sporting events on digital subchannel 6.2 . the subchannel is branded by wrtv as hometown sports and news htsn and the htsi htsn content replaced a 24 hour news and weather channel 6 news 24 7 which aired rolling news and weather updates and simulcasts of wrtv newscasts . htsi htsn carries local high school and collegiate football basketball and baseball game telecasts as well as indy fuel hockey and indianapolis indians baseball . some htsi htsn content is simulcast on wrtv s primary channel including a half hour report in the early morning hours on saturdays and sundays . citing the monetary cost of sports content wrtv will drop htsi htsn content from subchannel 6.2 on october 1 2016 in favor of an affiliation with the digital network grit . 22 on october 3 2011 wrtv began carrying the health and lifestyle oriented service live well network which is owned by abc corporate parent the walt disney company on digital subchannel 6.3 . comcast xfinity began carrying the subchannel on digital channel 246 later that month . the network was carried until its national discontinuation on april 15 2015 when the sitcom comedy film network laff replaced it as part of a bulk affiliation deal with scripps former lwn stations . analog to digital conversion edit wrtv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 6 at 8 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 remained on its pre transition uhf channel 25 . 23 24 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 6 . programming edit syndicated programs seen on wrtv include live with kelly right this minute which is co produced by scripps extra judge judy and the insider . wrtv clears the entirety of abc s network schedule and typically airs all network programs in pattern except during instances where the station carries breaking news or severe weather coverage or special programming . for most of the time since abc gained the television rights to the indianapolis 500 in 1986 wrtv has aired the race in primetime on a tape delay rather than airing it live . the indianapolis motor speedway insisted on this arrangement to encourage residents and tourists in the indianapolis metropolitan area to attend the race . during the timeslot in which the race airs live that day s abc primetime schedule airs early under special dispensation from the network . in