WXIN (TV)

WXIN, channel 59, is the Fox affiliated television station in Indianapolis, Indiana. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 45, using its former analog channel 59 as its virtual channel via PSIP. It is owned by the Tribune Company, and shares its studios at 6910 Network Place (near 71st Street & I-465) in northwest Indianapolis with sister station WTTV (channel 4), the area's CW affiliate. Its transmitter and antenna are located just a few miles away at 2350 W. 73rd Street (also known as Westlane Road).

History
In the 1950s, the Channel 59 frequency was assigned to Lafayette, Indiana, to the northwest of Indianapolis. Sarkes Tarzian launched WFAM-TV in Lafayette in 1953 as a CBS affiliate. The station moved to Channel 18 in 1957 and eventually became WLFI-TV. After 1957, Channel 59 would remain dormant until a later reassignment as an Indianapolis channel.

The station signed on as independent WPDS-TV on February 1, 1984. The station was originally locally owned, with a programming lineup featuring cartoons, movies, old sitcoms, drama shows and, briefly, an hour-long newscast. The P, D, and S respectively stood for the initials of the station's three founders: Ron Palamara (a local businessman), Chris Duffy (a former executive at other local TV stations), and MelvinSimon (the shopping mall magnate and co-owner of the Indiana Pacers NBA franchise). It was sold to Outlet Broadcasting in 1985, and changed its call letters to WXIN at that time. Fox affiliated with WXIN on October 9, 1986, and its affiliation has remained intact since, making it the only Indianapolis television station to never have changed its affiliation, and one of two remaining charter Fox stations in Indiana (the other is WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne).

By the late 1980s, the station was known as "Fox 59", and had added more sitcoms to its schedule. It began to overtake WTTV in the ratings. WXIN was bought by Chase in 1989, and was later purchased by Renaissance Broadcasting in 1993 when Renaissance merged with Chase along with WTIC-TV (channel 61) in Hartford, KDVR (channel 31) in Denver and WATL (channel 36) in Atlanta (the latter, a former Fox owned-and-operated station that later affiliated with The WB and is most-recently affiliated with MyNetworkTV). Fox 59 came under the ownership of the Tribune Company in 1997 following its merger with Renaissance. Under Tribune, the station gradually added more talk, reality, and court shows.

WXIN and WTTV/WTTK became sister stations in 2002, following the sale of WTTV/WTTK from Sinclair Broadcast Group to Tribune. However, Tribune did not switch affiliations between the two because even though WXIN is on the UHF dial, it has been one of Fox's strongest affiliates, and as WTTV has a city of license of Bloomington it does not cover the full Indianapolis market without its Kokomosatellite station (WTTK).

Digital television
As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, WXIN shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009,[1] and continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition digital channel 45.[2] Digital television receivers display WXIN's virtual channel as 59 through the use of PSIP.

News operation
WXIN broadcasts a total of 55 hours of local news per week (with nine hours on weekdays, and five hours each on weekends), giving the station more hours of local news than any other station in the Indianapolis market and any station (and Fox affiliate) in the state of Indiana.

In 1984, until WPDS became WXIN, Channel 59 carried a short-lived hour-long prime time newscast called 59 Headline News anchored by Ken Owen, who later worked for CBS affiliate WISH-TV (channel 8) and ABC affiliate WRTV (channel 6). Then in 1991, WXIN debuted its 10 o'clock newscast, the second incarnation for the station. The station launched a morning newscast in 1999. The weeknight primetime newscast expanded from 35 to 60 minutes on April 17, 2006 and the morning newscast expanded from three to four hours on January 2, 2008. On September 15, 2008, the weekday half-hour 11 a.m. newscast FOX 59 Midday News debuted. In late 2002, WXIN replaced WRTV as WTTV's local marketing agreement (LMA) partner, the WRTV-produced 10 o'clock news was canceled and replaced with Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.

From January 2, 2008 to September 18, 2009, the morning newscast was simulcast on sister station WTTV, from 4:30-6 a.m., not 5-9 a.m. (it is now simulcast on WTTV's second digital subchannel) However, that station did not have a separate news opening. Whenever Fox programming or sports delays the news on WXIN, it is shown on WTTV but under the name ofNews at Ten, in addition to another live newscast on WXIN immediately following the conclusion of Fox programming. There is no "News at Ten" logo in place of "Fox 59 News," like its sister station in Hartford, Connecticut, WTIC-TV (channel 61). Meteorologist Jim O'Brien is the only meteorologist on the WXIN staff with an AMS Certified Broadcasting Meteorologist Seal (CBM), which he acquired in July 2007. He is one of four meteorologists in Indianapolis with this prestigious seal.

