WTTV (TheWBfan06’s vision)

This page only shows primary logo variants.

For other related logos and images, see:

Contents
1949–1954		1957–1964		1967–1971	1971–1979	1979–1984
1949–1954	1954–1957	1957–1964	1964–1967	1967–1971	1971–1979	1979–1984

1984–1988	1989–1998	1998–2003	2003–2006	2006–2008	2008–2024	2024–present
1984–1988	1989–1998	1998–2003	2003–2006	2006–2008	2008–2024	2024–present

What We Watched On Television

1949–1954[]

File:WTTV 1949.png

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Originally signed on the air on November 11, 1949, as a primary NBC affiliate with secondary affiliations with ABC, the DuMont Television Network and occasionally CBS on VHF channel 10, which later moved to channel 4 on February 21, 1954 and switched affiliations to ABC in 1956. It was first owned by Sarkes Tarzian, a Bloomington-based radio manufacturer and broadcaster, who also established former sister radio station WTTS (1370 AM, now WGCL) and WTTV-FM (92.3 FM, now WTTS) in 1960.

1954–1957[]

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The station lost the ABC affiliation after WISH-TV signed on in July 1954. In 1956, the station lost the NBC affiliation to WFBM-TV; WTTV rejoined ABC after WISH-TV took a primary affiliation with CBS.

1957–1964[]

File:WTTV (1959).svg

On October 30, 1957, WTTV became an independent station after losing the ABC affiliation to upstart WLWI (VHF channel 13, now WTHR).

1964–1967[]

LOGO MISSING

1967–1971[]

File:WTTV 1969.jpg

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1971–1979[]

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Tarzian sold channel 4 to Teleco for $26.5 million in September 1978 (while retaining the radio stations, which are still owned by his relatives as of 2020); the station was then sold to the Tel-Am Corporation in March 1984. The station was also considering a re-affiliation with NBC, until the network chose outgoing ABC affiliate WTHR on June 1, 1979, when the former chose the high-rated WRTV.

1979–1985[]

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1984–1988[]

File:WTTV (1984).svg

Although WTTV was Indianapolis' strongest independent station at the time, the station declined an offer to affiliate with the upstart Fox network, who later chose eventual sister station WXIN (UHF channel 59) on October 9, 1986. In 1987, Tel-Am purchased the construction permit for WWKI-TV (channel 29) in Kokomo, 52 miles (84 km) north of Indianapolis, from B.G.S. Broadcasting. B.G.S., who also owned WWKI radio (100.5 FM) until 1986, had concluded that there were not nearly enough viewers in north-central Indiana for WWKI-TV to be viable as a standalone station, and its merger with WTTV allowed channel 29 to come on the air. On May 1, 1988, Tel-Am signed channel 29 on as WTTK, a full-time satellite of WTTV, 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.

1989–1998[]

File:WTTV (1989).svg

This logo resembles what WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh currently uses, and what KTVY in Oklahoma City (now KFOR-TV) used from 1980 to 1987 without the circle element. Capitol sold the two stations to River City Broadcasting in 1991, who would later be acquired by the Hunt Valley, Maryland–based Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of fellow Bloomington-licensed inTV affiliate WIIB (now WIPX-TV) on UHF channel 63, now an Ion affiliate owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings). 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. While WTTV was not included in the original deal, Sinclair subsequently notified UPN that it was not interested in renewing the station's affiliation, leading network sister company Paramount Stations Group to strike a deal to buy WB charter affiliate WNDY-TV (UHF channel 23), though Paramount pledged at the time to keep WNDY a WB affiliate through the expiration of its contract in January 1999. WTTV temporarily returned to being an independent station when its contract with UPN expired on January 16, 1998, filling its prime time schedule with movies; on January 22, WNDY began to carry UPN programming in addition to The WB. WTTV then replaced WNDY as the market's WB affiliate on April 6, and changed its on-air branding to "WB 4 Indiana"; channel 23 then became a full-time UPN affiliate.

1998–2003[]

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Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting acquired WTTV and its Kokomo satellite WTTK (UHF channel 29) from Sinclair (who would later attempt to acquire Tribune in 2017) on April 29, 2002 and the sale was finalized on July 24 of that year, resulting in a duopoly with WXIN.