On September 21, 2009, WXIN expanded its morning news from four to 4½ hours, airing from 4:30-9 a.m. (since then, the morning newscast was expanded to 4:30-10 a.m. and the 11 a.m. newscast was dropped as of January 4, 2010). The station also launched an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast on that date, titled FOX 59 News: First @ 4. Until that time period, WXIN was among the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates that had not yet increased their news output, even though the network encouraged its affiliates and stations to do so for the past decade. On November 1, 2009, WXIN became the fourth television station in the Indianapolis market (and the sixth station in Indiana) to broadcast its newscasts in High Definition. As part of the change, WXIN overhauled its on-air look, adopting the Fox News Channel-style logo and Fox O&O graphics (WXIN uses the HD version of the Fox O&O graphics) that are also used by the Fox owned-and-operated stations, WXIN's Fox-affiliated sister stations owned by Tribune, and select other Fox stations.

Indysportsnation.com was launched in April 2009, and WXIN/WTTV sports was re-branded under the IndySportsNation banner. IndySportsNation Overtime runs a half-hour on Sunday nights starting at 10:30 p.m. and features a live studio audience. There are ISN Overtime shows also on Friday nights at 10:35-11 p.m. and Saturday nights 10:30-11 p.m. The Friday night show is re-named Fast Break Friday and Football Friday Night on Fox during high-school sports season. On June 10, 2010, WXIN announced it was launching a three-hour weekend morning newscast, making WXIN the first Tribune-owned station (and the first Fox affiliate in Indiana) to carry a weekend morning newscast, it debuted on August 21, 2010; it also announced the launch of an hour-long weeknight 5 p.m. broadcast, which debuted on September 13, 2010.[3] [4] The 5 p.m. newscast competes with hour-long newscasts with WRTV,WISH-TV, and WTHR. These additions expanded WXIN's weekly newscast output from 43 to 50.5 hours per week, with eight-and-a-half hours each weekday, and more than fellow Fox affiliates WSJV of South Bend and WTVW of Evansville combined.

On October 30, 2010, WXIN announced that it would expand its weekend morning newscasts to four hours with the addition of an hour at 9 a.m. beginning in January 2011; on January 10, 2011 WXIN also expanded its weekday morning newscast to six hours with an additional half-hour at 4 a.m., increasing the station's weekly newscast output to 55 hours of local newscasts per week.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] In an interview with the Indianapolis Business Journal, WXIN general manager Jerry Martin stated that there are plans to launch a weeknight hour-long 6 p.m. newscast by the end of 2012, which would increase the station's weekly newscast output to 60 hours per week by that time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6]

Newscast titles

 * 59 Headline News (1984–1985)
 * WXIN News Extra (1985–1991)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7]
 * FOX 59 Nightcast (1991–1994)
 * FOX News @ Ten (1994–1997)
 * FOX 59 News (1997–present, umbrella title)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[8]
 * FOX 59 a.m. (1999–2002, morning newscast)
 * FOX 59 Morning News (2002–present, morning newscast)
 * FOX 59 Midday News (2008–2010, 11 a.m. newscast)
 * FOX 59 News: First at Four (2009–present, 4 p.m. newscast)
 * FOX 59 News: Live at Five (2010–present, 5 p.m. newscast)
 * FOX 59 News at 10 (1997–present, 10 p.m. newscast)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[9]

Station slogans

 * Indiana's Best (1988–1991)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[10]
 * Think First. Think Fast. (1999–2002)
 * News That Works for You (2002–2009)
 * On It. (2009–present)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[11]
 * So Fox 59 (2010-present; localized version of Fox ad campaign)

.===On-air staff=== ====AnchorsCurrent on-air staff (as of January 10, 2011)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[12] ====
 * Jenny Anchondo - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4-6 a.m.)220px-WXINamnewscast.jpg
 * Ray Cortopassi - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (7-10 a.m.); also 4 p.m. reporter
 * Bob Donaldson - weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 10 p.m.
 * Angela Ganote - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (6-10 a.m.)
 * Scott Jones - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4-7 a.m.)
 * Edward Moody - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter
 * Zach Myers - weekend mornings; also weekday morning reporter
 * Eva Pilgrim - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also 10 p.m. reporter
 * Dan Shadwell - weeknights at 5 p.m.; also 4 and 10 p.m. reporter
 * Fanchon Stinger - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.220px-WXINchmet.jpg

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Fox 59 Weather Authority


 * Brian Wilkes (NWA Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
 * Lauren Jones (AMS Member) - Meteorologist; weekends at 10 p.m.
 * Jim O'Brien (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4:30-10 a.m.)
 * Ron Smiley (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekend mornings

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Sports Team


 * Brittany Diehl - Sports reporter/fill-in anchor
 * Chris Hagan - Sports Director; weeknights at 10 p.m.
 * Jeremiah Johnson - Sports Anchor; weekends at 10:30 p.m.; also sports reporter
 * Larry Hawley - sports reporter; also fill-in sports anchor
 * Ken Sothman - high-school sports reporter

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> Reporters


 * Kara Brooks - general assignment reporter
 * Sherman Burdette - morning feature reporter
 * Gene Cox - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
 * Kent Ehrdahl - multimedia journalist
 * Kimberly King - general assignment reporter
 * Vanessa McClure - general assignment reporter
 * Heather MacWilliams - general assignment reporter
 * Russ McQuaid - general assignment reporter
 * Jake Miller - morning reporter
 * Bill Remieka - traffic reporter
 * Kjersten Ramsing - morning reporter

News department

 * Lee M. Rosenthal - news director
 * Myranda Annakin - assignment manager

Notable former staff

 * Justin Allen - morning sports anchor (now at WTSP in Tampa)
 * Casey Curry - weather (now at KTRK in Houston)
 * Ray D'Alessio - sports anchor (now at HLN)
 * Jessica D'Onofrio (now in Orlando)
 * Rob Desir - sports anchor (now at KTVI in St. Louis)
 * Chris Denari - sports anchor (now TV voice of Indiana Pacers)
 * Lourdes Duarte (now at WGN-TV in Chicago)
 * Tracy Forner - morning news anchor (2003–2008; later at WXMI in Grand Rapids, now at WISH-TV)
 * Ginger Gadsden- 10 p.m. anchor (now morning and noon anchor at WTSP in Tampa)
 * Jim Gavin (now communications director for Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita)
 * Jordana Green - morning news anchor (1999-2002)
 * Brian Hammons - sports anchor (now with The Golf Channel)
 * Heidi Hemmat - reporter (now morning anchor at KDVR in Denver)
 * Todd Klaassen - weekend meteorologist (now at WRTV)
 * Jenna Maloney - Saturday evening anchor (2007-2008), morning anchor and feature reporter (2008-2009)
 * Joni Michels - traffic reporter (1999–2007)
 * Darren Miller - (now weekday meteorologist at KLAS-TV in Las Vegas)
 * Michael Moely - weekend anchor (2005–2006; now at WMBF in Myrtle Beach)
 * Heather Muha - reporter for "How Cool Is Your School?" on Fox 59 Morning News
 * Peggy Nicholson - former children's host of "Peggy's 59er Diner")
 * Cheryl Parker - weeknight anchor (1994-2010; moved home to Cincinnati, OH)
 * Clarence Reynolds - morning anchor (1999–2003; now at WXIA-TV in Atlanta)
 * Eric Richey - sports anchor (now at WVUE-DT in New Orleans)
 * Catt Sadler - entertainment reporter and co-host of Hoosier Millionaire (now host of The Daily 10 on E!)
 * Shireen Sandoval (now host of Deco Drive and reporter at WSVN in Miami)
 * Adam Shapiro - weekend anchor (now Washington reporter at Fox Business Network)
 * Sara Snow (now host of Get Fresh With Sara Snow on Discovery Health)
 * Cody Stark - morning meteorologist and host of Hoosier Millionaire (1999–2003; now at KOVR/KMAX-TV in Sacramento)
 * Jessica Taff - sports reporter (now at WABC-TV in New York City)
 * Caroline Thau - weekday anchor
 * Tracie Wells - weekend anchor (1998-2007)
 * Kate Williams - weekend anchor
 * Kyla Williamson - traffic reporter (April-August 2007) feature reporter, (August 2007-April 2008)
 * Chris Wright - weekday meteorologist (moved to WISH-TV, now at WTHR)
 * Debra Zahler - weekend co-anchor